Iceland's Jar City gets top Karlovy Vary award

by Vitor Pinto

09/07/2007 - Jar City [trailer] by Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur received the Crystal Globe for Best Feature Film at the 42nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival awards ceremony last Saturday night.

"We make only about five films a year and three are here at this festival. Now we've got this," said the director after receiving the prize from US actor Danny DeVito.

Produced by Iceland's Blueeyes in association with Germany's Bavaria Pictures and Denmark's Nordisk Film, the film is based on Arnaldur Indridason's novel Tainted Blood, which follows a cop trying to prove the link between a 1974 death and a recent murder of a reclusive lowlife.

Released domestically in late 2006, Jar City quickly became a local hit and a success among critics. Trust Film Sales is handling international sales.

The Best Director prize went to Norway's Bård Breien for his feature debut The Art of Negative Thinking [trailer], a burlesque title about a wheelchair-bound accident victim, who takes part in group therapy with other handicapped people. Nordisk Film handles the international sales of this Maipo Film & TV production

Best Actress went to Elvira Minquez for her performance in the Spanish film Pudor [trailer], directed by David and Tristan Ulloa, while debutant Sergey Puskepalis was given the Best Actor award for his role in Simple Things by Russian director Alexey Popogrebsky.

In the East of the West sidebar section, the Best Film was deemed Armin [trailer], a co-production between Croatia, Germany and Bosnia and Herzegovina directed by Ognjen Svilicic. A special mention was attributed to Estonian title The Class [trailer] by Ilmar Raag.

Besides the 11,083 accredited visitors, the festival sold 115,110 tickets this year.

The full list of awards:

Grand Prix – Crystal Globe
Jar City - Baltasar Kormákur

Special Jury Prize
Lucky Miles - Michael James Rowland

Best Director Award
The Art of Negative Thinking - Bård Breien

Best Actress Award
Elvira Mínguez for Pudor

Best Actor Award
Sergey Puskepalis for Simple Things

Special mention
Ex-aequo
Leonid Bronevoy for the film Simple Things
Zdeněk Svěrák for the script of Empties

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM (under 30 minutes long)
Artel - Sergey Loznitsa

SPECIAL MENTION
Theodore - Laila Pakalnina

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM (over 30 minutes long)
Lost Holiday - Lucie Králová

SPECIAL MENTION
The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories - Andrey Paounov

EAST OF THE WEST AWARD
BEST FILM
Armin - Ognjen Sviličić

SPECIAL MENTION
The Class - Ilmar Raag

OTHER PRIZES AWARDED AT THE FESTIVAL

AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD CINEMA
Danny DeVito, USA
Břetislav Pojar, Czech Republic

PRÁVO AUDIENCE AWARD
Empties - Jan Svěrák

NON-STATUTORY AWARDS

FIPRESCI AWARD
Simple Things - Alexey Popogrebsky

THE DON QUIXOTE PRIZE (FICC – International Federation of Film Societies)
Jar City - Baltasar Kormákur

THE ECUMENICAL JURY AWARD
Simple Things - Alexey Popogrebsky

SPECIAL MENTION
Conversation with My Gardener - Jean Becker

EUROPA CINEMAS LABEL
The Class - Ilmar Raag

CZECH TELEVISION AWARD – INDEPENDENT CAMERA
Pingpong - Matthias Luthardt (see focus)

NETPAC AWARD
The Band’s Visit - Eran Kolirin