This year’s edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is set to present a retrospective on Franz Kafka and his influence on cinema, dubbed The Wish To Be A Red Indian: Kafka and Cinema. It will examine how the influential Czech writer has impacted filmmakers from Orson Welles, Martin Scorsese, Ousmane Sembene, Jan Nemec and Steven Soderbergh.
This June will mark the centenary of the final moments of Kafka, who passed away at a sanatorium in the Austrian town of Kierling. Kviff, which kicks off on June 28, will launch this strand in honor of the writer featuring films such as Soderberg’s noir mystery Kafka, Welles’ The Trial, Scorsese’s After Hours as well as Roman Polanski’s The Tenant among others.
The festival will also be honoring casting director Francine Maisler, who has worked with directors such as Denis Villeneuve, Terrence Malick and Alejandro González Iñárritu and whose credits include The Revenant,...
This June will mark the centenary of the final moments of Kafka, who passed away at a sanatorium in the Austrian town of Kierling. Kviff, which kicks off on June 28, will launch this strand in honor of the writer featuring films such as Soderberg’s noir mystery Kafka, Welles’ The Trial, Scorsese’s After Hours as well as Roman Polanski’s The Tenant among others.
The festival will also be honoring casting director Francine Maisler, who has worked with directors such as Denis Villeneuve, Terrence Malick and Alejandro González Iñárritu and whose credits include The Revenant,...
- 4/23/2024
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has announced its first wave of program details for its upcoming 58th edition, which is set to take place from June 28 through July 6, 2024. The Czech festival, widely considered to be the most prestigious film festival in Eastern Europe, is set to honor one of the nation’s most famous writers with a new retrospective titled “Franz Kafka and the Cinema.”
The series is set to feature screenings of a wide range of films inspired by the Czech novelist, who famously wove themes of alienation and existential angst into cryptic novels that often flirted with surrealism. Some films, like Orson Welles’ “The Trial” are direct adaptations of Kafka’s writings; but the series also includes movies about Kafka’s life, and films like Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours” that were influenced by Kafka’s ideas.
“For decades, Kafka’s oeuvre has functioned as a continuing provocation to filmmakers,...
The series is set to feature screenings of a wide range of films inspired by the Czech novelist, who famously wove themes of alienation and existential angst into cryptic novels that often flirted with surrealism. Some films, like Orson Welles’ “The Trial” are direct adaptations of Kafka’s writings; but the series also includes movies about Kafka’s life, and films like Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours” that were influenced by Kafka’s ideas.
“For decades, Kafka’s oeuvre has functioned as a continuing provocation to filmmakers,...
- 4/23/2024
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
The Karlovy Vary Festival will pay tribute to one of the Czech Republic’s most famous sons with a retrospective of film adaptations of the work of Franz Kafka from some of the greatest names in cinema. To mark the centenary of Kafka’s death, the festival will screen a series of films directly adapted from, or inspired by, the literary master of angst.
The retrospective will include such classics as Orson Welles’s The Trial (1962), Martin Scorsese’s Kafkaesque New York dramedy After Hours (1985) and Federico Fellini’s Intervista; Steven Soderbergh’s Kafka (1991) and its 2021 re-edit Mr. Kneff — both starring Jeremy Irons as a set-upon insurance man and writer — alongside lesser-known adaptations, including Jan Němec’s Metamorphosis, a German TV movie version of Kafka’s famous short story. Other highlights include Ousmane Sembene’s Senegalese feature The Money Order (1968) and Kôji Yamamura’s animated short Franz Kafka’s a Country Doctor (2007).
“For decades,...
The retrospective will include such classics as Orson Welles’s The Trial (1962), Martin Scorsese’s Kafkaesque New York dramedy After Hours (1985) and Federico Fellini’s Intervista; Steven Soderbergh’s Kafka (1991) and its 2021 re-edit Mr. Kneff — both starring Jeremy Irons as a set-upon insurance man and writer — alongside lesser-known adaptations, including Jan Němec’s Metamorphosis, a German TV movie version of Kafka’s famous short story. Other highlights include Ousmane Sembene’s Senegalese feature The Money Order (1968) and Kôji Yamamura’s animated short Franz Kafka’s a Country Doctor (2007).
“For decades,...
- 4/23/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It’s hard to imagine a more well-timed and well-placed documentary than Jan Siki’s “Reconstruction of Occupation,” which debuted on Saturday, Aug. 21 at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic. The film had its world premiere 53 years to the day that Soviet tanks and military vehicles rolled into what was then Czechoslovakia, and it screened in a theater, the Kino Čas, that sits on streets that saw those military vehicles in August 1968.
Much of the footage stems from a time when the new wave of Czech films was flowering, with landmarks like Jiri Menzel’s Oscar-winning “Closely Watched Trains,” Milos Forman’s “The Fireman’s Ball” and Jan Nemec’s “A Report on the Party and the Guests.” And it came at the end of the Prague Spring, the eight-month period that began when Alexander Dubček became head of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and instituted liberal reforms...
Much of the footage stems from a time when the new wave of Czech films was flowering, with landmarks like Jiri Menzel’s Oscar-winning “Closely Watched Trains,” Milos Forman’s “The Fireman’s Ball” and Jan Nemec’s “A Report on the Party and the Guests.” And it came at the end of the Prague Spring, the eight-month period that began when Alexander Dubček became head of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and instituted liberal reforms...
- 8/21/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Bouncing back in live form after two cancellations caused by Covid safety measures last year, the 55th edition of the Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival has kept its core values intact but with significant new formatting.
Kviff’s most radical departure from long tradition — ending its dedicated documentary section and blending non-fiction films into the Crystal Globe and East of the West competition sections — was “a serious decision, which took us a few years to make,” says artistic director Karel Och.
But, he says, the fest is satisfied that the documentaries now being weighed by the two juries are worthy of their new role.
“Considering the types of documentaries we aim to highlight, the ambition, the level of script and directing,” says Och, they are “absolutely comparable with the non-docs. The distinction and a separate doc ‘ghetto’ was no longer necessary.”
Another challenge in a year full of them was...
Kviff’s most radical departure from long tradition — ending its dedicated documentary section and blending non-fiction films into the Crystal Globe and East of the West competition sections — was “a serious decision, which took us a few years to make,” says artistic director Karel Och.
But, he says, the fest is satisfied that the documentaries now being weighed by the two juries are worthy of their new role.
“Considering the types of documentaries we aim to highlight, the ambition, the level of script and directing,” says Och, they are “absolutely comparable with the non-docs. The distinction and a separate doc ‘ghetto’ was no longer necessary.”
Another challenge in a year full of them was...
- 8/18/2021
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
When the curtain rises June 28 on the 54th edition of the Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival, there will be a conspicuous absence among the 12 titles selected for the main competition: Czech directors.
It’s just the second time this decade that the host country has failed to field a single entry in competition, a choice that festival artistic director Karel Och says he didn’t take lightly.
“It is not an easy decision,” he says. “But we believe we are helping the local film industry more by fostering a discussion about what is [currently] the missing ingredient of Czech cinema, than by bringing in a film that would have a tough time to compete.”
For a country with deserved pride in a cinematic tradition that includes such titans of the silver screen as Academy Award winners Milos Forman and Jiri Menzel and Czech New Wave co-founder Jan Nemec, the shutout stings.
It’s just the second time this decade that the host country has failed to field a single entry in competition, a choice that festival artistic director Karel Och says he didn’t take lightly.
“It is not an easy decision,” he says. “But we believe we are helping the local film industry more by fostering a discussion about what is [currently] the missing ingredient of Czech cinema, than by bringing in a film that would have a tough time to compete.”
For a country with deserved pride in a cinematic tradition that includes such titans of the silver screen as Academy Award winners Milos Forman and Jiri Menzel and Czech New Wave co-founder Jan Nemec, the shutout stings.
- 6/25/2019
- by Nick Clement
- Variety Film + TV
There’s a reason director Jan Nemec’s name isn’t immediately conjures in superficial conversations on the Czech New Wave, despite his haunting 1964 debut Diamonds of the Night being one of the movement’s first major offerings. Described as “the movement’s bitterest aesthete” and by film historian Peter Hames as the “enfant terrible” of his peers, Nemec had neither the eventual Hollywood success of colleagues such as Milos Forman or Ivan Passer, nor international awards glory such as the Oscar winning The Shop on Main Street (1965) from Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos. Such is the price to pay for the revel.…...
- 5/7/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Above: French grande for Capricious Summer. Artist: F. Dervanore.As the 56th New York Film Festival winds down this weekend, I wanted to look back half a century to the 6th edition of the festival. Uppermost in everyone’s minds in September 1968 was Czechoslovakia, which, after a brief seven months of liberation known as the Prague Spring, had been invaded less than a month before the festival began, by Warsaw Pact tanks and troops intended to suppress reforms. Whether it had been planned before the Soviet invasion, the 6th New York Film Festival notably opened and closed with Czech films: Jiri Menzel’s Capricious Summer and Milos Forman’s The Firemen’s Ball. It also featured Jan Nemec’s previously banned 1966 film A Report on the Party and the Guests which had been released in ’68 under the reformist president Alexander Dubček and shown as a special event on Czech national...
- 10/13/2018
- MUBI
One of Central Europe’s top docu fests, known for cultivating art film and nonfiction work that explores genre boundaries, has adopted a suitably avant-garde look this year, thanks to the work of Jean-Luc Godard.
The 22nd Ji.hlava international docu fest, running Oct. 25-30 in the former silver mining town of Jihlava in the Czech Republic, is not mentioned in the moody one-minute clip posted on YouTube, although its logo appears in the last few seconds.
Instead, a disembodied hand runs a finger across a mobile phone screen menu of photographs, presumably from the life of an older man, murmuring in voiceover.
“And even if nothing turned out how we’d hoped,” he intones, “it would not have changed what we’d hoped for.”
The voice, Godard’s own, riffs on the French New Wave auteur’s habit of overlaying philosophical observations to complement his jump cuts and surreal...
The 22nd Ji.hlava international docu fest, running Oct. 25-30 in the former silver mining town of Jihlava in the Czech Republic, is not mentioned in the moody one-minute clip posted on YouTube, although its logo appears in the last few seconds.
Instead, a disembodied hand runs a finger across a mobile phone screen menu of photographs, presumably from the life of an older man, murmuring in voiceover.
“And even if nothing turned out how we’d hoped,” he intones, “it would not have changed what we’d hoped for.”
The voice, Godard’s own, riffs on the French New Wave auteur’s habit of overlaying philosophical observations to complement his jump cuts and surreal...
- 7/4/2018
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
The 46th International Film Festival Rotterdam got underway last night with stars and political messages aplenty.
With the Nertherlands’ King Willem-Alexander due to attend tomorrow night’s world premiere of Ernest Dickerson’s Double Play and multi-Oscar nominee Barry Jenkins already in town, International Film Festival Rotterdam, which launched its 46th edition last night, has a more starry feel than usual.
The festival prides itself on being a melting pot of cultural and political views, something expressed by festival director Bero Beyer who in his second edition at the helm gave a wide-ranging speech in which he explained the concept behind this year’s ‘Planet Iffr’ concept.
“We can be entertained and enchanted, confused, scared, soothed and seduced in many different ways by the stories that are told and by the way they come to us. This state-of-mind where we can experience other views, where we can experience time itself through the art of cinema: that is...
With the Nertherlands’ King Willem-Alexander due to attend tomorrow night’s world premiere of Ernest Dickerson’s Double Play and multi-Oscar nominee Barry Jenkins already in town, International Film Festival Rotterdam, which launched its 46th edition last night, has a more starry feel than usual.
The festival prides itself on being a melting pot of cultural and political views, something expressed by festival director Bero Beyer who in his second edition at the helm gave a wide-ranging speech in which he explained the concept behind this year’s ‘Planet Iffr’ concept.
“We can be entertained and enchanted, confused, scared, soothed and seduced in many different ways by the stories that are told and by the way they come to us. This state-of-mind where we can experience other views, where we can experience time itself through the art of cinema: that is...
- 1/26/2017
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
Despite being a nation with an illustrious cinema heritage, Czech Republic is not a country that is especially well served by modern distributors in the UK. Their rich history is continually mined for brilliant home entertainment releases by the likes of Second Run and Arrow - bringing the venerated likes of Jiri Menzel, Vera Chytilova, Jan Nemec, Frantisek Vlacil, and Karel Zeman to British audiences - but contemporary Czech cinema remains criminally neglected.
- 11/3/2016
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Hungarian drama won best film and best actor, while Czech features also saw success.
Szabolcs Hajdu’s Hungarian drama It’s Not the Time Of My Life was the major winner at the 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic, which handed out its awards on Saturday night (July 9).
The film took the Crystal Globe for best feature film, which comes with a $25,000 prize, as well as best actor for director Hajdu, who also stars.
Ivan Terdovskiy’s surreal drama Zoology took the special jury prize, while Slovenian director Damjan Kozole took best director for his dark thriller Nightlife. Two Czech features also triumphed: Zuzana Mauréry won best actress for her performance in Jan Hrebejk’s school comedy The Teacher, and the final feature of the late Jan Nemec, who passed away in March this year, The Wolf From Royal Vineyard Street, received a special mention.
A further special mention went to Catalin Mitulescu’s Romanian-Swedish-Italian...
Szabolcs Hajdu’s Hungarian drama It’s Not the Time Of My Life was the major winner at the 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic, which handed out its awards on Saturday night (July 9).
The film took the Crystal Globe for best feature film, which comes with a $25,000 prize, as well as best actor for director Hajdu, who also stars.
Ivan Terdovskiy’s surreal drama Zoology took the special jury prize, while Slovenian director Damjan Kozole took best director for his dark thriller Nightlife. Two Czech features also triumphed: Zuzana Mauréry won best actress for her performance in Jan Hrebejk’s school comedy The Teacher, and the final feature of the late Jan Nemec, who passed away in March this year, The Wolf From Royal Vineyard Street, received a special mention.
A further special mention went to Catalin Mitulescu’s Romanian-Swedish-Italian...
- 7/10/2016
- ScreenDaily
Dailies is a round-up of essential film writing, news bits, videos, and other highlights from across the Internet. If you’d like to submit a piece for consideration, get in touch with us in the comments below or on Twitter at @TheFilmStage.
Jan Nemec‘s last film, The Wolf from Royal Vineyard Street, Roberto Andò‘s The Confessions, Anthropoid, and more will premiere at the 2016 Karlovy Vary Festival.
Watch a trailer for an upcoming concert in Denmark featuring the music of Lars von Trier‘s film:
The New York Asian Film Festival 2016 has unveiled its full line-up.
Tim Robbins reflects on working with Robert Altman in The Player, now on Criterion:
Slate highlights the 50 greatest movies by black directors:
Despite everything, black filmmakers have produced art on screen that is just as daring, original, influential, and essential as the heralded works of Welles, Coppola, Antonioni, Kurosawa, and other nonblack directors.
Jan Nemec‘s last film, The Wolf from Royal Vineyard Street, Roberto Andò‘s The Confessions, Anthropoid, and more will premiere at the 2016 Karlovy Vary Festival.
Watch a trailer for an upcoming concert in Denmark featuring the music of Lars von Trier‘s film:
The New York Asian Film Festival 2016 has unveiled its full line-up.
Tim Robbins reflects on working with Robert Altman in The Player, now on Criterion:
Slate highlights the 50 greatest movies by black directors:
Despite everything, black filmmakers have produced art on screen that is just as daring, original, influential, and essential as the heralded works of Welles, Coppola, Antonioni, Kurosawa, and other nonblack directors.
- 6/1/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
The final film of Jan Nemec, who died in March, to play in the main competition.Scroll down for competition line-ups
The 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (July 1-9) has unveiled the competition titles in its Official Selection, East of the West and Documentary sections.
The 12-strong main competition will comprise eight world premieres and four international premieres, including the last film from renowned Czech director Jan Nemec, who died in March.
The Czech filmmaker was a notable voice of the country’s New Wave movement of the 1960s with titles such as Diamonds Of The Night (1964). His final film, The Wolf From Royal Vineyard Street, will world premiere at Kviff and is an adaptation of his own quasi-autobiographical short stories.
Other titles include Slovak-Czech drama The Teacher from Jan Hrebejk while Roberto Andò is returning to Kviff with The Confessions, three years after his hit Viva la Libertà.
Debut features...
The 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (July 1-9) has unveiled the competition titles in its Official Selection, East of the West and Documentary sections.
The 12-strong main competition will comprise eight world premieres and four international premieres, including the last film from renowned Czech director Jan Nemec, who died in March.
The Czech filmmaker was a notable voice of the country’s New Wave movement of the 1960s with titles such as Diamonds Of The Night (1964). His final film, The Wolf From Royal Vineyard Street, will world premiere at Kviff and is an adaptation of his own quasi-autobiographical short stories.
Other titles include Slovak-Czech drama The Teacher from Jan Hrebejk while Roberto Andò is returning to Kviff with The Confessions, three years after his hit Viva la Libertà.
Debut features...
- 5/31/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which was launched in 1946 and has become the leading film festival in Central and Eastern Europe, has announced the three dozen films that will make up the competitive lineup for its 51st festival, which will kick off on July 1 in the spa town west of Prague in the Czech Republic. The main competition will consist of 12 films, including “The Wolf From Royal Vineyard Street,” the final film from celebrated Czech director Jan Nemec, as well as frequent Karlovy Vary participant Jan Hrebejk’s “The Teacher” and one English-language film, Canadian director Jesse...
- 5/31/2016
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Czech filmmaker was a notable voice of the country’s New Wave movement of the 1960s.
Jan Nemec, the Czech film director known as an important voice of the Czech New Wave of the 1960s, has died at the age of 79, according to local news reports.
Born in Prague in 1936, Nemec learned his craft at the city’s prestigious art school the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
In the 1960s he was one of a number of film-makers alongside the likes of Milos Forman who participated in a surge of creative talent, dubbed the Czechoslovak New Wave, which rose as a reaction to Communist propaganda cinema of the 1950s.
His debut feature was 1964 Holocaust drama Diamonds Of The Night, which told the story of two boys who escape from a train en route to a concentration camp. His next feature Report On The Party And Guests was a political satire that was banned by Communist censors...
Jan Nemec, the Czech film director known as an important voice of the Czech New Wave of the 1960s, has died at the age of 79, according to local news reports.
Born in Prague in 1936, Nemec learned his craft at the city’s prestigious art school the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
In the 1960s he was one of a number of film-makers alongside the likes of Milos Forman who participated in a surge of creative talent, dubbed the Czechoslovak New Wave, which rose as a reaction to Communist propaganda cinema of the 1950s.
His debut feature was 1964 Holocaust drama Diamonds Of The Night, which told the story of two boys who escape from a train en route to a concentration camp. His next feature Report On The Party And Guests was a political satire that was banned by Communist censors...
- 3/21/2016
- ScreenDaily
Czech filmmaker was a notable voice of the country’s New Wave movement of the 1960s.
Jan Nemec, the Czech film director known as an important voice of the Czech New Wave of the 1960s, has died at the age of 79, according to local news reports.
Born in Prague in 1936, Nemec learned his craft at the city’s prestigious art school the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
In the 1960s he was one of a number of film-makers alongside the likes of Milos Forman who participated in a surge of creative talent, dubbed the Czechoslovak New Wave, which rose as a reaction to Communist propaganda cinema of the 1950s.
His debut feature was 1964 Holocaust drama Diamonds Of The Night, which told the story of two boys who escape from a train en route to a concentration camp. His next feature Report On The Party And Guests was a political satire that was banned by Communist censors...
Jan Nemec, the Czech film director known as an important voice of the Czech New Wave of the 1960s, has died at the age of 79, according to local news reports.
Born in Prague in 1936, Nemec learned his craft at the city’s prestigious art school the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
In the 1960s he was one of a number of film-makers alongside the likes of Milos Forman who participated in a surge of creative talent, dubbed the Czechoslovak New Wave, which rose as a reaction to Communist propaganda cinema of the 1950s.
His debut feature was 1964 Holocaust drama Diamonds Of The Night, which told the story of two boys who escape from a train en route to a concentration camp. His next feature Report On The Party And Guests was a political satire that was banned by Communist censors...
- 3/21/2016
- ScreenDaily
★★★★☆ Given the very nature of the Czechoslovak New Wave, it may seem obvious to note that certain films focused on the individual's relationship with the state. In the case of the second volume of Second Run's collected works from the movement, however, it is a necessity. Comprised of Milos Forman's A Blonde in Love (1965), Jan Nemec's The Party and the Guests (1966) and Jirí Menzel's Larks on a String (1990), this newly released box set brings together a trio of hugely important films from the distributor's catalogue.
- 12/9/2015
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Screen reveals a slate of forthcoming projects from producers promoting movies at the Seville Film Festival
Iranian director Sina Ataeian Dena is to follow his successful drama Paradise, about a struggling teacher, with two more interconnected feature films about violence in Iranian society.
Dena is to collaborate with producers Yousef Panahi (brother of acclaimed director Jafar Panahi) and Amir Hamz at Bon Voyage Films on all three films.
The second, as yet untitled, film has already started shooting in Iran, although the team have had to do so discreetly.
“We are having to be very creative in our approach to avoid challenges when making these films, each of which will take a different artistic approach to violence in Iran,” explained Panahi. “There will be a crossover in certain scenes between the three movies.”
Dena, Panahi and Hamz also revealed plans to work on a feature length film project in Shanghai with a Chinese co-production partner.
“We would also...
Iranian director Sina Ataeian Dena is to follow his successful drama Paradise, about a struggling teacher, with two more interconnected feature films about violence in Iranian society.
Dena is to collaborate with producers Yousef Panahi (brother of acclaimed director Jafar Panahi) and Amir Hamz at Bon Voyage Films on all three films.
The second, as yet untitled, film has already started shooting in Iran, although the team have had to do so discreetly.
“We are having to be very creative in our approach to avoid challenges when making these films, each of which will take a different artistic approach to violence in Iran,” explained Panahi. “There will be a crossover in certain scenes between the three movies.”
Dena, Panahi and Hamz also revealed plans to work on a feature length film project in Shanghai with a Chinese co-production partner.
“We would also...
- 11/13/2015
- by chrisevans78@hotmail.co.uk (Chris Evans)
- ScreenDaily
This podcast focuses on Criterion’s Eclipse Series of DVDs. Hosts David Blakeslee and Trevor Berrett give an overview of each box and offer their perspectives on the unique treasures they find inside. In this episode, David and Trevor conclude their two-part discussion of Eclipse Series 32: Pearls of the Czech New Wave.
About the films:
Of all the cinematic New Waves that broke over the world in the 1960s, the one in Czechoslovakia was among the most fruitful, fascinating, and radical. With a wicked sense of humor and a healthy streak of surrealism, a group of fearless directors—including eventual Oscar winners Miloš Forman and Ján Kadár—began to use film to speak out about the hypocrisy and absurdity of the Communist state. A defining work was the 1966 omnibus film Pearls of the Deep, which introduced five of the movement’s essential voices: Věra Chytilová, Jaromil Jireš, Jiří Menzel,...
About the films:
Of all the cinematic New Waves that broke over the world in the 1960s, the one in Czechoslovakia was among the most fruitful, fascinating, and radical. With a wicked sense of humor and a healthy streak of surrealism, a group of fearless directors—including eventual Oscar winners Miloš Forman and Ján Kadár—began to use film to speak out about the hypocrisy and absurdity of the Communist state. A defining work was the 1966 omnibus film Pearls of the Deep, which introduced five of the movement’s essential voices: Věra Chytilová, Jaromil Jireš, Jiří Menzel,...
- 7/23/2015
- by David Blakeslee
- CriterionCast
Central and Eastern European projects seeking finance, distribution and festival partners have been presented to industry at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff).
Among the 15 projects vying for the $11,000 (€10,000) funding prize is writer-director Marian Crisan’s low-key thriller Orizont, about a family who get more than they bargained for when they set up a guest house in a remote part of Romania.
Crisan’s third film, which was among the more intriguing presentations, is produced by Mandragora Movies and Solar Pictures Film Group founder Bobby Paunescu.
The director’s debut, Morgen, won the Special Jury Prize at the Locarno Film Festival in 2010.
Sofia Exarchou’s feature debut Park, a Greek-language drama about disaffected youth in a decaying contemporary Greece, was selected for both the Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab and Director’s Lab last year, the only European project in the lineups.
Turkish director Ana Yurdu’s debut Motherland, which also caught the eye, is a portrait...
Among the 15 projects vying for the $11,000 (€10,000) funding prize is writer-director Marian Crisan’s low-key thriller Orizont, about a family who get more than they bargained for when they set up a guest house in a remote part of Romania.
Crisan’s third film, which was among the more intriguing presentations, is produced by Mandragora Movies and Solar Pictures Film Group founder Bobby Paunescu.
The director’s debut, Morgen, won the Special Jury Prize at the Locarno Film Festival in 2010.
Sofia Exarchou’s feature debut Park, a Greek-language drama about disaffected youth in a decaying contemporary Greece, was selected for both the Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab and Director’s Lab last year, the only European project in the lineups.
Turkish director Ana Yurdu’s debut Motherland, which also caught the eye, is a portrait...
- 7/7/2015
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Though the Czech New Wave of the sixties was not as addicted to anthology films as the Italians (any major Italian director could have called a film Eight and a Half, since they all directed episodes at one time or another), they did make Pearls of the Night (1966), which showcased nearly all the major graduates of the national film school, Famu (a.k.a. the Kids from Famu): Vera Chytilová, Jaromil Jires, Jirí Menzel, Jan Nemec and Evald Schorm.Three years later, Schorm was back, collaborating with new chums Jirí Brdecka and Milos Makovec on a raunchy supernatural triptych, Prague Nights. An international traveller picks up a strange woman, determined to enjoy a night of illicit passion during his Czech stopover. Driven through a green-tinted sepia night in her vintage limo, he's told three tales of murder, lust and the supernatural, and, at the end, as in any Amicus...
- 4/2/2015
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
natural history
Dissent was brewing in De Doelen this year. For reasons unbeknownst to the vast majority of attendees at this 44th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the powers that be decided to make all the bars in the fest’s headquarters cashless. Instead of creating some pseudo Marxist utopia, however, this "innovation" resulted in frustration, as night after night, critics, filmmakers and producers waved their fest passes preloaded with Euros at bartenders in hopes of getting a poorly poured beer.
What does this have to do with Iffr as a whole? Well, it all felt suggestive of things to come. According to the ever-reliable internet, there are now more tickets sold during Rotterdam than at Cannes or Venice. (Indeed, there were several screenings during the festival that sold out faster than I expected, leaving me scrambling to re-jig my schedule and sprinting from the Pathé theatre to the Cinerama.
Dissent was brewing in De Doelen this year. For reasons unbeknownst to the vast majority of attendees at this 44th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the powers that be decided to make all the bars in the fest’s headquarters cashless. Instead of creating some pseudo Marxist utopia, however, this "innovation" resulted in frustration, as night after night, critics, filmmakers and producers waved their fest passes preloaded with Euros at bartenders in hopes of getting a poorly poured beer.
What does this have to do with Iffr as a whole? Well, it all felt suggestive of things to come. According to the ever-reliable internet, there are now more tickets sold during Rotterdam than at Cannes or Venice. (Indeed, there were several screenings during the festival that sold out faster than I expected, leaving me scrambling to re-jig my schedule and sprinting from the Pathé theatre to the Cinerama.
- 1/30/2015
- by Kiva Reardon
- MUBI
Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2014 discoveries”…
Patrick Brice: It Follows by David Robert Mitchell was one of the best cinematic experiences I’ve had in a long time. The same goes for Jan Nemec’s Diamonds of the Night. I probably listened to Black Silk by Spooky Black more than any other record this year. I’d listen to it every morning driving home after filming all night on The Overnight. It’s great music for watching the sun come up.
Lavallee: Will fans find tonal commonalities between job prospects malaise in Creep, and the challenges of making new friends in The Overnight?
Brice: I think there are some definite similarities. Both films are about the pitfalls of people trying to connect with one another. Structurally they both kinda feel like amusement park rides to me in how the plot and characters reveal themselves.
Lavallee: Did...
Patrick Brice: It Follows by David Robert Mitchell was one of the best cinematic experiences I’ve had in a long time. The same goes for Jan Nemec’s Diamonds of the Night. I probably listened to Black Silk by Spooky Black more than any other record this year. I’d listen to it every morning driving home after filming all night on The Overnight. It’s great music for watching the sun come up.
Lavallee: Will fans find tonal commonalities between job prospects malaise in Creep, and the challenges of making new friends in The Overnight?
Brice: I think there are some definite similarities. Both films are about the pitfalls of people trying to connect with one another. Structurally they both kinda feel like amusement park rides to me in how the plot and characters reveal themselves.
Lavallee: Did...
- 1/24/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Film director who suffered censorship in her native Czechoslovakia for her 'anti-communist' films
Vera Chytilová, who has died aged 85, was one of the brightest of the new wave of film directors who emerged in Czechoslovakia in the mid-60s. Chytilová, Ivan Passer, Jan Nemec, Jirí Menzel, Ján Kadár and Miloš Forman were all products of Famu, the national film school in Prague. After the Russian invasion in 1968 put an end to the Prague Spring, Passer, Kadár and Forman left for the Us, and Nemec went into exile in western Europe. Menzel, who remained, was restricted despite repudiating his "anti-communist" films in 1974. But Chytilová, whose Daisies (1966) was the most adventurous and anarchic film of the period, was silenced.
Born in Ostrava, now in the Czech Republic, Chytilová had a strict Catholic upbringing. "I left that basic, personified faith," she later said. "It seemed like a crutch to me. I realised it...
Vera Chytilová, who has died aged 85, was one of the brightest of the new wave of film directors who emerged in Czechoslovakia in the mid-60s. Chytilová, Ivan Passer, Jan Nemec, Jirí Menzel, Ján Kadár and Miloš Forman were all products of Famu, the national film school in Prague. After the Russian invasion in 1968 put an end to the Prague Spring, Passer, Kadár and Forman left for the Us, and Nemec went into exile in western Europe. Menzel, who remained, was restricted despite repudiating his "anti-communist" films in 1974. But Chytilová, whose Daisies (1966) was the most adventurous and anarchic film of the period, was silenced.
Born in Ostrava, now in the Czech Republic, Chytilová had a strict Catholic upbringing. "I left that basic, personified faith," she later said. "It seemed like a crutch to me. I realised it...
- 3/16/2014
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Czech film director Vera Chytilova, one of the leading filmmakers of the new wave of Czechoslovak cinema in the 1960s, has died. She was 85.
Czech public radio and television, citing relatives, say Chytilova died Wednesday in Prague after battling an unspecified illness for several years.
Chytilova’s highly acclaimed farcical comedy Daisies from 1966 proved her reputation as a provocateur and helped establish her as an artistic force at home and abroad.
Like the movies of other new Czech directors of the time, it represented a radical departure from socialist realism, a typical communist-era genre focusing on realistically depicting the working class’ troubles.
Czech public radio and television, citing relatives, say Chytilova died Wednesday in Prague after battling an unspecified illness for several years.
Chytilova’s highly acclaimed farcical comedy Daisies from 1966 proved her reputation as a provocateur and helped establish her as an artistic force at home and abroad.
Like the movies of other new Czech directors of the time, it represented a radical departure from socialist realism, a typical communist-era genre focusing on realistically depicting the working class’ troubles.
- 3/12/2014
- by Associated Press
- EW - Inside Movies
Here's the latest Austin and Texas film news.
Texas-shot We Gotta Get Out Of This Place (Mike's review) took home an audience award in the American Independents category at this year's AFI Fest, IndieWire reports. The drama, about three Texas teens who unintentionally become involved in an organized crime ring, also screened at Fantastic Fest 2013. The German drama Nothing Bad Can Happen, which has U.S. distribution through Drafthouse Films, took home the New Auteurs critics award.Ut lecturer Kat Candler's upcoming feature Hellion received $70,000 for post-production costs from the San Francisco Film Society, according to IndieWire. The indie drama, starring Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul and Juliette Lewis, stems from Candler's award-winning short film of the same name, about a seven-year-old who falls prey to his older brother's mischievous ways in a small Texas refinery town. Fellow Austinite Jonny Mars, who appeared in the SXSW 2012 short, is returning for the feature,...
Texas-shot We Gotta Get Out Of This Place (Mike's review) took home an audience award in the American Independents category at this year's AFI Fest, IndieWire reports. The drama, about three Texas teens who unintentionally become involved in an organized crime ring, also screened at Fantastic Fest 2013. The German drama Nothing Bad Can Happen, which has U.S. distribution through Drafthouse Films, took home the New Auteurs critics award.Ut lecturer Kat Candler's upcoming feature Hellion received $70,000 for post-production costs from the San Francisco Film Society, according to IndieWire. The indie drama, starring Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul and Juliette Lewis, stems from Candler's award-winning short film of the same name, about a seven-year-old who falls prey to his older brother's mischievous ways in a small Texas refinery town. Fellow Austinite Jonny Mars, who appeared in the SXSW 2012 short, is returning for the feature,...
- 11/18/2013
- by Jordan Gass-Poore'
- Slackerwood
Jiri Menzel (L) with Shivendra Singh Dungarpur (R)
While Shivendra Singh Dungarpur’s first documentary Celluloid Man continues a successful run in international film festivals (upcoming screenings include Edinburgh and Shanghai), the filmmaker is neck deep into his second. This time, the ambitious subject of his documentary is the celebrated Czech filmmaker Jiri Menzel.
It wasn’t easy for Dungarpur to convince the maverick director-who is known for speaking very little on his works-for a documentary. “A lot of friends from the Czech film industry asked me how I had managed to get him to agree to this,” says Dungarpur.
The story goes like this: he wrote to Menzel over several months before he agreed for a meeting in a café in Prague. The meeting that took so much of persuasion proved to be a success. Menzel was intrigued that an Indian filmmaker wanted to come all the way to...
While Shivendra Singh Dungarpur’s first documentary Celluloid Man continues a successful run in international film festivals (upcoming screenings include Edinburgh and Shanghai), the filmmaker is neck deep into his second. This time, the ambitious subject of his documentary is the celebrated Czech filmmaker Jiri Menzel.
It wasn’t easy for Dungarpur to convince the maverick director-who is known for speaking very little on his works-for a documentary. “A lot of friends from the Czech film industry asked me how I had managed to get him to agree to this,” says Dungarpur.
The story goes like this: he wrote to Menzel over several months before he agreed for a meeting in a café in Prague. The meeting that took so much of persuasion proved to be a success. Menzel was intrigued that an Indian filmmaker wanted to come all the way to...
- 6/4/2013
- by Nandita Dutta
- DearCinema.com
Director Olmo Omerzu
Director: Olmo Omerzu
Festival Entry: A Night Too Young – Czech Republic
Narrative Competition
On New Years Day, two innocent 12-year-old boys score vodka for three strangers and get invited to an adult party they’ll never forget. This darkly comic tale by gifted 26-year-old Czech director Olmo Omerzu upends the conventions of the coming of age movie. ★ North American Premiere
Directed By: Olmo Omerzu
Executive Producer: Lukas Svitil
Producer: Jiří Konečný
Screenwriters: Bruno Hájek, Jakub Felcman, Olmo Omerzu
Cinematographer: Lukáš Milota
Editor: Janka Vlčková
Cast: Martin Pechlát, Jirí Cerny, Natálie Rehorová, Vojtech Machuta, Jan Vasi, Milan Mikulcík
We asked Czech director Olmo Omerzu about everything from his inspirations to challenges. Turns out, working with child actors is hard (he’s not the first Festival filmmaker to cite this particular challenge!). Here’s what else he had to say:
Who are you and what do you do?
I’m Olmo Omerzu.
Director: Olmo Omerzu
Festival Entry: A Night Too Young – Czech Republic
Narrative Competition
On New Years Day, two innocent 12-year-old boys score vodka for three strangers and get invited to an adult party they’ll never forget. This darkly comic tale by gifted 26-year-old Czech director Olmo Omerzu upends the conventions of the coming of age movie. ★ North American Premiere
Directed By: Olmo Omerzu
Executive Producer: Lukas Svitil
Producer: Jiří Konečný
Screenwriters: Bruno Hájek, Jakub Felcman, Olmo Omerzu
Cinematographer: Lukáš Milota
Editor: Janka Vlčková
Cast: Martin Pechlát, Jirí Cerny, Natálie Rehorová, Vojtech Machuta, Jan Vasi, Milan Mikulcík
We asked Czech director Olmo Omerzu about everything from his inspirations to challenges. Turns out, working with child actors is hard (he’s not the first Festival filmmaker to cite this particular challenge!). Here’s what else he had to say:
Who are you and what do you do?
I’m Olmo Omerzu.
- 6/18/2012
- by Film Independent
- Film Independent
Cannes 2010 Coverage
David Cairns
The Forgotten: Trigger Happy Punks
The Forgotten: Mood Swings
The Forgotten: Seduced and Abandoned
Adrian Curry
Movie Poster of the Week: "Guns"
Movie Poster of the Week: "Tentacles"
Movie Poster of the Week: "Tropical Malady"
Movie Poster of the Week: "La religieuse"
Daniel Kasman
Image of the Day. Records of Material Objects in the Cinema #1
R.I.P. William Lubtchansky
Images of the Day. Ideal Couples
Cannes 2010. Favorite Moments: Days 1 & 2
Cannes 2010. An Actor-Director and His Women: "Tournée" (Mathieu Amalric, France)
Cannes 2010. 3-Wall Realism: "Tuesday, After Christmas" (Radu Muntean, Romania)
Cannes 2010: Sincere Love: "The Strange Case of Angelica" (Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal)
Cannes 2010. Favorite Moments: Day 3
Cannes 2010: A Devil without the Details: "Aurora" (Cristi Puiu, Romania)
Cannes 2010. Love-Hate Relationships: "Au petite bonheur" (Marcel L’Herbier, France, 1946)
Cannes 2010. Playful Protest: "Hands Up" (Romain Goupil, France)
Cannes 2010. Favorite Moments: Day 4
Cannes 2010. Today's Quiet City: "I Wish I Knew" (Jia Zhangke,...
David Cairns
The Forgotten: Trigger Happy Punks
The Forgotten: Mood Swings
The Forgotten: Seduced and Abandoned
Adrian Curry
Movie Poster of the Week: "Guns"
Movie Poster of the Week: "Tentacles"
Movie Poster of the Week: "Tropical Malady"
Movie Poster of the Week: "La religieuse"
Daniel Kasman
Image of the Day. Records of Material Objects in the Cinema #1
R.I.P. William Lubtchansky
Images of the Day. Ideal Couples
Cannes 2010. Favorite Moments: Days 1 & 2
Cannes 2010. An Actor-Director and His Women: "Tournée" (Mathieu Amalric, France)
Cannes 2010. 3-Wall Realism: "Tuesday, After Christmas" (Radu Muntean, Romania)
Cannes 2010: Sincere Love: "The Strange Case of Angelica" (Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal)
Cannes 2010. Favorite Moments: Day 3
Cannes 2010: A Devil without the Details: "Aurora" (Cristi Puiu, Romania)
Cannes 2010. Love-Hate Relationships: "Au petite bonheur" (Marcel L’Herbier, France, 1946)
Cannes 2010. Playful Protest: "Hands Up" (Romain Goupil, France)
Cannes 2010. Favorite Moments: Day 4
Cannes 2010. Today's Quiet City: "I Wish I Knew" (Jia Zhangke,...
- 6/2/2010
- MUBI
One of my favorite phrases, the origin of which I can't say I rightly know, is "simple as death." The phrase came to mind quite a few times while watching this entirely extraordinary film in a beautiful DVD release from the ever-crucial U.K. label Second Run. It is the first feature from director Czech director Jan Nemec, who would achieve international fame with his subsequent film The Party and the Guests. Party is an allegory of power and oppression...but there's nothing allegorical about Diamonds of the Night. There's nothing realistic about it either. That is to say, its reality is convincing and brutal and very close—harrowingly close—to the reality of life as we may know it and historical reality and all the rest, but the film is not "realistic." While its premise is as simple as death, its execution and texture is as complicated, and knotty,...
- 5/11/2010
- MUBI
One of my favorite phrases, the origin of which I can't say I rightly know, is "simple as death." The phrase came to mind quite a few times while watching this entirely extraordinary film in a beautiful DVD release from the ever-crucial U.K. label Second Run. It is the first feature from director Czech director Jan Nemec, who would achieve international fame with his subsequent film The Party and the Guests. Party is an allegory of power and oppression...but there's nothing allegorical about Diamonds of the Night. There's nothing realistic about it either. That is to say, its reality is convincing and brutal and very close—harrowingly close—to the reality of life as we may know it and historical reality and all the rest, but the film is not "realistic." While its premise is as simple as death, its execution and texture is as complicated, and knotty,...
- 5/11/2010
- MUBI
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