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The Festival Has Begun. Vicky Krieps and Peter Sarsgaard Received the President’s Award

July 04, 2025, 20:04

Let the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival begin! This iconic sentence was not spoken by Jiří Bartoška (or anyone else) this year, but the opening ceremony was dedicated to his memory. Marek Eben paid tribute to Bartoška right in the introduction, joking that the hundred-meter chimney of the local heating plant should bear his name. The late KVIFF president is also the central figure of this year’s opening film, the documentary We’ve Got to Frame It! (a conversation with Jiří Bartoška in July 2021).

An empty chair in the festival trailer reminds us of his absence. It is a tribute to Jiří Bartoška accompanied by the appearance of his longtime friend and classmate Bolek Polívka, who received the Festival President’s Award from him just three years ago. This year’s laureates, acclaimed actors Vicky Krieps and Peter Sarsgaard, received their Festival President’s Award statuettes from the Executive Director Kryštof Mucha and Artistic Director Karel Och.

“I appreciate this award very much and thank you for it,” said Vicky Krieps, a native of Luxembourg, to a full hall that gave her a standing ovation. “I love festivals. Films can carry important messages, they cross borders and no one asks them for a passport or judge if they’re cool. We should protect them so they can continue to spread love, peace, and above all, forgiveness.”

American actor Peter Sarsgaard also received a standing ovation from the Grand Hall. “Cinema is a collective effort, and collective action is the only path forward, in art and in the pursuit of our happiness,” he said, and concluded his acceptance speech with a quote from Václav Havel: “A room can never get warm if one half of it is cold.”

The opening ceremony, with dancers in cones of light choreographed by the Caban brothers, also introduced the juries of the Crystal Globe Competition and Proxima Competition, as well as some of the festival sections, including the Tribute to John Garfield.

The 59th KVIFF runs through 12 July.

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