Karlovy Vary’s Och: Steven Soderbergh is one of my dream guests
The star guests for this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival – which gets underway in nine days – have just been revealed. Audiences can look forward to Hollywood stars such as Viggo Mortensen, while Oscar-winner Steven Soderbergh will be the most successful director in attendance. I discussed the big guests, and more, with the festival’s artistic director, Karel Och.
You’ve just announced the star name actors coming to this year’s Karlovy Vary: Viggo Mortensen, Daniel Brühl and Clive Owen. How exciting is it for you to be bringing those names to this year’s festival?
“It’s extremely exciting and it’s been extremely exciting for a while now, ever since we got the confirmation, for many reasons.
“These are artists we respect a great deal and they represent not just actors but film directors as well, which is something that we try to emphasise, throughout the years.
“I’d like to remember the visits of John Malkovich or Antonio Banderas, who were introduced as directors as well.
“So I’m very happy that both Daniel Brühl and Viggo Mortensen, iconic actors so to speak, will be introducing their films they shot as directors.”
You’re also bringing an extremely well known, already extremely successful director: Steven Soderbergh.
“If you ask me who would my dream guest be I would mention Steven Soderberg in the top three, for many reasons.
“I remember one of my crucial cinema experiences at the end of the 1990s was his film Out of Sight, with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, which opened a whole new perspective for me on how to perceive contemporary American cinema.
“Also obviously Ocean’s 11, The Knick, the TV he did with Clive Owen, and many, many other films; Traffic, etcetera.
“Also he keeps so busy that he doesn’t really travel that much. So the fact that he confirmed and he’s coming to introduce his two films on Kafka – two different edits of the same material, made 20 years apart – is extremely precious to us.”
Also coming is another director whose name may not register so much with people: Nicole Holofcener. Who is she?
“Nicole Holofcener is one of the key filmmakers of contemporary American cinema and she’s been in that position since the mid-1990s.
“She has written and directed seven feature length films, which most of the time had their world premiere at the festival in Sundance.
“Strangely enough, despite the fact that these are audience-friendly, extremely intelligent deep films, which are easy to connect with, she’s not as known in Central and Eastern Europe.
“We’re very happy that we can introduce her… actually, it’s kind of weird to say introduce, because she’s extremely well-known.
“But, you know, the world is big and there are so many films out there. So we’re very happy to screen Enough Said, Please Give and You Hurt My Feelings, three of her best films.”
Benicio del Toro will star in this year’s trailer. The audience love the trailers. How hard was it getting this big star, who I know was at the festival two years ago?
“Exactly. Benicio graced us with his visit in 2022 and ever since he left Karlovy Vary and Prague he did not leave us; we stayed in touch.
“He proved to be a man of his word and a man of integrity. Almost every time [Executive Director] Kryštof Mucha and I are in L.A., we see him for lunch or dinner.
“He always wanted to keep his promise, despite his busy schedule, to be the person in the next trailer – and that happened a few weeks ago, when Kryštof went to Berlin with Ivan Zachariáš, one of the two directors of our trailers.
“And it was shot in a couple of hours during one of the intermissions of the shooting of Wes Anderson’s new film.
“So it proves that despite Benicio being in a huge movie he finds time for his friends from Karlovy Vary and we’re very grateful. And the trailer is absolutely amazing.”
Of course scores of films are first seen in this country at Karlovy Vary. Some of them go on to great success afterwards, like for example Aftersun a few years ago – anybody who saw it there was way ahead of the curve as the film later became huge. What is “this year’s Aftersun”?
“[Laughs] Well, how much time do we have? Because that’s a very difficult question. I have to say that Aftersun was not out discovery, it world premiered in Cannes a month before.
“But Karlovy Vary has the potential to create this very calm, peaceful and exciting for a certain kind of movie to be seen and to become cult.
“I would like to mention local films maybe. There are two films in the official programme which I believe will be very successful with the audience.
“One of them is Jiří Mádl’s third film, called Waves, which represents a significant step up in his filmmaking.
“The other is the feature debut of Adam Martinec, Our Lovely Pig Slaughter, which is a film set in northern Moravia during one day at a pig slaughter, which is a huge tradition, especially in Moravia.
“It’s a very touching portrait of people of a certain space and time. You can see the filmmaker loves his protagonists.
“And this love is something that I think we all need to see in the cinema nowadays, because the world is crazy.”
Viggo Mortensen will introduce The Dead Don’t Hurt, which he wrote and directed, at the gala opening of the 58th Karlovy Vary IFF on Friday June 28. For his part will Daniel Brühl will present his directorial debut Next Door. Both star actors will receive the festival’s President’s Award, as will UK screen star Clive Owen, whose film Closer – which turns 20 this year – will be screened at the closing ceremony. Steven Soderberg’s Kafka and a re-cut version of the same work entitled Mr. Kneff are being shown as part of KVIFF’s extensive section marking the centenary of writer Franz Kafka’s death.
