МКФ у Карлових Варах–2017 назвав переможців. Словацько-українська «Межа» Петера Беб’яка отримала приз за режисуру.

David González, Cineuropa

KARLOVY VARY 2017: Václav Kadrnka’s film collects the Crystal Globe (the first time it’s been taken home by a local director in 15 years), while Men Don’t Cry receives the Special Jury Prize.

Ever since the triumph of Petr Zelenka’s Year of the Devil in 2002, a Czech film hadn’t managed to take home the Crystal Globe from the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. But on Saturday, the 52nd edition of the festival changed all that by bestowing its main award upon the latest oeuvre by Czech director Václav Kadrnka, Little Crusader.

The film, which could be best described as an abstract medieval road movie, is based on an epic poem by Jaroslav Vrchlický about the mythological Children’s Crusade. The jury, comprising Anna Brüggemann, Sarah Flack, Ciro Guerra, Michel Merkt and Štefan Uhrík, awarded Kadrnka the first major prize of his career.

Besides this, another filmmaker from the region received the Award for Best Director: Slovakia’s Peter Bebjak, for The Line, a gangster thriller set on the Slovak-Ukrainian border. Men Don’t Cry, Bosnian director Alen Drljevič’s take on the rivalries in the former Yugoslavian countries, was awarded the Special Jury Prize.

The acting prizes were shared by Jowita Budnik and Eliane Umuhire, the lead actresses in Birds Are Singing in Kigali, the stark but enchanting film by Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze (who passed away recently) about the consequences of the Rwandan genocide, and Alexander Yatsenko, for his role in Russian filmmaker Boris Khlebnikov’s Arrhythmia.

Surprisingly, one of the most warmly received films in competition, The Cakemaker by Israeli filmmaker Ofir Raul Graizer, left the festival empty-handed, while the US title Keep the Change and young Romanian actress Voica Oltean (from Iulia Rugină’s Breaking News) got two Special Mentions.

In the meantime, the parallel East of the West section celebrated the success of the Russian title How Viktor “the Garlic” Took Alexey “the Stud” to the Nursing Home by Alexander Hant, with a Special Mention for Dede by Georgian filmmaker Mariam Khatchvani, and the parallel Documentary Competition section crowned the hilarious family diary by Spanish filmmaker Gustavo Salmerón, Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle, with a Special Mention going to Atelier de conversation by Austrian filmmaker Bernhard Braunstein.

The festival’s closing ceremony also included tributes to US actor Jeremy Renner and Czech director Václav Vorlíček, who both received a Festival President’s Award from KVIFF president Jiří Bartoška. This edition also saw the handing out of Festival President’s Awards to US actors Casey Affleck and Uma Thurman, as well as a Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema to Ken Loach and Paul Laverty.

Next year’s edition will be held from 29 June–7 July.

Here is the full list of winners of the 52nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival:

Competition

Crystal Globe for Best Film
Little Crusader – Václav Kadrnka (Czech Republic/Slovak Republic/Italy)

Special Jury Prize
Men Don’t Cry – Alen Drljevič (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Slovenia/Croatia/Germany)

Best Director
Peter Bebjak – The Line (Slovak Republic/Ukraine)

Best Actress
Jowita Budnik, Eliane Umuhire – Birds Are Singing in Kigali (Poland)

Best Actor
Alexander Yatsenko – Arrhythmia (Russia/Finland/Germany)

Special Jury Prize for Best First Feature
Keep The Change – Rachel Israel (USA)

Special Jury Prize for Best Actress
Voica Oltean – Breaking News (Romania)

East of the West

Best Film
How Viktor “the Garlic” Took Alexey “the Stud” to the Nursing Home – Alexander Hant (Russia)

Special Jury Prize
Dede – Mariam Khatchvani (Georgia/United Kingdom)

Documentary Competition

Best Film
Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle – Gustavo Salmerón (Spain)

Special Jury Prize
Atelier de conversation – Bernhard Braunstein (Austria/France/Lichtenstein)

Other awards

Audience Award
Wind River – Taylor Sheridan (USA)

FIPRESCI Prize
Keep The Change – Rachel Israel

Ecumenical Jury Award
The Cakemaker – Ofir Raul Graizer (Israel/Germany)

FEDEORA Award
Mariţa – Cristi Iftime (Romania)
Special Mention
Blue Silence – Bülent Öztürk (Turkey/Belgium)

Europa Cinemas Label
Men Don’t Cry – Alen Drljević

David González, Cineuropa, 8 липня 2017 року