Karlovy Vary announces first titles

by Theodore Schwinke

03/05/2009 - The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has announced the first competition titles for its 44th edition (July 3–11), with European titles dominating the selection so far.

Festival organizers unveiled five films that will screen in the main competition. I Am Not Your Friend is Hungarian director Gyorgy Palfi's follow-on to his acclaimed and controversial Taxidermia [trailer]. Largely improvised by the director and his non-professional actors, the new film focuses on alienation in a world of consumerism and lost innocence.

Soul at Peace is the feature debut of Slovak director Vladimir Balko. The film tells the story of a man who returns home after years in prison and discovers just how hard it is to eliminate the shadows of the past.

Will Not Stop There by Croatian director Vinko Bresan is a darkly comic love story about a Croatian war veteran who sets out to find a Serbian prostitute. Bresan was named Best Director at Karlovy Vary in 1999 for his film Marshall Tito's Spirit.

Also screening in the main competition are Korean director Jeon Soo-il’s Himalaya, Where the Wind Dwells and Twenty, from Iranian director Abdolreza Kahani.

Karlovy Vary's East of the West competition of films from Central and Eastern Europe will include: Zdenek Tyc’s El Paso [trailer], Elcin Musaoglu’s The 40th Door, Paper Soldier by Alexei German Jr. and Michal Rosa’s Scratch [trailer], which premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival (see news).

Czech-born director Milos Forman will present festival audiences with the world premiere of his new film, A Walk Worthwhile, while Czech animation legend Jan Svankmajer will receive the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema. The festival will also honour French filmmaker Patrice Chereau.