A world away from the glitter of Cannes, the Karlovy Vary festival is still one of Europe's most fascinating film festivals, as Ronald Bergan discovers
The sleepy, picturesque Czech spa town of Karlovy Vary (formally Karlsbad), an hour's ride from Marienbad, wakes up once a year to the noisy bustle of one of Europe's largest and most vibrant film festivals. Backpacking youngsters come from all over the Czech Republic to see as many as six movies a day and then party through the night.
During the festival in July, the average age in the town is around 22; the day after it closes it shoots up to 72.
Being at the crossroads of Europe, one of the themes of the festival, and usually its strongest section, is East of the West. With a number of interesting recent Russian, Polish, Romanian, Bulgarian and Hungarian films, it is the place to catch up on the best of Eastern European cinema. This year, a three-part Bulgarian film, Milena Andonovova's Monkeys In Winter, won the prize in this section. The official selection also included another Bulgarian omnibus film, Christmas Tree Upside Down, in six episodes, each one being, as the title suggests, an impressionistic reflection of reality.
Among the best of the world premieres in competition were Virginia Wagon's This Girl Is Mine, a French film from the director of The Dream Life of Angels about a woman trying to win back a 12-year-old daughter stolen from her when a baby, which completely eschews sentimentality.
Most refreshing of all, from Norway, Joachim Trier's first feature, Reprise, a sort of Norwegian Coupling or Seinfeld with tragic overtones. Although aimed at 20 somethings, it showed a maturity of form that transcended its subject matter, moving into hypothetical time with subtle references to the French new wave. The film won the best director award and will be screened at this year's London Film Festival.
Karlovy Vary, which has no pretensions to being starry like Cannes or Venice, gave Andy Garcia a special award. Also there was Danny Huston, who introduced a number of his father's finest works in a six-film Tribute to John Huston. He was full of rich and risqué anecdotes about his father, managing to take off his distinctive, sandpapery baritone with great style. The Huston homage was only a small strand of a panoply of films from all over the world.