KARLOVY VARY IFF REVEALS VISUAL DESIGN, TWO RETROSPECTIVES AND RUSSELL CROWE TO RECEIVE CRYSTAL GLOBE AWARD 2023

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ANOTHER BIRTH. IRANIAN CINEMA, HERE AND NOW.
The 57th KVIFF celebrates independent Iranian cinema with a selection of singular works made in the past four years. Collectively these works offer an insightful testimony of the burning creativity of Iran’s artists in face of the challenging reality. Nine mostly young filmmakers – urgent, unheard, voices – who palpably bear a spiritual connection to the previous generations of their country’s greats, tackle the current reality with a remarkable sensitivity and great inventiveness. Melancholic dramas, comedies, war movies, scifis…films about love, and films within films. Together, these nine unique and intensely personal testimonies form a multi-dimensional mosaic that reflect the collective spirit and openness of Iran’s young cinema of today.

“This cinema should not be read with the regular tools we use to decode most films. This cinema compels us to reinvent our tools, to reinvent how we see and interpret film, in order to engage with the intentions of these filmmakers,“ says the retrospective’s curator Lorenzo Esposito. “As the title of a poetry collection by Forough Farrokhzad read: “We present here and now another birth of Iranian cinema.”

Nader Saeivar’s Kafkaesque nightmare NO END, co-scripted and co-edited by Jafar Panahi explores, with vivid realism, the control and humiliation of the individuals by their authoritarian regimes. THE LOCUST, is a film within a film: a comic drama and a docufiction. The second directorial effort from Kiarostami’s protégé Faeze Azizkhani is an ingenious hybrid of a movie, anchored by the director’s authentic female perspective. ZAPATA, Danesh Eqbashavi’s rousing genre blend of comedy, detective fiction, and mockumentary was filmed with two iPhones, a small hand-held camera, a GoPro action camera, and the appreciable influence of Roger Corman.

THE SKIN, the debut from the Ark brothers, hotly anticipated since 2017 when they won a Cinéfondation prize at Cannes for their short piece AniMal, is an innovative fantasy horror flick blending genre elements with local folk legends. Negin Ahmadi is the young director and protagonist of mesmeric debut DREAM’S GATE, a soul-searching documentary that leaves Tehran to follow the lives of an all-female militia group fighting in Syrian Kurdistan. Produced by the filmmaking collective, Kamja, electrifying debut A TRIP TO THE MOON by Mohammadreza Shajan-Nejad follows the zany exploits of a man venturing to recover the sounds left to him by his partner in a bottle before leaving on a trip to the Moon.

BLACK AND WHITE RIVER by Farzin Mohammadi tells the story of the artistic crisis facing young filmmaker Amin, who is trying to recover lost time. CREATION BETWEEN TWO SURFACES, the second film by photographer and filmmaker Hossein Rajabian, is an adrenaline rush that boldly seeks wisdom in madness. Inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s Persona, the director gradually transforms film reality into a psychiatric nightmare. Vahid Vakilifar’s K9 offers an intoxicating, visionary sci-fi, which, in spite of the darkness consuming the world, remains a believer in the power of light.

KVIFF CELEBRATES ICONIC JAPANESE FILMMAKER YASUZO MASUMURA WITH A CAREER-SPANNING PROGRAM.

Two decades after his work began to circulate across in Europe and the U.S., albeit in limited capacities, the films of Masumura now rank among the biggest film discoveries of the 21st century – a highly eclectic, unabashedly confrontational body of work with rebellious politics and highly distinctive aesthetics. Reflecting his singular versatility, knack for experimentation, and strong engagement with the political landscape of the day, the films of the retrospective range from his youthful Sun Tribe debut Kisses (1957) and gorgeously lensed Sirkian melodrama The Blue Sky Maiden (1957), to the biting espionage thriller The Black Test Car (1962) and the hugely daring lesbian drama All Mixed Up (1964).

Masumura’s anti-war stance was front and center in his work – an ideological position detected in a number of the program’s titles such as the sharp satire Hoodlum Solider (1965) and, most controversially, in The Red Angel (1966), the director’s most famous work in the West whose latest 4K restoration is having its festival premiere at KVIFF 2023. The corrupting pull of consumerism and celebrity cultures; the empowering device of sex for women in attaining their agencies; the unshakable legacy of Japan’s imperialism and militarization; the collapse of traditional family structures…Masumura’s subjects have lost none of their urgency and relevancy. His aesthetics – which evolved from the garish to the pared-down – remain as visionary and unpredictable as ever.

VISUAL DESIGN OF THE 57TH KARLOVY VARY IFF FROM STUDIO NAJBRT. 

The visuals for this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival have once again been designed by Studio Najbrt, specifically by Jakub Spurný and Aleš Najbrt. Commenting on their design, Spurný and Najbrt say, “After last year’s illustrated poster, the visuals for the 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival have been composed using four colored lines that act out an experimental game with legibility and motion involving the number 57. This approach enables a number of additional variations, both static and animated. With a crack of the whip, we can begin!”

WORLD PREMIERE OF DIGITALLY RESTORED FILM COURAGE FOR EVERY DAY. 

As part of its long-running project of premiering digitally restored copies of important works of Czech cinema, this year’s Karlovy Vary film festival will be showing Evald Schorm’s award-winning Courage for Every Day. Schorm’s 1964 feature-length debut is a key work of the Czechoslovak New Wave. Based on a screenplay by Antonín Máša, the film took a new approach to exploring the moral crisis felt by the generation that experienced the social changes following the condemnation of Stalin’s cult of personality.

The main protagonist, the machine worker Jarda, is a youthful communist shock worker who thanks to his political engagement enjoyed a stellar career following the communist victory in 1948. But the new political course and new social developments following the criticism of Stalin are a rude awakening from false ideals, and Jarda finds himself unable to adapt to the new situation. Suddenly, the political activities that had brought recognition and success and had given his life meaning are the subject of ridicule, and he feels betrayed. Social disillusionment is combined with a personal crisis as the thirtysomething Jarda fails both in his professional life and in his relationship with the window dresser Věra.

At the time, Courage for Every Day, a provocative dramatic study of a man whose attempts at finding stability in life end in disaster, encountered significant ill will from the establishment and was even directly condemned by communist president Antonín Novotný. As a result, the film, starring Jan Kačer and Jana Brejchová, was released into cinemas a year behind schedule. The era’s critics, nevertheless welcomed it with great enthusiasm. Schorm’s film was the first to touch so openly on the crumbling ideals and bitterness of a generation that felt “betrayed by history.” Even so, official pressure caused news of the film receiving the domestic critics’ award to be suppressed.

One of the most respected domestic films of the 1960s, Courage for Every Day subsequently earned the Grand Prix at the 1966 Locarno International Film Festival and also took home a prize from the international festival of new cinema in Pesaro, Italy. Courage for Every Day is another in a series of award-winning Czech films to be digitally restored thanks to financial support from Milada and Eduard Kučera. To date, some forty Czech films have been digitally restored in this way. As part of its specialized KVIFF Classics project, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival regularly includes renewed premieres of films whose digital restoration has been made possible by the Kučeras in its official program. Performed in 2023 in collaboration with the National Film Archive and the State Fund for Cinema, the digital restoration process was done by UPP and Soundsquare using an original negative image and original soundtrack stored at the National Film Archive.

KARLOVY VARY FILM FESTIVAL TO PRESENT AWARD TO ACTRESS DANIELA KOLÁŘOVÁ

For many years, Kolářová has enjoyed as solid a position on Czech television screens as she does on the big screen, having appeared in a number of successful series, among them Nemocnice na kraji města (The Hospital at the Edge of the City), My všichni školou povinní (All of Us of Mandatory School Age), Život je ples (Life’s a Ball), Život a doba soudce A. K. (The Life and Time of Judge A.K.), Ulice (The Street), Sestřičky Modrý kód (Blue Code Nurses), and most recently Zlatá labuť (The Golden Swan).

After graduating from DAMU, Daniela Kolářová initially was an ensemble member of the S. K. Neumann Theatre, and after 1971 she spent many years at the Vinohrady Theatre, where she gave unforgettable performances in productions of The Robber, Hamlet, The Gingerbread Lady, and The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant. Her performance in Destination at Divadlo Komedie Praha earned her the 2004 Alfréd Radok Award. She can currently be seen at a number of different Prague theaters, including Studio Dva, the MANA Theatre in Vršovice, and the Viola Theatre.

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will honor Daniela Kolářová with a screening of
her film Ball Lightning.

RUSSELL CROWE TO RECEIVE CRYSTAL GLOBE AWARD AT 57TH KARLOVY VARY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL AND TO PERFORM WITH HIS BAND INDOOR GARDEN PARTY AT OPENING NIGHT CONCERT ON JUNE 30TH.

Oscar and Golden Globes winner Russell Crowe will receive the coveted Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema at this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The award-winning actor will also show off his musical talents with his band Indoor Garden Party, which will perform at the festival’s opening night concert.

In a special screening celebrating Crowe’s achievements, Karlovy Vary will present a twenty year anniversary screening of Peter Weir’s adventure film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), which won two Oscars from 10 nominations and earned Crowe a Golden Globes nomination for his portrayal of Captain Aubrey.

Born in Wellington, New Zealand, but living in Australia since childhood, Russell Crowe is one of the most respected actors in contemporary world cinema. He began his acting career at the age of 6, working in TV and theatre. Then in 1989 started working in Australian films; The Crossing (1990, dir. George Ogilvie) Proof (1991, dir. Jocelyn Moorhouse) Romper Stomper (1992, dir. Geoffrey Wright). Winning 2 Australian Academy Awards, supporting actor for Proof and Best Actor for Romper Stomper.

His first appearance in an American film was alongside Gene Hackman, Sharon Stone, and Leonardo DiCaprio in Sam Raimi’s 1995 western The Quick and the Dead. Shortly thereafter, he earned critical acclaim and the respect of general audiences for his extraordinary performance as Bud White in L. A. Confidential (1997, dir. Curtis Hanson). The Insider (1999, dir. Michael Mann) brought his first nomination for an Academy Award and Golden Globes. In early 2001, Crowe won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the Roman general Maximus in Ridley Scott’s international hit, the historical drama Gladiator (2000). The following year, he earned his third Oscar nomination, won his first Golden Globes, and the Best Actor BAFTA award for his role as the mentally ill mathematical genius John Nash in Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind (2001).
Gladiator, which took home five Oscars in total, marked the beginning of Crowe’s longrunning collaboration with the renowned director Ridley Scott, with whom he went on to shoot A Good Year (2006), American Gangster (2007), Body of Lies (2008), and Robin Hood (2010). He again worked with Ron Howard on the sports biopic Cinderella Man (2005), where he played the boxer James J. Braddock.
Russell Crowe’s diverse filmography reflects his multifaceted acting talent. He has appeared in films spanning a variety of genres, from the Musical Les Misérables (2012, dir. Tom Hooper) to the war drama The Water Diviner (2014), which he also directed, the psychological Fathers and Daughters (2015, dir. Gabriele Muccino), the comedy The Nice Guys (2016, dir Shane Black) the comic-book adaptation Man of
Steel (2012, dir. Zack Snyder), the psycho thriller Unhinged (2020, dir. Derrick Borte). He earned another Golden Globes for playing the lead role in The Loudest Voice (2019), a seven-part miniseries about the founder of Fox News, Roger Ailes. His directorial debut, The Water Diviner (2014) won the Australian Academy award for best film. In 2022, he directed and starred in the thriller Poker Face. He can currently be seen worldwide in the horror thriller The Pope’s Exorcist (2023, dir. Julius Avery).

Russell Crowe has been performing music since the 1980s, when he recorded his first solo single “I Want To Be Like Marlon Brando.” From 1992, he appeared with the rock band Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts, with which he released three albums. In 2005, he began working with the Canadian musician Alan Doyle, recording their first single together, followed later by an album My Hand, My Heart in 2006, under the band name, The Ordinary Fear of God. In 2009 Crowe and Doyle started holding Indoor Garden Party concerts. In 2011, they released their third joint album, The Crowe / Doyle Songbook Vol III on iTunes,
and in 2017 as Indoor Garden Party, they released the album The Musical which went to #1 briefly, on iTunes and Amazon, twice in the UK. The album is on Spotify. Russell Crowe is a generous supporter of various charitable projects, individuals and organizations and also owns the oldest Rugby League club in Australia, The South Sydney Rabbitohs, formed in 1908. He took over in 2006 and has lifted the club out of decades of no success, winning the NRL premiership Trophy in 2014, breaking a 43-year drought. The
club continues to be a force in the sport.

In a special screening celebrating Crowe’s achievements, Karlovy Vary will present a twenty year anniversary screening of Peter Weir’s adventure film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), which won two Oscars from 10 nominations and earned Crowe a Golden Globes nomination for his portrayal of Captain Aubrey.

NEW FESTIVAL TRAILER WITH JOHNNY DEPP

American actor, producer, and musician Johnny Depp – the recipient of three Oscar nominations, a Golden Globes, and countless other awards – was a guest of the 55th Karlovy Vary film festival in 2021, where he personally presented two films that he produced: the documentary Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan (2020) and the drama Minamata (2020), in which he played the lead. His visit was met with great interest on the part of audiences and fans.

The idea of shooting festival trailers featuring distinctive representatives of world cinema was born fifteen years ago. The creative minds behind these micro-stories showing their subjects’ connection with the festival are directors Ivan Zachariáš and Martin Krejčí.

Johnny Depp is the eighteenth person to appear in a trailer made especially for the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. It was directed by the widely acclaimed advertising and film director Ivan Zachariáš.