Tilda Swinton Doc, “Loveable,” “Stranger”

An unexpected glimpse into deeper things, Mark Cousins' documentary essay about the Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and her neurodiversity, including parts of the diary narrated by Tilda Swinton, won the Grand Prize – Crystal Globe, the main prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ( KVIFF) on Saturday. Clive Owen was presented with a KVIFF Award at the closing ceremony.

An unexpected look is “exploring the seminal 1949 experience atop Switzerland's Grindelwald Glacier that reshaped British modernist painter Wilhelmina Barnes-Graham's artistic perspective for decades to come.” The Crystal Globe comes with a price tag of $25,000. “I never expected this in a million years,” Cousins ​​said in accepting the honor. Of Barnes-Graham, he said: “She didn't change the world. But she lived fully, fully and fully. Let's try to do that.”

The closing ceremony of the 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival also honored him Norwegian marriage drama in love, directed by Lilja Ingolfsdottir, with the Special Jury Prize, which comes with a $15,000 check. “This film was made deeply from my heart,” the director said in accepting the honor. “I must have been vulnerable.” She also thanked her husband, who was the film's cinematographer, who looked after their children on Saturday night and who went through the crisis with her a few years ago, on which the film is based. The film ended the night with a total of five awards, which a KVIFF representative described as a new record.

Meanwhile, the audience award of the best Czech festival went to wavesJirí Mádl's drama about the role of the Czechoslovak Radio's international news office before and after the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops.

Nelicia Low was honored as best director for Pierce, which focuses on Han, who is released from juvenile prison, where he served seven years for killing an opponent in a fencing match, to meet his younger brother and insist on his innocence. “I'm sorry I'm such a rebel,” but she really wanted to be a filmmaker, Low told her parents in the audience.

The KVIFF Best Acting Awards went to Helga Guren for her role in In love and Ton Kas and Guido Pollemans for their roles in the father-son drama Three Days of Fish.

“It punched me in the stomach,” but she also immediately fell in love with the script when she read it, Guren said. Pollemans received both acting awards as Kas was unable to attend the ceremony. Pollemans joked that he earned the honor for what was likely his darkest and most challenging role.

The jury consisted of Christine Vachon, Geoffrey Rush, Hungarian director Gábor Reisz, Icelandic poet, novelist and screenwriter Sjón and Czech actress Eliška Křenková. Rush was in for a special surprise when the emcee mentioned it was the star's birthday before leading the audience in a “Happy Birthday” sing-along.

Last year, Stephan Komandarev's Bulgarian/German co-production The lessons of Blaga won the top prize at KVIFF.

The third edition of Karlovy Vary's Proxima competition, which focuses on daring works by young filmmakers and established authors, found that Zhengfan Yang Stranger, an exploration of loneliness, isolation and identity in episodes that take place in various hotel rooms, as the winner of his Grand Prix, which comes with a $15,000 prize. Yang captivated the audience and drew a lot of applause when he said, “The title of the movie is Strangerbut here I feel at home.”

Paolo Tizón's documentary The night has comeabout elite Peruvian military recruits, was selected for the $10,000 Proxima Special Jury Prize.

The special mentions of the jury emphasized that of Noaz Deshe Xoftex and Adam Martinec Our beautiful pig slaughter in the main race, as well as that of Martin Pavol Repka March to May in the Proxima section.

In love cleaned up among the non-statutory awards, winning the Europa Cinemas Label honor as the best European film at KVIFF 2024, the Fipresci Award, as well as the Grand Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. THR'se's review called it “sharp and nuanced” and described it as “a penetrating look into the female psyche”. The Ecumenical Jury also gave a commendation to George Sikharulidze Panopticon.

A highlight of Saturday's closing ceremony was British star Owen receiving the KVIFF President's Award. “The best career move is to be good,” which means that if you're passionate about smaller projects, pursue them as they may surprise you and others. “I've sometimes resisted going into big, big-budget commercial films because I've always found a [desire] to look for more interesting and provocative, subtle, sensitive material.”

Owen also stressed the need for film festivals like KVIFF. “Film festivals are more important and necessary than ever,” he said.

Czech veteran Ivan Trojan was the next actor to receive the President's Award. “Based on the reel [screened] you can say I'm fine,” he said, before pointing out, with a laugh, that he only showed good scenes. Trojan also joked that it was good to receive the statue ahead of Owen, as the British star is six months younger. He also drew laughs when he mentioned that the Euro 2024 soccer match between England and Switzerland, which is taking place at the same time, was tied at 0-0 at half-time.

Presenter Marek Eben praised the 30 years of the management team, led by president Jirí Bartoska, who revived the KVIFF amid talk of its possible cancellation. “It has managed to create an international community, with 90 percent of people returning, he said.

The 58th edition of the Karlovy Vary Festival, which has a reputation as the biggest cinema festival in Central Europe, opened with the presentation of an honor to Viggo Mortensen, who officially launched the festival with his feminist Western. The dead don't hurtone of the popular KVIFF's action-packed opening ceremonies created by the Caban brothers and a concert by the electronic music group Kosheen.

Following Owen's award, Saturday night's festivities continued with the screening of the KVIFF 2024 closing film, Fingernailsdrama Christos Nikou with Jessie Buckley and Riz Ahmed, followed by the closing party at the Grandhotel Pupp.