The Grand Prix in the main competition of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival on Saturday went to ‘Better Go Mad in the Wild’ (‘Radeji zesilet v divocine’), a documentary about two constantly bickering twin brothers living a strange lifestyle on a dilapidated farm away from civilisation.
Director Miro Remo received the Crystal Globe from the festival’s executive director Krystof Mucha and artistic director Karel Och. The Grand Prize of the main competition comes with a prize of 25,000 dollars (about CZK 600,000), shared equally between the director and producer of the film.
The jury judged 12 films in the main competition. The winning film is a loose adaptation of the popular book of the same name by Ales Palan and Jan Sibik, which captures interviews with nine people living almost alone in the Sumava Mountains. Remo, known for his interest in liminal forms of existence, went to the forests of Sumava, where he followed the life of two brothers, identical twins Ondrej and Frantisek Klisik.
In an unusual twist in events, Frantisek Klisik, a former anti-Communist dissident, was reportedly found dead yesterday morning in a pond in Ohrobec, near Prague, having attended the festival over the preceding couple of days.
Festival host Marek Eben recalled the recently deceased festival president Jiri Bartoska in his opening speech. “The sentence I heard most often was: It’s going to be sad because of Jiri Bartoska. I have to say that it was not sad because of Jiri Bartoska. Everybody would have liked to see him leave a legacy. If he was such that a smile creeps in at the memory, that would be a gift already,” Eben said.
The audience was then moved by the screening of the festival jingle, dedicated to Bartoska. The subsequent award ceremony was also held in the spirit of his legacy. President Petr Pavel was among the audience for the third year.
The directing prize was awarded simultaneously to two films representing opposite approaches to the craft. According to the jury, French director Nathan Ambrosioni’s drama ‘Out of Love’ (‘Les Enfants vont bien’) showed a maturity, compassion and refinement that is not common in his age.
In his debut feature ‘The Visitor’ (‘Svecias’), Lithuanian filmmaker Vytautas Katkus took full advantage of the creative freedom that a director is allowed in his first film, according to the jury.
The Special Jury Award, coupled with a reward of 15,000 dollars (about 360,000 crowns), went to ‘Lawless’ (‘Bidad’) by Iranian director and screenwriter Soheil Beiraghi. According to the jury, the film is a courageous achievement whose plot mirrors the bravery that was required to shoot it in Iran itself. The director urged those present to applaud all the brave Iranian women.
Norwegian actress Pia Tjelta’s performance in ‘Don’t Call Me Mama’ (‘Se Meg’) earned her the Best Actress Award.
The Best Actor Award went to Alex Brendemuhl for his role as the father of a young woman who is the victim of sexual assault, in the Spanish film ‘When A River Becomes the Sea’ (‘Quan un riu esdeve el mar’).
Special mention went to Katerina Falbrova for her subtle performance in Ondrej Provaznik’s ‘The Broken Voices’.
The Daily Pravo Audience Award went to the opening film of the festival, a documentary about Jiri Bartosek entitled ‘We Must Frame It!’ (‘Musime to zaramovat!’).
In the Proxima competition, the Grand Prize and a cash prize of $15,000 went to the Bangladeshi film ‘Sand City’ (‘Balur Nogorite’) by Mahde Hasan.
The Proxima Jury’s Special Jury Prize and $10,000 went to ‘Forensics’ (Forenses), in which Colombian director Federico Atehortua Arteaga depicts a cynical Latin American economy built on suffering, death and disappearances.
Special mention in the Proxima competition went to Belgian road movie ‘Before/After’ (‘Avant/Apres’), directed by Manoel Dupont, about a hair transplant trip to Turkey.
Alongside the main competition, Proxima is the second competition section of the festival, a space for filmmakers waiting to be discovered as well as for renowned filmmakers looking to redefine their work.
The Crystal Globe for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema was awarded to Swedish film and theatre actor Stellan Skarsgaard at the end of the festival. The KVIFF President’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Czech Cinema went to the editor Jiri Brozek.
This year’s 59th edition of the international film festival began on 4 July, without Bartoska for the first time in 30 years. The opening ceremony in the packed Grand Hall of the Thermal Hotel was held in the spirit of remembrance of the long-time festival president, who died on 8 May. He was 78 and had been battling cancer for several years.
The KVIFF President’s Awards were personally received during the festival by U.S. actor Peter Sarsgaard, Luxembourg actress Vicky Krieps, and U.S. actress Dakota Johnson. The future form of this award is being discussed by the organisers.
This year, the Karlovy Vary Film Festival offered more than 130 feature and documentary films as well as short films. Next year, the 60th edition of the festival will take place from July 3 to 11, 2026.
