22/06/2015 - The major festival hits join some unusual artistic endeavours for the anniversary edition; Richard Gere is to receive the festival’s highest honour

After presenting the competition titles earlier this month (read the news), the full line-up of the jubilee edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has now been unveiled. Recent treats from the major festivals are grouped under the Horizons banner, and comprise the Un Certain Regard Prize winner Rams [+see also:
film review
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interview: Grimur Hakonarson
film profile] by Grimur Hakonarson; Yorgos Lanthimos’ dark satire The Lobster [+see also:
film review
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Q&A: Yorgos Lanthimos
film profile], his first film made outside Greece and boasting an international cast; Paolo Sorrentino’s second English-language film, Youth [+see also:
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interview: Paolo Sorrentino
film profile]; Radu Muntean latest, the psychological film One Floor Below [+see also:
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interview: Radu Muntean
film profile]; the Palme d’Or contender Tale of Tales [+see also:
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Q&A: Matteo Garrone
film profile] by Matteo Garrone, a fantasy-horror title and the director’s first English-language film, starring Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones and John C Reilly; Wondrous Boccaccio [+see also:
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interview: Paolo and Vittorio Taviani
film profile], the Taviani brothers’ take on The Decameron; French DJ-filmmaker Quentin Dupieux’s latest head-scratcher about finding a scream worthy of an Oscar, Reality [+see also:
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film profile]; Karl Markovics’ sophomore feature, Superworld [+see also:
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interview: Karl Markovics
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interview: Jaco van Dormael
film profile]. 

A batch of thought-provoking oeuvres has been picked for the Another View section, focusing on “unusual artistic approaches”. Among these is the Danish observational docudrama Bridgend [+see also:
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film profile] by Jeppe Rønde, which plunges into a town haunted by teen suicides that seemingly have no motive, while Kyros Papavassiliou’s surreal debut feature, Impressions of a Drowned Man [+see also:
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film profile], also possesses an otherworldly quality. Another View’s diverse selection also includes the Croatian minimalistic thriller These Are the Rules [+see also:
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film profile] by Ognjen Sviličić, Miguel Gomes’ ambitious and epic adaptation of One Thousand and One Nights, the three-part Arabian Nights [+see also:
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interview: Miguel Gomes
film profile], Corneliu Porumboiu’s latest offering, The Treasure [+see also:
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interview: Corneliu Porumboiu
interview: Corneliu Porumboiu
film profile], Dagur Kári’s Virgin Mountain [+see also:
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film profile] and Micah Magee’s drama Petting Zoo, unveiled at this year’s Berlinale.

Though domestic production is heavily represented in every competition section, still more local titles will be screened in order to demonstrate the current state of Czech cinema, including Irena Pavlásková’s The Photograph [+see also:
trailer
film profile], inspired by the life of Czech photographer Jan Saudek, with Karel Roden in the lead; a puppet-based interpretation of The Little Mermaid, Little from the Fish Shop; Slobodanka Radun’s Us 2, a near-chamber drama and not your usual love story; a comedy-drama about fixing a wind turbine and finding one’s own identity, Stepan Altrichter’s mature debut work Schmitke [+see also:
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film profile]; and last year’s domestic box-office hit, the fairy-tale musical Three Brothers [+see also:
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film profile].

Variety used to prepare a special section entitled Variety Critics’ Choice in collaboration with European Film Promotion; however, for the upcoming edition, this has been prepared solely by the magazine, as European Film Promotion is launching a new initiative called Future Frames (see the news). For this section, the critics have picked Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s debut, the arthouse horror Goodnight Mommy [+see also:
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interview: Severin Fiala and Veronika …
film profile]; Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov’s award-winning thriller about the downward spiral of debt, The Lesson [+see also:
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interview: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Val…
interview: Margita Gosheva
film profile]; the feature debut Vincent [+see also:
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film profile] by Thomas Salvador, with the director starring in the lead role in this minimalistic superhero film; and the latest effort by Syllas Tzoumerkas, A Blast [+see also:
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interview: Syllas Tzoumerkas
film profile], starring Dogtooth [+see also:
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interview: Yorgos Lanthimos
film profile]’s Angeliki Papoulia as the rebellious protagonist.

The festival will be opened by Time Out of Mind, a title starring Richard Gere, who will come to Karlovy Vary to present the film in person and to be honoured by the gathering’s highest award, the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema. The 2004 winner of the same award, Harvey Keitel, is returning to accompany Sorrentino’s Youth. The festival is also welcoming the father of zombie films, George Romero, as one of its guests – he will introduce Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Tales of Hoffmann.

The full catalogue of films is accessible on the festival’s website.

The 50^th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival runs from 3-11 July in the spa town of Karlovy Vary.