Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 

Saturday afternoon, even before the gala closing ceremonies of the 44th Karlovy Vary IFF, six non-statutory awards were conferred. “I’d like to thank the juries of the non-statutory awards for their work. I know how demanding the job is because I have been on FIPRESCI juries several times,” said festival artistic director Eva Zaoralová prior to the awards ceremony.

The Independent Camera Award for best film of the Forum of Independents competition was conferred upon the highly popular Eamon by Irish director Margaret Corkery. It tells the story of a little boy who is jealous of his mother and father’s close relationship. It won the award for its “precisely drawn portrait of parents failing in their parental roles, expressed through visual means and its comprehensive stylistic presentation,” according to the jury’s reasoning. The Argentine film La Tigra, Chaco was awarded Special Mention.

The Europa Cinemas Label Award was given to Danish director Martin Pieter Zandvliet for the competition film Applause. The powerful, touching drama was also awarded for Paprika Steen’s starring role as an (un)recovered alcoholic who is trying to return to normal life and get back her five kids from her ex-husband.

The FIPRESCI Prize from the International Federation of Film Critics was taken by the Croatian-Serbian film Will Not Stop There by director Vinko Brešan. It relates the tale of a young private detective who “buys” a porn star named Desa from her pimp and starts living with her. “It’s a bittersweet story dealing with the results of the war, war problems, reconciliation and forgiveness. We award the director’s approach, which is not judgmental, but tries to achieve mutual understanding,” according to the jury’s reasoning.

The Award of the Ecumenical Jury was conferred on the Iranian film Twenty from director Abdolreza Kahani. “The film portrays everyday life in Iran in a remarkable way. The characters’ emotional strength and the way they accept and deal with reality is admirable,” according the jury’s reasoning.

The FICC Jury’s Don Quixote Award was won by director Frédéric Dumont for the Belgian-Canadian film Angel at Sea, which focuses on the bitter childhood experience of a boy growing up with a manic-depressive father. The jury awarded two Special Mentions, to the Russian film Wolfy by Vassily Sigarev and to American director Sophie Barthes’ Cold Souls.

Last but not least, the NETPAC Award for the support of Asian film went to a South Korean film by debuting director Yang Ik-June entitled Breathless, about an emotionally calloused debt collector. “The film is provocative and brutal, but also emotive and tender. It grippingly portrays domestic violence, a problem found the world over,” according to the jury’s reasoning.

The main festival awards will be handed out Saturday evening at the gala closing ceremonies. Judging by the critics reviewed in today’s Festival Daily, the favorite is Denmark’s Applause, followed by Russia’s Wolfy, with Poland’s Piggies and Germany’s Whisky with Vodka coming in third.