Big World Pictures Takes Karlovy Vary Winner 'The Almost Man'

"The Almost Man" will be Big World's first theatrical release.
COLOGNE, Germany – Newly minted Brooklyn-based distributor Big World Pictures has picked up U.S. rights to Norwegian feature The Almost Man as its first theatrical release.

The debut feature from Norwegian director Martin Lund won the Crystal Globe best picture award at last year's Karlovy Vary film festival.

FILM REVIEW: The Almost Man

The dramedy focuses on Hendrik, a 35-year-old man child who finds out he is about to become a father and is forced to give up his own childish behavior. Star Henrik Rafaelsen won best actor at Karlovy Vary for his performance.

“The Almost Man is one of the finest -- and most enjoyable -- films I’ve seen in the past year. We’re proud to have it leading the inaugural slate for Big World Pictures,” said Big World’s Jonathan Howell in a statement.

The Almost Man will be Big World's first release. The specialty distributor plans 3-4 theatrical bows per year. The deal for The Almost Man was signed with sales group LevelK. SF Norway released The Almost Man locally last September.

Honeymoon (Líbánky): Karlovy Vary Review

A suitably uncomfortable trip into the past with a sophisticated use of time.

Karlovy Vary Film Festival

Jan Hrebejk

Anna Geislerová, Stanislav Majer, Jirí Cerný, Kristýna Fuitová, David Máj, Jirí Sesták

An unknown guest with a very unusual wedding present causes a lot of drama in Honeymoon, the latest collaboration of Czech director Jan Hrebejk and screenwriter Petr Jarchovský (the Oscar-nominated Divided We Fall). Local star and Hrebejk regular Anna Geislerová plays the bride who's creeped out by the presence of an insidious man who claims to have gone to school with the groom. An intimate drama about buried secrets and the possibility of forgiveness, Honeymoon is beautifully performed and well-modulated, with the notable the exception of the uninvited guest's homosexuality, which is an awkward red herring.

Honeymoon forms a loose trilogy about past secrets with Hrebejk and Jarchovský's Kawasaki's Rose (a 2010 Berlinale selection) and 2011's Innocence, the latter also with Geislerová. The Karlovy Vary premiere will be released in Czech Republic August 22, and name recognition should help it achieve solid arthouse numbers. Abroad, festivals will want an invitation to this party.

The broken glasses of Dominik (Matej Zikán), the 13-year-old son of groom-to-be Radim (Stanislav Majer), set the plot in motion, as a quick visit to a nearby optician results in the decision of the store owner (Jirí Cerný) to wander into the church where Radim is about to marry the pregnant Tereza (Geislerová). Pretending to be part of the wedding party, the friendly intruder takes pictures, plays with the guests' kids and follows the couple and their entourage to a beautiful pastoral retreat in Southern Bohemia where the celebrations will continue.

The bespectacled man introduces himself as Jan Benda, a character from Radim's boarding-school days that Radim claims he's pretty much forgotten. Tereza knows something isn't right but not until some 30 minutes in, when it's revealed that Benda's wedding gift is a funerary urn with his own name on it, does it become clear that something's very wrong. Radim then forcefully escorts Benda off the property and Hrebejk and Jarchovský begin their sophisticated use of time, with the subsequent and prolonged scenes of innocent dancing and drinking only serving to ratchet up the tension before the inevitable return of the character whose presence created more questions than it answered.
When Benda's back, he asks Tereza for ten minutes of her time to explain his behavior and the resulting dialog is shown in real time in a riveting back-and-forth. The filmmakers then turn things up a notch with another intense ten-minute, real-time conversation, this time between the newlyweds. The impassioned discussions are expertly cut together by Czech veteran editor Alois Fisárek, and Geislerová, one of the best actresses of her generation, and the two men, who both come from theater, are clearly in their element, tearing into the revelation-laden dialog with gusto.

While films about weddings and past secrets are a dime a dozen, what sets Hrebejk and Jarchovský's film apart is that it's less concerned with the revelations themselves than with the questions they engender. One such question — what if the "worse" in the vows' "for better and for worse" lies in the past but wasn't known at the time of marriage? — even obliquely challenges the institution itself by suggesting perhaps it's impossible to ever know anyone and thus be absolutely sure about an eternal union. Issues of responsibility, the need for punishment and its more benign twin, the potential for compassion, are also explored and Jarchovský ensures that not only all the protagonists have some past baggage and flaws but also that all the supporting characters are convincingly drawn.

The only sour notes in an otherwise solidly plotted story are its too enigmatic ending (weirdly contrasted with overly explanatory flashbacks), and Benda's sexual orientation. The latter is used to reveal that one character is a homophobe but at the same time seems to assume that at least a part of the audience is as well, as a small subplot involving Benda and Dominik seems designed to derive tension from the fact that any homosexual might be a predatory creep who shouldn't be allowed near children.

Technically, the film's luminous, with Ales Brezina's score judiciously placed to further up the tension where required.

Production companies: Fog 'n' Desire Film, K Film Plus, Sokol Kollar, Trigon Production, Ceska televize.
Cast: Anna Geislerová, Stanislav Majer, Jirí Cerný, Kristýna Fuitová, David Máj, Jirí Sesták, Jana Radojcicová, Matej Zikán, Vlastimil Dusek, Eva Kukucková
Director: Jan Hrebejk
Screenwriter: Petr Jarchovský
Producers: Viktor Taus, Michal Kollar, Tomas Rotnagl, Jan Kadlec
Director of photography: Martin Strba
Production designer: Jan Kadlec
Music: Ales Brezina
Costume designer: Katarína Strbová-Bieliková
Editor: Alois Fisárek
Sales: Fog 'n' Desire Film
No rating, 98 minutes

Hungarian WWII drama 'The Notebook' wins at Karlovy Vary

KARLOVY VARY – The 48th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, one of the leading Eastern European film festivals, came to a close on Saturday.

The festival jury, presided over by Polish director Agnieszka Holland, awarded the top prize, the Grand Prix Crystal Globe ($25,000 award) to the Hungarian film The Notebook. The film is a grim and cathartic drama directed by Janos Szasz (The Witman Boys), about twins living through World War II on the farm of their cruel grandmother. It is a Hungarian-German-Austrian-French co-production and features German actors Ulrich Mattes and Ulrich Thomsen in supporting roles. Thomsen earlier appeared in a lead role in Szasz’s film Opium: Diary of a Madwoman. The project had been gestating since 2006 and is the first film to be financed by Hungary’s new film funding body, the Hungarian National Film Fund.

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The Special Jury Prize ($15,000 award) went to the bizarre British black comedy A Field in England, set during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Directed by Ben Wheatley (Sightseers, Kill List), the film has multiple distribution platforms. It was released simultaneously on U.K. cinema screens, DVD, VOD formats and the free-to-air channel Film4 on Friday, July 5 – the day after its world premiere at Karlovy Vary. Drafthouse has already secured U.S. theatrical rights for the film.

In an unusual move, the festival awarded the best actress award to four actresses in one film – Louisa Krause, Margo Martindale, Emily Meade and Amy Morton, who starred in the film Bluebird, a U.S.-Swedish co-production directed by Lance Edmands. The film also won the festival’s Ecumenical Jury Award.

The toast of the festival was Oliver Stone, who was on hand in the latter half to receive a Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema, and award that was also presented to John Travolta and Czech costume designer Theodor Pistek (Amadeus) in the festival’s first half. Stone made typical pronouncements blasting U.S. foreign policy during a press conference, conducted a master class and presented screenings of films that he had written and/or directed, such as Alexander, Scarface (directed by Brian DePalma), an open-air showing of Wall Street and the two episodes of the documentary series Untold History of the United States.

Stone used his festival press conference as a soap box to pontificate about the United States’ global security state, calling Edward Snowden a hero.

“The United States is the dominant power in the universe, with its eavesdropping abilities,” he said. “It's what they call in the Pentagon ‘full spectrum dominance.’ And the world is in danger with our tyranny.”

STORY: John Travolta Collects Crystal Globe in Karlovy Vary

Stone’s Alexander: The Ultimate Cut, the fourth and final version of his much-tinkered historical extrapolation, had its European premiere at Karlovy Vary, and will be released to DVD in North America in 2014.

Stone stammered searchingly during his acceptance speech and ultimately decided to turn his speech into a pep talk for the aspiring filmmakers, saying, “Some of you who are in this room will certainly make a contribution to the world.”

Find the list of winners below.

GRAND JURY

Agnieszka Holland, Poland (jury president)

Ivo Andrle, Czech Republic

Frederic Boyer, France

Alon Garbuz, Israel

Claudia Llosa, Peru

Meenakshi Shedde, India

Sigurjon "Joni" Sighvatsson, Iceland

Other selected awards:

BEST DIRECTOR AWARD

Jan Hrebejk

Honeymoon

BEST ACTOR AWARD

Olafur Darri Olafsson

XL

EAST OF THE WEST AWARD ($20,000)

Floating Skyscrapers

Directed by Tomasz Wasilewski

AUDIENCE AWARD

Revival

Directed by Alice Nellis

INTERNATIONAL FILM CRITICS (FIPRESCI) AWARD

Shame

Directed by Yusup Razykov

THE ECUMENICAL JURY AWARD

Bluebird

Directed by Lance Edmands

First Feature Film Completed Under Hungary Fund Bows at Karlovy Vary

KARLOVY VARY -- The first feature film completed with backing from Hungary’s new national film fund had its world premiere Wednesday at the Karlovy Vary international film festival.

Janos Szasz’s Le grand cahier (A nagy fuzet, also known in English as The Notebook) – a $4 million-budget Hungarian co-production with Germany, France and Austria that tells the harsh story of twin brothers put into the care of a cruel grandmother during World War II, received $780,000 (600,000 Euros) from the Hungarian National Film Fund (HNFF).

An adaptation of Agota Kristof’s international bestseller, the film’s three-year journey from script to a screening at one of Europe’s leading film events coincided with a major shake up in Hungarian public film funding.

STORY: Cannes Debut of 'The Notebook' Marks Hungary's Return to the Movie Business

A change of government and revelations of multi-million dollar debts – along with allegations of corruption at predecessor body the Hungarian Motion Picture Public Foundation (MMKA), lead to the establishment of the new film fund, backed by national lottery funding worth $26 million this year.

Budapest-born Hollywood producer Andy Vajna (Rambo, Terminator, Nixon) was brought in to oversee the reforms to fund commercially viable films destined for theatrical release.

At the time, the changes provoked dismay among many filmmakers who feared they would no longer win public funding for their projects.

While some famous Hungarian directors publicly denounced the new system – most notably art house director Bela Tarr, who announced his retirement from filmmaking, most chose to give it time to prove itself.

STORY: Bavaria Film Group Signs Partnership with Hungary's Origo Film Studios

Szasz, whose film initially won support from the MMKA before interim backing from a government department, completed the movie under Vajna’s new system.

It’s the first of six films slated for release this year and next -- including Kornel Mundruczo’s White God (Feher isten) and Karoly Ujj Meszaros’ Liza, the Fox-Fairy -- and is one of 27 movies that have been greenlit for production funds.

HNFF CEO, Agnes Havas, said strict rules governing revenue share, accountancy practices and, in some cases, granting the fund international sales rights for backed projects, had established financial transparency and revolving door funding for further movies.

“Hungarian films are back in the market,” Havas told The Hollywood Reporter shortly before Le grand cahier screened Wednesday.

"Under the old system, more money was spent than the foundation had. All that has changed now.”

Havas, who began her career in film in the 1980s and has worked with HBO among others, said the selection committee system of the new fund guaranteed that a genuinely wide range of projects win backing.

“We are backing existing talent and bringing forward new talent,” she said.

Szasz, who works in both film and theater, said despite the changes of funding bodies, the whole process had been "smooth."

"It was even easy; I cannot and won’t complain."

John Travolta Collects Crystal Globe in Karlovy Vary

John Travolta received a lifetime achievement award in Karlovy Vary Friday.

KARLOVY VARY, Czech Republic – John Travolta became the latest in a long list of top Hollywood and international stars to pick up a Crystal Globe lifetime achievement award at Friday’s opening of the Karlovy Vary film festival.

One of Europe’s leading film events, Travolta told an audience of 2,000 guests and industry figures at the fest’s 48th edition opening night that it was a privilege to be an actor.

“Being an actor is such an interesting journey,” he said after being presented with the distinctive award – a figure of a naked woman holding aloft a crystal glass globe -- by festival president, Czech actor Jiri Bartoska.

“We are asked to reflect humanity, mankind. It is our own personal interpretation of that. It does not mean you are going to agree with that or even like it, but I’m so thrilled that you with agree with interpretation."

He added: “I’ve said it before – to be or not to be. I am glad that you allow me to be.”

VIDEO: James Gandolfini's Death: John Travolta to Look After Family

Travolta’s appearance onstage at the grand hall at the festival center, the Hotel Thermal, situated in the middle of the quaint bohemian spa town two hours drive southwest of Prague, came after clips from many of his best-known films – including Pulp Fiction, Grease, Saturday Night Fever and The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 were shown, eliciting cheers from the audience.

Previous Crystal Globe holders include Helen Mirren, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel, John Malkovich and many others who, in a festival tradition, make an amusing or ironic trailer for future editions of the festival with stories revolving around the award and the use to which they put it.

French director Michel Gondry, who introduced Mood Indigo, the fest’s opening film, said that actress Audrey Tautou -- who had been due to share the stage with him -- had been injured falling off her bicycle.

Hamming it up, Gondry gave a dramatic and darkly exaggerated account of the accident, saying that the actress had badly scratched her chin, exposing the bone and losing a lot of blood.

“Lucky that we shot the film before Audrey had her accident – she is very pretty there,” Gondry said smiling broadly, suggesting Tautou's injuries were not so serious.

The festival runs through July 7.

Follow me on Twitter @sajilpl

Michel Gondry's 'Mood Indigo' Opens Karlovy Vary

KARLOVY VARY – The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival kicked off Friday with a gala screening of L’Ecume des jours (Mood Indigo).

Co-star Audrey Tautou had to pull out of the red carpet event, but Oscar-winning director Michel Gondry raised the star wattage as Central Europe’s biggest film festival got underway, just before John Travolta arrives in the Bohemian spa town to introduce Mark Steven Johnson’s Killing Season.

Killing Season is perfect for Karlovy Vary as the picture sees Travolta and co-star Robert De Niro play veterans of the Bosnian war looking to settle scores after they fought on opposite sides of the conflict.

STORY: Karlovy Vary Fest to Honor John Travolta With Lifetime Achievement Award

And once Travolta receives the prestigious Crystal Globe lifetime achievement award, Karlovy Vary will get down to the serious business of spotting emerging cinematic talent, especially from Eastern Europe.

“We offer a thought-provoking opportunity for our audience to compare the work of young filmmakers from different parts of the world, meaning young auteurs from our territory with first- and second-time filmmakers from Western Europe, North America or Asia,” festival artistic director Karel Och told The Hollywood Reporter.

Karlovy Vary’s growing visibility comes as it acts as a launching pad for debut features -- including American director Lance Edmands’ Bluebird, which is screening in competition -- while continuing to focus on Hollywood fare this year with Steven Soderbergh’s Behind the Candelabra, David Mamet’s Phil Spector and Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha.

STORY: Michel Gondry's 'Mood Indigo' to Open Karlovy Vary Film Festival

Karlovy Vary also has regional distributors testing the audience's reaction to new releases and discovering titles for possibly acquisition.

“As a matter of fact," says Ochs, "We programmers often recommend titles to our distributors to consider for the national release, as we travel a lot covering all significant events and screenings.”

Karlovy Vary launching as the Czech summer holidays start should help fill theaters this week.

The festival runs through July 7.

Follow me on Twitter @sajilpl