The 59th edition of Karlovy varies the International Film Festival started with lots of style on Friday night in the Czech spa city outside Prague. But the opening ceremony also contained lots of serious undertones, as Honoree’s Peter Sarsgaard and Vicky Krieps received the president’s awards before giving short remarks that praised peace and speak out against fascism.
Krieps advocated how film can cross boundaries and decorate to need a judge or passport to determine what can be shared, while Sarsgaard specifically warned of A dangerous operation against fascism that plays out in Americaregrets that the United States is “retreat (ing) from its global responsibility and tr (ying) to go alone.”
As usual, the ceremony also included a performance of dancers in cones easily choreographed by the Caban brothers as wowed participants in the Grand Hall at Hotel Thermal. Later in the evening, the pop duo La Roux performed a show that pulled crowds both inside and out of the arena as its songs echoed through the small town.
However, the centerpiece of the opening evening was a movie that paid tribute to the festival’s late director, Jiří Bartoška, as died this past May at the age of 78. After serving in the role since 1994, worked for several years with the festival’s late, former, former artistic director and film critic Eva Zaoralová, Bartoška offered many stories about his time as both an actor and festival director in the intimate documentary “We must frame it!
Directed by Milan Kuchynka and Jakub Jurásek divided the film into kind of kind of his subject that takes us back decades with nothing but him and a couple of temporary interjections when he talks from a chair while he smokes. Although full of moments where Bartoška is growing reflecting on the long journey he and the festival have been on, the documentary about a Czech movie and TV Titan is never tiring because the late icon could spin a playful yarn with lots of humor to save.
When the conversation becomes more of an extended monologue of kind, Bartoška gives a depth of knowledge about both film and the history of the festival so that he, even when he can forget a detail here or there, always has much more to say.
With each name case and story, many of which are quite literally gut-bustingly funny, the glimpse in Bartoška’s eye becomes brighter just when he gives a refreshing sincere openness about the work of creating the festival. Although it is very much a loving tribute to the man, the film does not jump on how there were many challenges that Kviff had to overcome to get the festival to where it is now.
The title of the film itself is a reference to a story Bartoška tells close to the end of how there was a year where they did not have enough money and he had to get a loan from a friend to make it through. The fact that the director saved the documentation for this is just part of how the film captures his passion for the work and also his desire to make fun of himself.
Of course, everything played extremely well in the Cavernless Grand Hall and served as a final farewell from Bartoška to the community he gathered. Friday’s premiere felt like the type of special screening that cannot be replicated anywhere else. It is difficult to imagine that the film gets a broad edition in the same way that other films on the opening evening at the festival have, but the narrower focus fits well.
The fact that it could only have happened in Karlovy varies is proof of Bartoška himself. When he reflects with great openness, there are many festivals around the world, but no one that is quite like his. The fact that it started with the late director got the chance to look back one last time in an almost joint broadcast for the future made a moving opening to the festival which must now continue without him.
