28/04/2005 - Some of the cinema’s most-sought after personalities will attend the most important film event in Czech Republic, which celebrates its 4oth anniversary

The festival program is still far from complete but one thing we know for sure: some of cinema’s most-sought after personalities will be the icing on the birthday cake of the 2005 edition of Karlovy Vary film festival, July 1-9. Czech Republic’s best known film showcase turns 40 this year and it wishes to celebrate it in style. "We will do everything to make sure that this anniversary turns out to be a real jubilee" commented the festival’s president Jiri Bartoska. His program director Eva Zaoralova has confirmed only three films so far for the festival’s official competition section: The city of the sun (Slunecni stat) a Czech-Slovak co-production directed by Martin Sulik, the Polish director Krzysztof Krauze with the film My Nikifor (Moj Nikifor), a biography of the last eight years in the life of Polish artist Nikifor Krynick and Hungarian Márta Mészáros’s film The unburied man (A Temetetlen halott), a portrait of Imre Nagyi, a Hungarian hero of the 1950s uprising against the Soviet-led communist rule. "In total nearly 200 new films, from all over the world, will be screened in this year’s festival; most of them for the first time here" said Zaoralova.

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When it comes to guests, things are a bit clearer. Bartoska confirmed that American actor, director and producer Robert Redford and Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann will be the festival’s main attractions and they will both receive a Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Film. British director, screenwriter and producer Michael Radford will chair the official competition’s jury panel, while his American counterpart Alexander Payne will be a host of the Independents’ section. An American film, Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller’s latest film Sin City will close the festival proceedings.