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Open Eyes to present Cannes movies, including Trier’s Antichrist, as Czech premiers

June 16, 2009, 10:00 AM

As in past years, the Karlovy Vary IFF, in its Open Eyes section, will present a large collection of movies from the program of Cannes, the world’s most prestigious film festival. “Just before Karlovy Vary, Cannes is the last big European festival and its program is usually so interesting that we try to offer our viewers a cross-section of its offerings,” says Eva Zaoralová, artistic director of the Karlovy Vary IFF. She doesn’t feel it would be right to scatter the individual films from Cannes into various sections.

Of especial interest, Karlovy Vary will present the film that caused the greatest stir at Cannes. Lars von Trier’s Antichrist tells the story of a married couple coming to terms with the loss of a child. France’s Charlotte Gainsbourg took Best Actress at the French festival for her part in the film. The movie portrays shocking, sexually explicit and violent scenes which evoked both protest and adulation from Cannes audiences. “It’s an intensely controversial film and if Lars von Trier hadn’t shot it, the reaction would probably have been even more negative than was seen at Cannes,” says Zaoralová.

Karlovy Vary will also screen other Cannes films by famous directors from the main competition. Pedro Almodóvar and Penelope Cruz introduced the film Broken Embraces (Los Abrazos Rotos) on La Croisette, and Park Chan-wook offered a horror film, the bloodsoaked Thirst (Bakjwi), which shared the Jury Prize with Brit Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank – these and more will be shown at Karlovy Vary. The Cannes section Un Certain Regard will be represented by two films: South Korea’s Mother tells of a relationship between a mother and her adult son who is suspected of a brutal murder. Israel’s Eyes Wide Open (Einaym pkuhot) features a love story between butcher Aaron and his new helper Ezri, notable for the fact that it plays out in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Jerusalem.

An additional two movies were praised in Quinzaine des Réalisateurs (Directors´ Fortnight), a parallel Cannes section. America’s Humpday by director Lynn Shelton was already a sensation at this year’s Sundance, where it took the Special Jury Prize. It follows the story of two old friends whose heretofore calm heterosexual lives are stirred up during an encounter. The section will also provide the Austrian-Italian film La Pivellina, which took the Europa Cinemas Award for its compelling rendition of the story of a circus performer who cares for a two-year-old foundling girl.

At the last minute, Karlovy Vary’s program department has managed to confirm another outstanding movie. Samson and Delilah by Australian filmmaker Warwick Thornton took the Golden Camera Award for the best debut across the sections. It focuses on a story of love between two teenagers growing up in an Aborigine community.

The winner of this year’s Palme d’Or is almost a sure bet as well. The White Ribbon (Das weisse Band) by Austrian director Michael Haneke returns to the period prior to World War I when odd, ritualistic crimes start being committed in a small German village. The artistic director of the Karlovy Vary IFF hopes that festival viewers will, in the end, have the chance to see the film. “I consider The White Ribbon the most compelling film of this year’s Cannes festival, and perhaps even one of the most significant films of recent years,” says Eva Zaoralová.

The festival in Karlovy Vary will also present the lone Czech representative at Cannes, the winner of Cinéfondation’s student section. Zuzana Špidlová’s Baba (Baba) will screen as part of a selection of five films from the Prague Short Film Festival.

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