Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 

The 42nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival came to a close on Saturday night with a ceremony at the Grand Hall of the Thermal hotel at which the U.S. actor, director and producer Danny DeVito was presented with a Crystal Globe award for outstanding contribution to world cinema. The Crystal Globe Grand Prix went to the Icelandic film Jar City (Mýrin) by director Baltasar Kormákur. Following the prize-giving ceremony there was a screening of Jake Paltrow’s main competition picture The Good Night, in which one of the lead roles is played by Danny DeVito.

 

Festival video

This year’s Karlovy Vary IFF ends tonight at 11pm with – appropriately enough – Jake Paltrow’s The Good Night, the tale of jaded former pop star Gary who meets the woman of his dreams…but only in his dreams. The Good Night features Martin Freeman (of Love Actually and The Office fame) as protagonist Gary, Danny DeVito as "lucid dreaming" expert Mel, Jake's sister Gwyneth Paltrow as Gary's fractious girlfriend Dora, and the gorgeous Penelope Cruz as Anna, the perfect woman he dreams of every night. Head along to the Thermal Grand Hall at 11pm tonight for The Good Night. Sweet dreams.

Danny DeVito talks about The Good Night and working with first-time director Jake Paltrow, his friendship with Czech director Milos Forman (who directed DeVito’s film debut One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest), being typecast as a “comic actor” and letting your rubber ball float its own course on the great river of life…

You must get so many scripts through the mail – what was it about The Good Night that caught your imagination?
“It was first the dreaming aspect of it. I always wanted to delve into that a little bit. And then the second thing was Jake – Jake Paltrow, who is a first-time director, just starting out and very passionate about the story. I was infected by his enthusiasm and what he was trying to work out in his mind. It’s always interesting. You go into a project where sometimes the director has everything worked out, sometimes he has a lot of things worked out, and sometimes he’s finding his way. If you trust the process, you have to trust the person, and I do trust him. You get in there with him and go along, and the result is really pleasant. I really enjoyed it.”

A total of six prizes were awarded by KVIFF’s non-statuary juries at Thermal’s Moser café at 3 pm today. The FIPRESCI Prize, judged by film critics, went to the Russian picture Simple Things by Alexey Popogrebsky. The director, who was present, also received the Ecumenical Jury Award. Meanwhile, the Ecumenical Jury’s Special Mention went to Jean Becker for Conversation with My Gardener. Philippe Boudou, audio-visual attaché of the French Embassy in Prague, was on hand to receive the prize on the director’s behalf.

The Icelandic picture Jar City by Baltasar Kormákur took the FICC – Don Quixote Prize, with the director himself arriving in Karlovy Vary just in time to collect the award.

The Europa Cinema Labels Prize went to The Class and was personally accepted by its director Ilmar Raag. And, last but not least, the NETPAC Prize went to the Israeli-French picture The Band’s Visit by Eran Kolirin.

The Prague residents among you can enjoy some of the highlights of this year’s KVIFF for a second time (or for the first time if you couldn’t get tickets here), with the capital’s popular Aero and Svetozor arthouse cinemas putting on the annual Echoes of Karlovy Vary mini-fest. It starts this afternoon, runs until July 18th and features five films a day, including a number of movies from Karlovy Vary’s New Hollywood section (Badlands, The Last Picture Show and Mean Streets). Find out more at www.kinoaero.cz.

Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao Hsien directed Flight of the Red Balloon (2007) as a tribute to Albert Lamorisse’s 1956 classic The Red Balloon, after being approached by the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. The museum was looking for ways to commemorate its 20th anniversary, so Hou Hsiao Hsien came up with the idea of paying homage to Lamorisse’s iconic film. The Flight of the Red Balloon is set in contemporary Paris, and features not only a red balloon, a little boy and a Chinese au pair, but also French star Juliette Binoche.

Catch Flight of the Red Balloon (Le voyage du ballon rouge) today at 16:30 in the Cinema Lázně III

Festival video

“When I was 15, all my dreams were the same,” says Oscar-nominated actor, director and producer Danny DeVito. “My dreams were all about women. Well-endowed women,” explained DeVito. He was speaking at a packed press conference for The Good Night, in which he plays lucid dreaming expert and part-time waiter Mel. The film, a “comedic fantasy” by first-time director Jake Paltrow, stars Martin Freeman (of Love Actually and The Office fame), and is in competition for a Crystal Globe.

Danny DeVito’s film career began in 1975, as mental patient Martini in Czech director Miloš Forman’s masterpiece One Flew Over The Cuckoo Nest. DeVito displayed an impressive knowledge of Forman’s early Czech films, talking of his admiration for such classics as The Fireman’s Ball, Loves Of A Blonde and Black Peter. “What I liked about those films was the sense of space,” said DeVito. “The moments of silence and moments of reflection are as important as moments of dialogue and expression.”

DeVito made his own directorial debut in 1987, with the dark comedy Throw Momma From The Train. “There’s nothing like directing, except maybe cooking pasta,” he explained, although when it comes to cooking, perhaps Miloš Forman should stick to the day job - “Miloš cooks everything that moves.”

The Good Night - Thermal, Grand Hall, Saturday at 23:00

Posters for George Lucas’s 1973 hit American Graffiti asked “Where were you in ’62?”, with the movie taking its viewers back to the era before JFK was assassinated and mop-topped Brits ruled US airwaves. American Graffiti was a nostalgic homage to the future Star Wars director’s own teenage years, featuring hot rods, drive-ins, making out and a non-stop rock soundtrack. But you certainly don’t need to have lived through the era to enjoy the film, which is on at Thermal’s Grand Hall at 9 am today. (By the way trivia fans, the Chevy ’55 driven by the Harrison Ford character is apparently the same one seen in Monte Hellman’s Two-Lane Backtop, which is also in the New Hollywood retrospective).