06/08/2021 - Ethan Hawke is set to receive the Festival President's Award for his contribution to contemporary world cinema at the gathering, which unspools from 20-28 August

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF, 20-28 August) has just unveiled the selection for its non-competitive sections, as a follow-up to the previous line-up announcement (see the news). The Imagina section, celebrating movies with distinctive and radical visions of film language, will screen Jóhann Jóhannsson’s experimental audiovisual sci-fi poem Last and First Men [+see also:
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The Horizons section, which rounds up films from the recent season, is exceptionally jam-packed this year and includes titles from last year as well. The batch coming fresh from Cannes encompasses the Grand Prix winner, Compartment No. 6 [+see also:
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interview: Juho Kuosmanen
film profile] by Juho Kuosmanen; the Jury Prize winner, Ahed’s Knee [+see also:
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interview: Nadav Lapid
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interview: Sergei Loznitsa
film profile]; the Best Screenplay winner by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car, as well as his Silver Bear-winning Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy; the Critics’ Week Prize winner Feathers [+see also:
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film profile] by Omar El-Zohairy; Elie Grappe’s SACD-winning Olga [+see also:
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interview: Elie Grappe
film profile]; Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World [+see also:
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interview: Joachim Trier
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interview: João Nunes Monteiro
interview: Maureen Fazendeiro and Migu…
film profile]. Moreover, the selection of Horizons titles includes Christos Nikou’s absurdist dramedy Apples [+see also:
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interview: Christos Nikou
film profile], Radu Jude’s satire Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn [+see also:
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interview: Radu Jude
film profile], Dalibor Matanić’s dystopian drama The Dawn [+see also:
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interview: Dalibor Matanić
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interview: Jonas Poher Rasmussen
film profile], Jasmila Žbanić’s drama Quo vadis, Aida? [+see also:
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interview: Jasmila Žbanić
film profile] (nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film), and Ismaël El Iraki’s Zanka Contact [+see also:
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film profile]. Furthermore, a crop of genre films will bow as Midnight Screenings, including the zany Mother Schmuckers [+see also:
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interview: Harpo and Lenny Guit
film profile] and Andy Fehu’s dark buddy comedy about a pair of YouTubers, Shoky & Morthy: The Last Big Thing (see the news).

The festival has also revealed the name of the first guest. Karlovy Vary will honour US actor-director-writer Ethan Hawke with the Festival President's Award. “We are thrilled to welcome an artist we’ve been admiring for a long time to Karlovy Vary. In 2018, KVIFF paid tribute to the Austin Film Society [see the news], and it is exciting to extend our appreciation of this renowned organisation’s work by honouring an actor and director who is so closely connected to the Texan independent film scene,” said artistic director Karel Och and executive director Kryštof Mucha. Hawke will introduce Paul Schrader’s thriller First Reformed, in which he plays a parish pastor plunged into a crisis of faith.

The full line-up of the 55^th KVIFF is available here.