CZECH REPUBLIC: 'Corn Island', a film produced between Georgia, Germany , France, the Czech Republic and Kazakhstan, wins the Crystal Globe at the 49th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

Record ID: 503017

  • Title: CZECH REPUBLIC: 'Corn Island', a film produced between Georgia, Germany , France, the Czech Republic and Kazakhstan, wins the Crystal Globe at the 49th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
  • Date: 13th July 2014
  • Summary: GEORGIAN FILM DIRECTOR, GEORGE OVASHVILI, GETTING OUT OF SEAT TO WALK ON STAGE TO RECIEVE CRYSTAL GLOBE
  • Embargoed: 28th July 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Czech Republic
  • Country: Czech Republic
  • Reuters ID: LVA2FOITN285OA23U1HY1WS2SBOZ
  • Story Text: American actress Laura Dern was the main star at the closing ceremony of the 49th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on Saturday (July 12) where a wet performance that saw dancers sliding across the stage, provided the backdrop for the award announcements.
    Dern made an appearance to present the award for best actor to Nahuel P�ez Biscayart who won for his role in the David Lambert film Je suis �toi.
    American Elle Fanning took home the Best Actress award for her part in the Jeff Preiss film Low Down.
    The $15,000 Special Jury Prize and the prize for directing went to the Hungarian co-production film "Free Fall" (Szabades�) and film director Gyorgi Palfi, but it was the Georgian movie "Corn Island", co-produced with Germany, France, the Czech Republic and Kazakhstan by George Ovashvili which won the Crystal Globe and $25,000.
    Ovashvili's psychological drama is based on a tiny island in the Inguri River which forms a natural border between Georgia and its Russian-backed breakaway province of Abkhazia.
    It tells the story of an old peasant and his teenage granddaughter (Mariam Buturishvili) growing corn there in between annual floods which cover the island, and looks at the relationship between Buturishvili and an older man on the run from local militia.
    Shooting proved difficult at the Inguri River as a result of tension between both Georgia and Abkhazia so filming took place on an island specifically built for the film in the middle of an artificial lake.
    But Ovashvili said the biggest challenge was finding his lead actress.

    "I don't know, maybe around 5,000 girls we had during the casting, and finally I did not have result which I was looking for and one day my friend sent me just a photo by e-mail," he told a news conference ahead of the ceremony.

    "She lives in a small village in the very problematic part of the country where exactly on the border, on the South Ossetian border, where was the epicentre of Russian invasion in 2008, so this girl saw by her eyes everything," he added.
    Ovashvili's debut film, the award-winning "The Other Bank", which was screened in Karlovy Vary Festival's East of the West section in 2009, is also a reflection on the Abkhaz conflict.
    Tens of thousands attended the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival which offered screening of 245 films - 216 feature films and 29 documentaries.
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