“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,” the festival president Jiří Bartoška welcomed the guests. “We live in strange times, for two years covid blindfolded us and played blind fool with us.”
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He also recalled the “senseless war in Ukraine” and dedicated a short video medallion to his late colleague Eva Zaoralová.
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“Ladies and gentlemen, let’s consider the 56th year of the MFFKV to have begun,” he concluded.
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Traditional presenter of the KV IFF, Marek Eben.
Photo: Jan Handrejch, Law
Moderator Marek Eben introduced the festival juries. Benjamin Domenech, Argentinian producer, Jan-Ole Gerster, German director, Roman Gutek, Polish distributor and festival organizer, Fiorella Moretti, distributor and producer, and Molly Malene Stensgaard, Danish editor and screenwriter will sit in the main jury this year.
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Support for Ukraine
The jury of the Proxima competition consists of Bianca Balbuena, a Filipino producer, Yrsa Roca Fannberg, an Icelandic documentarian, Pavel Klusák, a music columnist and filmmaker, Michael Rosenberg, an American distributor, and Myroslav Slabošpytskij, a Ukrainian director.
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The 56th edition of the KV IFF was also started by bonfires.
Photo: Jan Handrejch, Law
Nada Azhari Gillon, Britt Sørensen, Adam Kruk, Gulnara Abikeyeva, Rasha Hosny and Marek Čermák will sit on the Fipresci jury. The ecumenical jury consists of Annette Gjerde Hansen, Veronika Lišková and Théo Péporté, while the Europa Cinemas Label jury consists of Edit Csenki, Leena Närekangas and Kis Rauff.
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Traditional KV IFF presenter Marek Eben and KV IFF president Jiří Bartoška also remembered Eva Zaoralová, who died this year.
Photo: Jan Handrejch, Law
Eben also pointed out that the Karlovy Vary festival supports Ukrainian filmmakers by cooperating with the Odesa festival, which cannot take place now because of the war.
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Superheroes for an introduction
The film festival was opened by the Italian film Superheroes. The Karlovy Vary festival will end on July 9. Australian actor Geoffrey Rush will receive the Crystal Globe for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the closing ceremony.
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Actor and producer Benicio Del Toro will receive the Karlovy Vary IFF President’s Award.
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