“Incredible excitement”: Hollywood icon Dustin Hoffman set for 60th Karlovy Vary Film Festival
The 60th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which begins next Friday, is set to welcome absolute Hollywood royalty, in the form of Dustin Hoffman. Other names just revealed by the organisers include actors Juliette Binoche, Jeffrey Wright, Kevin Bacon and – making his third visit – Harvey Keitel. I spoke to Karlovy Vary’s artistic director, Karel Och, after Tuesday morning’s announcement.
What does it mean for you to bring a star of the calibre of Dustin Hoffman to this year’s festival?
“Everybody in my position, film festival programmers around the entire world, is a cinephile.
“Passion is the main motor of our job, and what is cinephilia created from? From magnificent moments throughout your entire life.
“And Dustin Hoffman is one actor where in every moment I remember from my life – when I was 19, 25, 30, 35 – there was a particular film connected to this amazing actor.
“So it’s just huge goosebumps, and incredible excitement, not just about the fact that he finally agreed to come and he found time in his schedule – because he’s still active, despite his age, and a very prolific actor – but he himself suggested a film which he would love to introduce, and that’s The Graduate by Mike Nichols, one of my favourite Dustin Hoffman films.”
You also have Juliette Binoche. I know with the Hollywood stars you usually get to them through their agents. In her case, how did you secure her participation?
“We tried a few times to bring her, but Juliette Binoche was always busy during the summer, shooting either TV series or a new film.
“And then the moment came when she became a director. She directed an amazing, very special and original documentary [In-I In Motion] which returns to a performance she did with the acclaimed choreographer Akram Khan in 2007.
“She proved that she can have a vision as a director as well, because she created a two-hour film which is a very deep commentary on the power of art, in general.
“I was lucky enough to be introduced to her last October in Lyon at the Lumiere festival, where she introduced the French premiere.
“We spent an hour talking about her film and other films that she would love us to screen. And we agreed on Certified Copy and Three Colours: Blue.
“It’s the same as in the case of Dustin Hoffman – all the moments from your formative years, the Leos Carax films, like Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, and everything else comes back to you, and you just sit there as a fan.”
Unusually the opening film is a documentary, and it’s about football. What kind of film is The Match?
“The Match is one of the most exciting films that we could see at this year’s festival in Cannes.
“It describes probably the most famous football match of all time. We go back to 1986 and the World Cup in Mexico and the famous game between England and Argentina.
“Not just football fans know that this featured the famous ‘hand of God’ by Maradona.
“But the film is also about a very complex and complicated relationship between two countries, England and Argentina.
“This incredibly exciting film touches on all the layers of the relationship of these two countries. And of course that’s hugely important, and not only in the year of another World Cup in Mexico.”
Give me one example of a real gem of a film, perhaps hidden away somewhere in the programme, that you particularly love.
“There is an Austrian film which we had a chance to see before Cannes, called Everytime by the director Sandra Wollner.
“It was selected for Cannes and ended up winning the second competition [Un Certain Regard] there.
“If I mention what the film is about I’d spoil it, because something important happens relatively early in the film which has an influence on everything in the movie.
“But it’s, let’s say, a family drama, which is probably one of the most original films I’ve seen this year.
“And I highly recommend this very strong film.”
