54. KVIFF WINNERS AND PRIZES AT THE KARLOVY VARY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2019

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The Father, an intimate family drama about the difficulties of connecting with those close to us, told through thoroughly conceived absurd or comic situations, is the winner of the Main Competition at the 54th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The Bulgarian directing duo Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, also known for their films The Lesson and Glory, accepted the Crystal Globe.

The jury composed of Štěpán Hulík, Annemarie Jacir, Sergei Loznitsa, Angeliki Papoulia and Charles Tesson presented the Special Jury Prize to the German drama Lara. This precisely crafted psychological study directed by Jan-Ole Gerster also brought the Best Actress Award to Corinna Harfouch for her portrait of the authoritative mother. The German star received the same prize at the Karlovy Vary Festival in 1988.

Milan Ondrík was granted the Best Actor Award by the jury for his performance in the Czech-Slovak drama Let There Be Light directed by Marko Škop, narrating a story of a village man working in Germany who returns home for Christmas and learns that his son, a member of a paramilitary youth organisation, might be involved in a harrowing event that stunned the local community. Tim Mielants from Belgium was announced as the Best Director for his tragicomedy Patrick, which takes place at a nudist campsite.

The main jury further awarded two Special Mentions, one to the Spanish film The August Virgin, and the other to a talented rising actress Antonia Giesen for her role in the film The Man of the Future.

The East of the West section winner is The Bull, a taut feature debut by one-time ballet dancer Boris Akopov. The Special Jury Prize went to a Ukrainian colourful road movie about a sound engineer My Thoughts are Silent. The Grand Prix for Best Documentary Film went to Ksenia Okhapkina’s essay Immortal, portraying the life in a small Russian industrial town governed by strict rules. The Documentary Special Jury Prize was awarded to Confucian Dream, a story of a Chinese mother looking for the right kind of alternative upbringing for her son. Another documentary film, Olga Sommerová’s portrait Jiří Suchý – Tackling Life with Ease, won the Právo Audience Award.

This year’s Crystal Globes for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema were awarded to two American actresses, to Julianne Moore at the Gala Opening and to Patricia Clarkson at the Closing Ceremony. „I have received this beautiful award. Karlovy Vary have energised my soul, and I do not want to leave, just wish to send for my dog and stay here,“ commended the actress. „I believe that you are never alone to win an award, but rather supported by numerous outstanding artists I have had the 
honour to work with. I have met many wonderful people here, too, and hope I see you again,“ she concluded. 

Jiří Bartoška presented the Festival President’s Award to cinematographer Vladimír Smutný. „A cinematographer’s place is behind the camera and only rarely in front of it. I am grateful to Jiří Bartoška for giving me this exceptional opportunity and for awarding me this prize, which is hard to get as a cameraman. I truly prize this prize, which indeed is heavy,“ thanked Smutný. 

The 54 th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, a non-specialized festival with three competitive categories, took place from June 28 th to July 6 th this year. It was organized by Film Servis Festival Karlovy Vary, a.s., with Jiří Bartoška as president of the festival and Karel Och as an artistic director.
The 55 th Karlovy Vary IFF will be held from July 3 rd to July 11th 2020. On July 6 th 2019, the festival’s juries presented awards for the best films at the closing ceremony of the 54 th Karlovy Vary IFF.

OFFICIAL SELECTION – COMPETITION

GRAND JURY
Štěpán Hulík, Czech Republic
Annemarie Jacir, State of Palestine
Sergei Loznitsa, Ukraine
Angeliki Papoulia, Greece
Charles Tesson, France

GRAND PRIX – CRYSTAL GLOBE (25 000 USD)
The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film.
The Father / Bashtata
Directed by: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov
Bulgaria, Greece, 2019

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE (15 000 USD)
The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film.
Lara
Directed by: Jan-Ole Gerster
Germany, 2019

BEST DIRECTOR AWARD
Tim Mielants for the film Patrick / De Patrick
Belgium, 2019

BEST ACTRESS AWARD
Corinna Harfouch for her role in the film Lara
Directed by: Jan-Ole Gerster
Germany, 2019

BEST ACTOR AWARD
Milan Ondrík for his role in the film Let There Be Light / Nech je svetlo
Directed by: Marko Škop
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, 2019

SPECIAL JURY MENTION
The August Virgin / La virgen de agosto
Directed by: Jonás Trueba
Spain, 2019

SPECIAL JURY MENTION
Promissing new talent Antonia Giesen for her role in the film The Man of the Future / El hombre del futuro
Directed by: Felipe Ríos
Chile, Argentina, 2019

EAST OF THE WEST – COMPETITION

EAST OF THE WEST JURY
Denis Ivanov, Ukraine
Juho Kuosmanen, Finland
Tomáš Pavlíček, Czech Republic
Ioanna Stais, Greece
Dagnė Vildžiūnaite, Lithuania

EAST OF THE WEST GRAND PRIX (15 000 USD)
The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film.
The Bull / Byk
Directed by: Boris Akopov
Russia, 2019

EAST OF THE WEST SPECIAL JURY PRIZE (10 000 USD)
The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film.
My Thoughts Are Silent / Moi dumki tikhi
Directed by: Antonio Lukich
Ukraine, 2019

DOCUMENTARY FILMS – COMPETITION

DOCUMENTARY FILMS JURY
Andreas Horvath, Austria
Aline Schmid, Switzerland
Gastón Solnicki, Argentina

GRAND PRIX FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM (5 000 USD)
The financial award goes to the director of the award-winning film.
Immortal / Surematu
Directed by: Ksenia Okhapkina
Estonia, Latvia, 2019

DOCUMENTARY SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
Confucian Dream / Kongzi meng
Directed by: Mijie Li
China, 2019

PRÁVO AUDIENCE AWARD
Jiří Suchý – Tackling Life with Ease / Jiří Suchý – Lehce s životem se prát
Directed by: Olga Sommerová
Czech Republic, 2019

CRYSTAL GLOBE FOR OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD CINEMA
Julianne Moore, USA

CRYSTAL GLOBE FOR OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD CINEMA
Patricia Clarkson, USA

FESTIVAL PRESIDENT’S AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTION TO CZECH CINEMATOGRAPHY
Vladimír Smutný, Czech Republic

NON-STATUTORY AWARDS AWARD OF INTERNATIONAL FILM CRITICS
Awarded by The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI).

FIPRESCI JURY
Hugo Emmerzael, Netherlands
Viktor Palák, Czech Republic
Ana Sturm, Slovenia

The August Virgin / La virgen de agosto
Directed by: Jonás Trueba
Spain, 2019

THE ECUMENICAL JURY AWARD

THE ECUMENICAL JURY
Alyda Faber, Canada
Martin Horálek, Czech Republic
Peter Sheehan, Australia

Lara
Directed by: Jan-Ole Gerster
Germany, 2019

Ecumenical Jury Commendation
Let There Be Light / Nech je svetlo
Directed by: Marko Škop
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, 2019

FEDEORA AWARD
Federation of Film Critics of Europe and the Mediterranean for the best film from East of the West – Competition section.

FEDEORA JURY
Maja Bogojević, Monte Negro
Pavlina Jeleva, Bulgaria
Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi, Italy

Passed by Censor / Görülmüştür
Directed by: Serhat Karaaslan
Turkey, Germany, France, 2018

FEDEORA JURY Special Mention
Aga’s House / Shpia e Agës
Directed by: Lendita Zeqiraj
Cosovo, Croatia, France, Albania, 2018

EUROPA CINEMAS LABEL AWARD
For the best European film in the Official Selection – Competition and in the East of the West – Competition.

EUROPA CINEMAS LABEL JURY
Maarten Alexandera, Belgium
Carinzia Camilleri, Malta
Éva Demeter, Hungary
Denis Samardžić, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Scandinavian Silence / Skandinaavia vaikus
Directed by: Martti Helde
Estonia, France, Belgium, 2019

KVIFF EASTERN PROMISES WINNERS: WORKS IN PROGRESS, DOCS IN PROGRESS, EURIMAGES LAB PROJECT AWARD AND KVIFF & MIDPOINT DEVELOPMENT AWARD AT KARLOVY VARY IFF 2019

WORKS IN PROGRESS (100,000 Euro)
Pigeon’s Milk / Moloko Ptitsy
Directed by: Eugen Maryan
Producers: Roman Borisevich, Alexander Kushaev, Anna Shalashina
Russia, Moldova

Works in Progress is a platform for feature films in progress from Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, ex-USSR countries, the Middle East and newly also North Africa, which will premiere after the Karlovy Vary IFF. This year, 9 projects were pitched. The winner was awarded a prize of a total value of 100,000 EUR, consisting of postproduction services from UPP (60,000 EUR) and Soundsquare (30,000 EUR) and 10,000 EUR in cash from Barrandov Studio.

DOCS IN PROGRESS (5,000 EUR)
The Silhouettes / Saayeha
Directed by: Afsaneh Salari
Producers: Afsaneh Salari, Jewel Maranan
Iran, Philippines

Docs in Progress a platform for documentary films in progress from Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, ex-USSR countries, the Middle East and newly also North Africa, that will premiere after the Karlovy Vary IFF. This year, 8 projects were pitched. The winner was awarded a prize of 5,000 EUR.

EURIMAGES LAB PROJECT AWARD (50 000 EUR)
Bottled Songs
Directed by: Kevin B. Lee, Chloé Galibert-Laîné
Producers: Kevin B. Lee, Chloé Galibert-Laîné
Germany, France, USA, Finland

The Karlovy Vary IFF is the first of 4 European film festivals of the festival season to award the Eurimages award. The prize in the value of 50,000 EUR is dedicated to films in the production or postproduction stage that cross traditional forms of cinematographic expressions and are produced in international collaborations. This year’s KVIFF saw 8 project pitches from the Eurimages fund member countries .

KVIFF & MIDPOINT DEVELOPMENT AWARD (10 000 EUR)
Some Birds / Valami Madarak
Directed by: Dániel Hevér
Producer: László Dreissiger
Hungary

KVIFF & MIDPOINT DEVELOPMENT AWARD (10 000 EUR) For the first time this year, the Karlovy Vary IFF in collaboration with MIDPOINT script and project development program as well as When East Meets West co-production market and Trieste Film Festival also awarded the KVIFF & MIDPOINT Development Award. The award is designed for screenplays that have gone through development within the Feature Launch 2019 program and are ready for co-production. This year’s KVIFF saw 8 Works in Development pitches, and the winner received a cash prize of 10,000 EUR.

In cooperation with its partner First Cut Lab, the Industry Office also announced adding one more KVIFF Eastern Promises platform to its program for 2020: from next year on, the First Cut+ section will bring expert consultancy on editing and marketing strategy to 8 feature films in the rough-cut stage.

STATISTICS OF THE 54 TH KARLOVY VARY IFF 2019
The 54 th Karlovy Vary IFF 2019 was attended by 12.521 accredited visitors. Of that number 10.363 had Festival Passes, 395 were filmmakers, 1158 film professionals, and 605 journalists. There were a total of 497 film screenings and total of 139.271 tickets were sold. A total of 177 films were shown: 156 feature films and 29 documentary films. 34 films received their world premiere, while 8 had their international premiere and 6 their European premiere. 206 screenings were personally presented by delegations of filmmakers. 97 Press & Industry screenings were held.

FILM INDUSTRY AT THE 54 TH KARLOVY VARY IFF 2019
1.315 producers, sales representatives, film buyers, distributors, film festival programmers, film institution representatives and other film professionals were accredited for the 54th Karlovy Vary IFF. 730 of the industry professionals came from abroad. 281 film buyers and distributors and 180 film festival programmers came to select new movies as well as nearly 40 works in progress presented at the festival.

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