“Let’s blow the roof off,” blasted from the speakers as the delegation of The Fighter arrived on the red carpet. On stage in the Grand Hall, artistic director Karel Och described it as the largest film delegation he had ever introduced at the festival. In total, 34 cast and crew members attended.
“Thank you all for coming – it’s wonderful to be here. We’re grateful to the festival for inviting us to this special screening and for having the courage to showcase a slightly different kind of genre. It must be fate that today also happens to be Sylvester Stallone’s birthday. We even have him in the film, at least in the Czech dubbed version, through the voice of Pavel Rímský,” said one of the film’s directors, Tomáš Dianiška, best known for his energetic theatre work.
“We wanted to make a big film – a true spectacle. That’s why our partnership with Oktagon was so essential,” said producer and co-director Vojtěch Frič before handing the microphone to commentator and promoter Ondřej Novotný. Novotný then delivered an emotional speech filled with personal anecdotes, beginning with Paulo Coelho’s novel The Alchemist, which he had read as a child. “If you pay attention as you go through life and stay open to the signs it sends you, your life will be far more interesting,” he said, before launching into a heartfelt and often humorous account of the unlikely chain of events that had led him, over the course of four decades, to the world premiere of The Fighter.
As a young man, Novotný saw Fists in the Dark. He used to come to KVIFF as a backpacker and even shared a tip that, according to him, still works if you want to get into screenings for free. Karlovy Vary is also where he met his wife, although their first encounter began with an argument over a seat in the cinema. “Ten years ago, a bald Slovak guy called me and said we should put on a show together. He invited me to Žilina for sushi – which was weird. I remember thinking: this is so absurd, it must be a sign. And that’s how we founded Oktagon,” he recalled, describing the origins of what has become the Czech Republic’s largest MMA organisation.
Last year, Oktagon sold out its live event in Karlovy Vary; this year, it returned with a feature film. “For forty years, I dreamed of walking the red carpet. And now we’re here. When you truly want something and fight for it, the universe finds a way to make it happen,” he said, circling back to the message of The Alchemist.
