Two years ago, Casey Affleck arrived to Karlovy Vary to accept the Festival President Award as a fresh winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor. This year he arrived as a director and brought with him a film whose shooting coincided with his Oscar victory - a dystopia about the relationship of a father and a daughter called Light of My Life.
“Karlovy Vary is one of my most favourite festivals. Last time, I was here with the film A Ghost Story which was quite experimental and the audience was so benevolent about it”, he praised the festival before the Czech premiere of the film. Not long after the screening of the film, together with the leading actress Anna Pniowsky he was present at the KVIFF TALK, discussing not only his new film with the Festival Daily reporter Marta Balaga.
He elaborated on his very first role: “Our kindergarten was called after Rosa Parks, the civil rights movement hero. One day, she came for a visit and we staged a theatre performance for her. I played the role of a lion, my costume fell off at one point, but I continued to play anyway. Rosa then stroked my hair and praised me for roaring like a real lion” Affleck recounted.
At the talk, young Anna Pniowsky spoke well of her director and colleague: “It is thanks to him that I act the way I do now, I have learnt so much from him.” As a father of two sons, Affleck was thinking of writing about the relationship between a father and a son. “But the boys forced me to make a promise that the film will not be about them. So that is why I changed it to a daughter,” stated the filmmaker.
