The 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival concluded on July 6, 2024, by crowning the British documentary A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things by Mark Cousins. The festival highlighted the diversity of contemporary cinema and paid tribute to several personalities of the seventh art.
The spa town of Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic once again hosted one of the major cinematic events in Central Europe. The 58th International Film Festival took place from June 28 to July 6, 2024, attracting a large audience with 140,000 tickets sold. This edition showcased 177 films, offering a rich and varied panorama of world cinema.
The grand winner this year is the British documentary A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things by director Mark Cousins. This film, which explores the life and work of Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, won the prestigious Crystal Globe, the highest distinction of the festival. Narrated by Tilda Swinton, the documentary addresses themes such as gender, climate change, and creativity, in Cousins’ characteristic idiosyncratic style. The jury, chaired by American producer Christine Vachon and including Australian actor Geoffrey Rush, praised the film’s unique perspective on art and observation.
Scandinavian cinema also stood out with the Norwegian film Loveable (Elskling in the original version) by Lilja Ingolfsdottir, which won the Special Jury Prize. This drama about divorce also earned its lead actress, Helga Guren, the Best Actress Award. Loveable impressed with its nuanced portrayal of a woman entering a new phase of her life.
In the Best Director category, Nelicia Low was honored for her film Pierce (Cì xīn qiè gŭ), a co-production between Singapore, Taiwan, and Poland. This psychological thriller tells the story of a young fencer reunited with his older brother in a juvenile detention center after killing an opponent during a fencing match.
The Best Actor Award was shared between Ton Kas and Guido Pollemans for their roles in the Dutch film Three Days of Fish (Drie dagen vis) by Peter Hoogendoorn, a family drama shot in black and white.
The jury also gave a special mention to two films: Xoftex by Noaz Deshe, a French-German drama about Syrian and Palestinian refugees in a Greek camp, and Our Lovely Pig Slaughter (Mord) by Adam Martinec, a Czech-Slovak family saga.
In the Proxima competition, dedicated to emerging filmmakers, the film Stranger (Ju wai ren) by Zhengfan Yang won the Grand Prize. This international co-production explores the lives unfolding in a Chinese hotel room. The Proxima Special Jury Prize was awarded to Night Has Come (Vino la noche) by Paolo Tizón, a Peruvian-Spanish-Mexican drama about interns in a military training camp fighting drug cartels in South America.
The festival also paid tribute to several cinema personalities. Czech actor Ivan Trojan received the Festival President’s Award for his contribution to Czech cinema. International actors Viggo Mortensen, Daniel Brühl, and Clive Owen were also honored for their careers.
This edition highlighted the geographical and thematic diversity of contemporary cinema. The increased presence of Asian films, notably in the main competition, reflects the festival’s growing openness to varied cinematographies. The gender parity achieved in the Proxima competition is also an encouraging sign for the representation of female directors in the international cinematic landscape.
Béatrice Moreau
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