18/04/2008

Czech director Michaela Pavlatova's film Deti Noci will compete for the grand prize of the 43rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (July 4-12). The film, about a young woman who works in an all-night convenience store and the characters she encounters, is the first competition title festival organizers have announced.

Pavlatova won international recognition for her short films – an Oscar nomination in 1991 and a Golden Bear in 1995 – and received a Special Mention at San Sebastian for her film Faithless Games in 2003.

Festival artistic director Eva Zaoralova said the final competition line-up was still under consideration could include another film from the Czech Republic.

Also part of the official selection, Juraj Jakubisko's Bathory [+see also:
trailer
film profile] will screen out of competition. The director will be on hand for the world premiere of the film and to receive the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema.

Similar honours will go to Slovak director Dusan Hanak and Czech New Wave veteran Ivan Passer. The festival will present retrospectives of Hanak's films as well as those of British director Nicolas Roeg, who will also attend.

In addition to the main competition of feature films, the festival will also include its regular documentary competition and East of the West competition of new films from Central and Eastern Europe.

Elsewhere under the festival banner, film industry professionals can take part in the East of the West–Works in Progress, a presentation of features and documentaries that are in production or post-production. The festival will also screen a representative selection of Czech films from the last year.