News

As the 56th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff) is about to kick off on Friday, there will be plenty to discuss at this year’s event in the picturesque Czech spa town. The prominent Central European festival, which is returning to its usual early July slot after last year’s edition was delayed to August because of the pandemic, will see 33 films from five continents screen across its three sections – the Crystal Globe Competition, the Special Screenings section and its new competition, Proxima, which replaces the former East of the West section.

This year’s selections will be bookended by Friday’s opening night film Superheroes, from Italian director Paolo Genovese, and George Miller’s Cannes title Three Thousand Years Of Longing, which will close the festival on July 9. The lineup includes the world premiere of Jake Paltrow’s Israel and Ukraine-shot feature June Zero, about...

Geoffrey Rush and Benicio Del Toro will receive special awards at the 2022 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Kviff organizers announced on Tuesday. The two actors will both receive their awards during the closing ceremony on July 9 in the festival’s namesake spa town outside Prague in the Czech Republic.

Rush will receive the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema, an award that in the past has gone to Michael Caine, Julianne Moore, Jude Law and Judi Dench. Three of Rush’s films – “The King’s Speech,” “Quills” and “Shine,” for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor – will be screened at the festival.

Del Toro will receive the President’s Award for making “a fundamental contribution to the development of film and cinema.” “The Usual Suspects” and his Oscar-winning turn in “Traffic” will be screened for the occasion. Ethan Hawke received the President’s Award last year.

The prestigious Bulgarian event showcases work by filmmakers from south-eastern Europe.

Debut features by filmmakers from Ukraine, Israel, Bulgaria and Georgia are among more than 30 film and TV projects being pitched to potential backers at the Sofia Meetings in Bulgaria from June 9 – 12.

Producer Andriy Kornienko of Kyiv-based Good Morning Films and director Ivan Orlenko will be participating online from Ukraine to present the dystopian drama Madagaskarplan.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian-born editor-director Svitlana Topor and producer Vasyl Malko of Warsaw-based Emily Production will be onsite in Sofia to pitch the debut No Smoking At The Border which is described as “a drama with...