Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 

Yesterday, charming and good-natured Antonio Banderas accepted the Festival President's Award from Jiří Bartoška before presenting his film Summer Rain – and he demonstrated why he is this year's favorite star at Karlovy Vary.

With the award in his hand, the Spanish actor recalled that he set out from the Czech Republic on his way to Hollywood fame. "I made a TV series here about the life of the young Mussolini. I was here for seven months, and I even visited Karlovy Vary. I fell in love with the local people and the culture," announced Banderas, who still remembers some Czech words.

The KVIFF guest presented his melancholy, lyrical movie Summer Rain as a director and producer. "Five years ago I founded a production company because after 20 years in Hollywood I needed to return to my own country and make something else than American commercial movies. My film is an experiment. In Hollywood, if you say you want to experiment they throw you out the window," Banderas said. He described his film as an attempt to interpret fatefulness into poetry. "It's a film about the impossibility of loving, about the confusion of growing up," the filmmaker said, adding that he would not like to be 20 years old again.

(ip)