- Title: CZECH REPUBLIC: 35TH KARLOVY VARY FILM FESTIVAL GETS UNDERWAY.
- Date: 5th July 2000
- Summary: KARLOVY VARY (JULY 5-12, 2000) (REUTERS) CU: (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH DIRECTOR OF "UNE AFFAIRE DE GOUT" ("A MATTER OF TASTE") BERNARD RAPP "This film is inspired by a book I read about a man who's actually a bit mad and decides to become a 'food taster'. You might think that's a bit absurd for the 21st century, but it is a psychological thriller."
- Embargoed: 20th July 2000 13:00
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- Location: KARLOVY VARY, CZECH REPUBLIC
- Country: Czech Republic
- Reuters ID: LVA20Q86X2QKSKBQUFVNV7QSN29S
- Story Text: US actors Woody Harrelson and Alicia Silverstone have arrived in the picturesque Czech spa town of Karlovy Vary for the 35th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The festival, traditionally heavy on Eastern European movies, focuses this year on "East meets West" with all 19 films in competition originating in Eastern and Western Europe as well as Asia. Although the movies at the centre of the festival are a far cry from the "Chicken Runs" and "Mission Impossibles" of Hollywood producers, it is the Hollywood stars that attract most of the town's attention.
The 35th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival opened with its traditional horse carriage ride from the famous Grand Hotel Pupp to the fairly plain Thermal Hotel where most of the films in competition are being screened.
Special guest this year was veteran US actor Eli Wallach, who came to visit the festival to present "Keeping the Faith" - a film in which he stars next to young Hollywood talent and first-time director Ed Norton.
Norton, currently filming in Canada, is expected to attend the festival at the end of this week for its closing ceremony.
The festival, traditionally heavy on Eastern European films, focuses this year on "East meets West" with all 19 films in competition originating in countries all over Eastern and Western Europe as well as Asia.
Norwegian movie "Aberdeen" opened the festival with its world premiere.
"What's special about the Karlovy Vary Film Festival is that we try to cover Eastern European movies. We have a special section called East of the West. At the Berlin Film Festival for example, competition is really about major U.S.
films. Here instead we're trying to cover artistic films", says festival director Jiri Bartoska.
One such artistic film is the Czech entry "The Pilgrimage of Students Peter and Jacob", directed by well-known Czech director Drahomira Vihanova. The film addresses cultural difficulties of the Romany community in The Czech Republic and poses polemical questions about guilt, punishment and life values.
Czech President Vaclav Havel who visits the festival every year, attended the screening of "The Pilgrimage of Students Peter and Jacob", but didn't want to say what he thought about it, so not to influence the judges: "I'm not sure, I have to think about it. It's an interesting film in some aspects, but in others I have a different view. I don't want to influence the jury. But I do come here every year when I can."
British actor Julian Sands also popped in to present "The Loss of Sexual Innocence", a movie that received very little publicity in the UK or anywhere else in Europe.
"Although it didn't have a very long play in England, the people I spoke to who had seen it, seemed to be very appreciative of Mike's (director) efforts to be open. So much has to do with marketing and contribution. I don't believe as many people want to see M:i-2 when they could see "The Loss of Sexual Innocence, " Sands says.
Whether it'll be more popular with Czech audiences will have to be seen.
Germany was represented amongst others by a black-and-white movie called "No Place to Go."
Starring German actress Hannelore Elsner the movie is a biographical account about director Oskar Roehler's mother and her tragic death after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
It is the story of Hanna Flanders, a famous German writer, whose conviction that life in East Germany was better than that of the West is badly shattered after she visits East Berlin in 1989, shortly after The Wall came down. Hanna's disappointment in what she finds in East Berlin slowly leads to her own self-destruction, and finallywith her suicide.
It's a role that Hannelore Elsner says she didn't have to think about twice -- a character that suits her perfectly: "I really like her independence. I see her as very young, young at heart. Only when you're young at heart, can you be this independent and passionate. She doesn't let anyone corrupt her. She wants to experience whatever she wants with whoever she chooses to experience it with."
French movies were also represented at the festival with French director Bernard Rapp presenting his second film "A Matter of Taste".
It's a movie about manipulation between humans, a psychological tale of phobias and boundaries -- subjects that fascinate Rapp.
"This film is inspired by a book I read about a man who's actually a bit mad and decides to become a 'food taster'. You might think that's a bit absurd for the 21st century, but it is a psychological thriller," Rapp says.
Although the film festival offers a great selection of movies by well-known filmmakers, it also offers a chance for those unknown directors who want to get out there, to show their movies. 34-year-old Tony Pemberton has been named one of ten directors to watch by Variety Magazine and after his recent success at The Sundance Film Festival chose to show his first-time film "Beyond the Ocean" in Karlovy Vary.
"Beyond the Ocean" was filmed in Russia and tells the tale of a young Russian girl who is badly disappointed by her boyfriend after she goes to visit him in New York. Abandoned, she finds herself in a strange country and begins to dwell on thoughts of her past and childhood memories...
"Film Festivals are very helpful in getting the film out to people. Maybe it's also the only time, a bunch of people will see this film and then it will only be specialists who seek out a film like mine. It's not that the film is difficult, but it didn't have stars, it didn't have a high concept sale", says Pemberton.
Well, it is the stars that attract most of the attention and the arrivals of Woody Harrelson, Alicia Silverstone and Italian actor Franco Nero have so far been at the centre of the festival. Harrelson who already attended the festival last year, is here to present "Grass", a documentary film which he narrated.
Alicia Silverstone is expected to presented Britain's Kenneth Branagh's film "Love's Labour's Lost" later this week.
The festival will close on Saturday, July 15. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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