“It feels absolutely amazing”: UK film is first documentary to win Karlovy Vary
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has been won for the first time by a documentary: A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things. Among the other works honoured at Saturday’s closing ceremony was Waves, which is centred on events at Czechoslovak Radio in 1968 and took the audience award.
The Grand Prix at this year’s Karlovy Vary went to A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things. By Northern Irish director Mark Cousins, the film is about UK modern artist Wilhemina Barns-Graham and is the first documentary ever to win the festival’s top prize.
Indeed its maker told festival TV he himself was shocked the jury chose A Sudden Glimpse of Future Things.
“This was a not very fashionable 20th century painter who was inspired by nature. She was inspired by her own encounter with the extraordinary physical world. And when I saw her pictures I kind of fell in love. So she was inspired by nature, and I was inspired by her. She didn’t try to be fashionable, she didn’t try to be cool, and I never try to be cool. So that, her life force, is really what inspired me.”
Mark Cousins has been a regular visitor to Karlovy Vary in recent years and said winning the 58th edition meant a lot to him.
“It feels absolutely amazing. I’ve always thought of this place as a very special place; for me a kind of shelter from the storm, or maybe an attack against the storm – whatever the metaphor is. I was on the jury here a few years ago, so I know the quality of the pictures. This is a sort of a documentary film, a very low-budget film. So to win in that circumstance – with a low-budget Scottish documentary – feels fantastic. I could just not be happier, and if I thought about it much more I would start to cry.”
The Best Director gong at Karlovy Vary went to Nelicia Low for the Taiwanese-set Pierce. The director explains the premise of the atmospheric drama.
“My film is about a17-year-old fencer whose older brother was convicted of a crime at a fencing match seven years previously and has been in juvenile prison. Now the brother’s out and he tells him that what happened is just an accident. So the film is about this kid who loves his brother so much that he’s willing to bend the truth. I wanted to make it because it’s based on my brother, who is autistic.”
The Audience Award at the 58th edition of the festival went to Waves by Jiří Mádl. It centres on events at Czechoslovak Radio around the time of the Russian invasion in 1968 and, though not in competition, probably had the biggest impact of any single film.
The director also spoke to festival TV after the closing ceremony.
“I can’t really tell what the strongest point is that people really appreciated about our film. People usually that they are moved and that it feels like the film runs so fast, even though it’s two hours long. But I can really tell that I got a lot of feedback, in person, where I would be able to say what the trigger is for their happiness, for the impression that we left.”
The Best Actor prize at Karlovy Vary was shared by the stars of the Dutch film Three Days of Fish, Ton Kas and Guido Pollemans. Best Actress went to Norway’s Helga Guren for her +performance in Lovable.
The festival’s second competition Proxima, centred on emerging directors and established ones exploring new territory, was won by Zhengfan Yang’s Stranger.
