Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, July 8 – As closing night neared, things got a tad more frenzied here : too many films still to see or catch up on, too many beers and Becherovkas to be had with too many chums – and too few days left to do it all. Time to vent one's frustrations about the films one missed (Fritz Lang's classic The Spiders 1 and 2, restored by the Czech National Film Archive), time, also, to sum up the festival's selection: several good films, some less good, and some wonderful surprises -- these last being, of course, a festivalgoer's reward. That sense of discovering a new eye, a new voice.
On closing night, the bathing-suited, blonde-bewigged bimbettes once again displayed their wares (see Diary #1, the choreography was exactly the same). Then the lights were dimmed and a montage of film clips was screened, reflecting the career of actor-director-producer Danny de Vito who was to be given an Award for Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema. As the montage showed, if De Vito's career as an actor and director is present in everyone's mind, his work as a producer deserves more kudos than it got so far. You want proof? Beside the features that he directed and/or appeared in, De Vito was also involved in the production of such landmark films as Curtis Hanson's 8 Mile (with Eminem), Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, Milos Forman's Man on the Moon, Andrew Niccol's Gattaca and Steve Soderbergh's Out of Sight and Erin Brockovich
De Vito's acceptance speech was graceful, funny – and short. Among other things, he recalled the time he worked with Czech-born director Milos Forman on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. He had but one line to say, and an unintelligible one at that. So Forman whispered something in De Vito's ear, which the actor dutifully repeated. "At the premiere of the film," De Vito reminisced, "among the various guests, there was a small group of Czechs. When my line came up, they all laughed – they were the only ones in the theatre that did. The line was: '(….)' " Now, judging by the roaring laughter of the Festival's closing night audience, it must be some off-color joke - and it still works.
Finally, it was time to award the various films in competition and Baltasar Kormákur's Jar City won the day. Quite deservedly so, one might add
And here are the winners :
MAIN COMPETITION, FICTION
GRAND PRIX – CRYSTAL GLOBE
Jar City, directed by Baltasar Kormákur
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
Lucky Miles, by Michael James Rowland
BEST DIRECTOR AWARD
The Art of Negative Thinking, by Bĺrd Breien
BEST ACTRESS AWARD
Elvira Mínguez, for Pudor
BEST ACTOR AWARD
Sergey Puskepalis, for Simple Things
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Leonid Bronevoy, for Simple Things
BEST SCRIPT
Zdeněk Svěrák, for Empties
DOCUMENTARIES
BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM (under 30 minutes)
Artel (Russia), by Sergey Loznitsa
Special Mention
Theodore (Latvia) by Laila Pakalnina
BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM (over 30 minutes)
Lost Holiday (Czech Republic), by Lucie Králová
Special Mention
The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories (Bulgaria) by Andrey Paounov
EAST OF THE WEST AWARD
BEST FILM
Armin (Croatia, Germany, Bosnia, Herzegovina), by Ognjen Sviličić
Special Mention
The Class (Estonia), by Ilmar Raag
OTHER PRIZES AWARDED AT THE FESTIVAL
AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD CINEMA
Danny DeVito, USA
Břetislav Pojar, Czech Republic
PRÁVO AUDIENCE AWARD
Empties (Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Denmark), by Jan Svěrák
AWARD OF INTERNATIONAL FILM CRITICS (FIPRESCI)
Simple Things, by Alexey Popogrebsky
THE DON QUIJOTE PRIZE (FICC – International Federation of Film Societies)
Jar City
THE ECUMENICAL JURY AWARD
Simple Things
Special Mention
Conversation with My Gardener (France), by Jean Becker
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