On Friday, July 1, the 56th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival kicks off in the Czech Republic.
It will last until July 9th.
The show will open with a new film directed by the sensational "Perfect Strangers" Paolo Genovese "Superheroes" about a man and a woman who are completely different, but love each other and together are able to cope with any challenges of fate.
The program of the Horizons festival, which selects the most outstanding modern films, will show a film by Russian directors Natasha Merkulova and Alexei Chupov, Captain Volkonogov Escaped.
The action takes place in 1938 in Leningrad.
The protagonist, played by Yura Borisov, works in law enforcement agencies, looking for enemies of the state and sometimes executing the innocent, but one day he himself is declared a criminal.
At night, a messenger from the next world comes to Volkonogov and informs him that he will go to hell.
To avoid eternal torment, he needs to receive the forgiveness of a relative of at least one of his victims.
The film attracted the attention of the public even before the start of the show.
Ukrainian filmmakers have signed an open letter sent to the organizers of the festival demanding that the film be excluded from the program.
However, the leadership of the show refused to change plans and added that as an act of support for Ukrainian filmmakers in Karlovy Vary, a part of the program of the Odessa Festival, which will not take place in 2022, will be presented.
"Captain Volkonogov fled" was previously screened in the main competition of the Venice Film Festival and won two Kinotavr prizes.
© Shot from the film "Captain Volkonogov fled" (2021)
In total, 130 feature films and at least 40 documentaries were announced in Karlovy Vary this year.
33 of them will be shown for the first time.
“Of the 1,500 films submitted this year, we have selected 33 brand new films that most closely reflect our taste - a taste based on a belief in substantive provocativeness and support for new means of cinematic expression that nevertheless do not interfere with the audience's perception of and do not go against their preferences,” says festival program director Karel Oh.
The main competition of the review is the Crystal Globe, where feature films and documentaries made by directors from different countries are selected.
The section will show the fantastic drama Era of Survival by Christina Bosit and Bruno Samper about a 13-year-old girl trying to adapt to life after an ecological disaster that destroyed all ecosystems.
Anna Kazejak (Fucking Bornholm), Sophie Linnenbaum (The Ordinaries), Soso Bliadze (A Room Of My Own), Jonas Trueba (You Have to Come and See It) and others will also compete for the main award of the festival.
Another competitive program is Proxima.
In it, young filmmakers present their work.
Among them are Tomasz Wasilewski (Fools), Eduardo Casanova (La Pietà) and Andreas Horvath (Zoo Lock Down).
Other sections will show a new film directed by George Miller "Three Thousand Years of Wishes", starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton.
The actress played a woman who unexpectedly finds a genie.
He, as usual, is ready to fulfill her three wishes, but the heroine is in no hurry to use this opportunity.
Also on the program is the David Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream, Close by Lucas Dont, War Pony by Gina Gammell and Riley Keough, and many others.
As timeless classics, guests can enjoy the cult film "Back to the Future" (Robert Zemeckis), the painting "The Last Waltz" by Martin Scorsese, as well as "The Wizard of Oz" by Victor Fleming.
Among other things, meetings with directors, actors and other filmmakers are held during the festival.
This year's event will be attended by American actor, director, screenwriter and producer Liev Schreiber.
Geoffrey Rush and Benicio del Toro will be the winners of the honorary awards of the festival this year.
Rush will receive the Crystal Globe for outstanding contributions to world cinema.
As part of the review, there will be screenings of films with his participation: "The King's Speech!", "The Feather of the Marquis de Sade" and "Shine".
Benicio del Toro will be presented with the Festival President's Award, which is awarded for a fundamental contribution to the development of cinema.
In honor of del Toro, the films "Traffic" and "Usual Suspicious Persons" will be shown.
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is the largest show in the Czech Republic and the most prestigious in Central and Eastern Europe.
Every year, about 200 films from all over the world are selected for its program.
Some of them are broadcast exclusively at the show, while others are released in Czech and foreign distribution.