Great expectations of the 38th Karlovy Vary film festival

The fourth day of the 38th Karlovy Vary film festival is well underway offering screenings of several hundred films selected from around the world, many of them in world premiere for the first time. Founded after the Second World War, the Festival has become the most significant film event in East and Central Europe, attracting notable celebrities and thousands of film fans. It takes place in Karlovy Vary, which is a former Austro-Hungarian spa town in western Bohemia.

Great expectations of the 38th Karlovy Vary film festival

Director Jiri Menzel, photo: CTK

One of the oldest in the world, the Karlovy Vary International film festival first took place in 1946 as a non-competition festival bringing together films from seven countries. During communism the political function of the festival was to present the highlights of the recently nationalised and state-controlled Czechoslovak film industry. Significant changes came during the Sixties when the Festival began offering a broader international selection, and more independent trends in Czech film that was part of the Czech New Wave.

This year the Karlovy Vary Film Festival opened with the premiere of the new Czech film Pupendo by Czech director Jan Hrebejk. Like his previous works, the new movie features a funny portrayal of everyday life during communism. Hrebejk spoke to Radio Prague about humour and focus on destiny of ordinary people which are, according to him, typical and distinguishing features of the Czech film tradition:

"I think that we're inspired by the human element, by real human destinies. We try to depict those characters as they really are, and to make them film characters complete with all their differences. That's the most appealing in these movies. I think that Milos Forman and Jiri Menzel were the most successful in this respect, and I'd be very happy if we were considered to be the followers of that tradition."

Director Jan Hrebejk, photo: CTK

The Festival program consists of nine different sections. The most important is the official competition which includes only films made during the past 18 months that have not been previously shown in any other competition. Other sections include documentary films, experimental movies, movies already awarded at other festivals, retrospectives, and Czech films. Finally, organisers consider the so-called East of the West section, that features contemporary film production from former Socialistic bloc countries, as among the most important.

According to Hrebejk, humour is again what makes these films similar to their Western counterparts and understandable to the international public. This became obvious after the fall of Communism when Czech movie fans finally got a chance to enjoy a selection of fine European comedies:

Director Stephen Frears, photo: CTK

"When films like Monty Python's Flying Circus came in 1990 I was surprised to see that their humour was so similar to ours. Although we have the same humour here, they were like twins. I believe in a certain universality of humour, or at least in European humour. Anyway, only good humour will be understandable to people abroad."

The festival has attracted many international and domestic celebrities since the 1960s. This year Karlovy Vary expects actors John Hurt, Morgan Freeman and Susan Sarandon, and movie director Stephen Frears. Fifteen films will compete for the Crystal Globe, which is the most important award at the Festival.