Karlovy Vary's Krystof Mucha on Continuing the Legacy of Jiri Bartoska
Rockaway recently lauded the 'strong and stable team headed by executive director Kryštof Mucha, saying: 'The position of president will not be filled and will remain dedicated to Jiří Bartoška in memoriam.'
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Marcel Barelli to Get Locarno Kids Award, Annecy Winner 'Arco' to Screen at Fest
Keanu Reeves to Host, Exec Produce Docuseries on the Birth of the Cadillac Formula 1 Team in the U.S.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen on Reporting From Iran and What the Media Narrative Doesn't Capture
Mucha, who joined the festival team in 1997 and has been its executive director since 2004, has also become chairman of the board of the KVIFF Group. Remaining on the festival's management team are artistic director Karel Och and head of production Petr Lintimer.
'For many years, I had the wonderful opportunity to work with Jiří Bartoška and to see how he thought and where he was taking the festival,' Mucha said after his promotion. 'I believe that, together with Karel Och and Petr Lintimer, we will succeed in continuing his legacy.'
Ahead of this year's 59th edition of KVIFF, THR caught up with Mucha to discuss the legacy of Bartoška, how the festival's duties are now being divided up, its focus on continuity along with some new accents, and more.
'Mr. Bartoška was the biggest TV and film star in the '80s, and then a very important figure for the revolution in 1989 [that led to the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia] and very well connected to people like Miloš Forman and others,' Mucha tells THR. The executive worked closely with the legendary actor and festival president from 2000, 2001 and even more so once Mucha became executive director in 2004.
'He was focused on the positioning of the film festival in terms of the Czech environment, developing and bringing sponsors into the festival, support from the government, and from the city of Karlovy Vary,' he explains. 'He was the key person for all that. When he passed, I replaced him, but we said we are not going to have the festival president position anymore. That was the way he was running the film festival, and we felt that this was the right position for him, because as president, he was such a big figure.'
That's why the fest has organized a tribute to Bartoška this year, with the fest's opening film We've Got to Frame It! (A Conversation With Jiří Bartoška in July 2021), along with screenings of an older film starring the legend, and an exhibition of large-scale photographs featuring him. 'It is a celebration of what this incredible person achieved,' says Mucha.
'It's not about one person, it's about a team,' adds Mucha of his working relationship with Och and Lintimer. 'We feel that's how it should be right now.'
How will Mucha's role at the festival change? 'Jiří Bartoška was the one who was representing the festival and meeting the stars and other guests of the festival, but also when politicians came and important figures in this country. He was very natural at that and spent time with them,' he noted. 'That work is going to be quite a difference for me. Karel and I will do more of those things together. For example, when we have a guest getting an award, we will be the ones handing it to them.' Meanwhile, 'Petr, as the director of production, will be with me at events for the sponsors. So we will try to share these duties among us.'
Having Mucha and Och attending big festivals, such as Cannes and Sundance, also has key benefits. 'Being there together means we can make decisions immediately. And it's great that you can have the artistic director and executive director doing these things together.'
Evolution rather than revolution is what Mucha sees ahead for KVIFF. One such evolution is a recently unveiled tweaking of the industry program of the fest, which is adding a day this year, launching 'a sharpened focus on Central European co-production opportunities in an updated showcase format' called KVIFF Central Stage, and introducing a series incubator.
'Things are changing very fast in this industry,' says Mucha. 'We previously had a works-in-progress program. These days, it's different because right now, every single significant project already has sales, and people know about it.'
A focus on co-production opportunities across Eastern and Central European countries, including Germany and Austria, seemed a natural fit. 'That's the territory where we feel we are a key player and want to be focused on this. It's something that could really be beneficial for all of us.'
TV is also playing an expanded role this year, including the world premiere of Serbian miniseries Absolute 100 in the fest's Special Screenings section.
Plus, Central European Media Enterprises (CME), which owns television businesses in Central and Eastern Europe, approached KVIFF about a possible broader collaboration in the industry program. 'So we talked about film and TV and decided this was a great time to start something new,' says Mucha.
The result is the new Pop-Up Series Incubator featuring five original European series ideas. 'We are not going to be changing the program focus of the festival to TV,' highlights Mucha. 'But if there is a quality movie coming from TV, we would love to screen it. There are no limits for us. So, again, it's natural. This is something new happening for the first time, and we hope that it is going to work and that it is going to have benefits. If these things work, perfect. We can then develop these things more.'
All in all, Mucha says the troika in charge of KVIFF is experienced and ready to carry on the legacy of Bartoška while also continuing to innovate.
Says Mucha: 'He was the one who often stood up front and dealt with the media and public. We were working together and with him, but more behind him. But we have been a significant part of the team for many, many years. So if people still feel that the festival will be hard to organize, I think that is to our advantage. People will see in Karlovy Vary that it will still look the same, but we will also remember Jiří Bartoška the right way. And it's going to be in a positive way.'
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
The 40 Best Films About the Immigrant Experience
Wes Anderson's Movies Ranked From Worst to Best
13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
The 59th Karlovy Vary Film Festival Pays Heartfelt Tribute To Jiří Bartoška, Honors Vicky Krieps And Peter Sarsgaard
The recent passing of Czech acting legend Jiří Bartoška, aged 78, was always going to cast a long shadow over the latest edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. President of the event since 1994, and, alongside the late Eva Zaoralová, the chief architect of its renaissance thereafter, the actor was the subject of the opening night film, We've Got to Frame It! (a conversation with Jiří Bartoška in July 2021), a documentary directed by Milan Kuchynka and Jakub Jurásek. Surprisingly, the festival didn't go too overboard on Bartoška's legacy, partly, perhaps, because they paid a handsome tribute last year. Bartoška also has a co-starring role in this year's festival trailer. Karlovy Vary is famous for not being precious about its honorary awards; each year's trailer features a previous winner trash-talking, misusing or even destroying the event's distinctive Crystal Globe statuette. For the 59th edition, local star Bolek Polívka is seen buying shots in a dive bar with an unseen friend and humbly offering to share one of his two Crystal Globe wins. The short film ends with the reveal that the chair opposite him is empty, as he drinks a toast to his old friend Bartoška. More from Deadline Karlovy Vary's Industry Section Unveils New KVIFF Central Stage Showcase To Spotlight Central European Co-Production Karlovy Vary International Film Festival To World Premiere Cinematic Cut Of Video Game 'Kingdom Come: Deliverance II' Michael Douglas To Present Newly Restored 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' At Karlovy Vary As well as its trailers, the festival is famous for its gnomic dance routines, and this year was no exception. Filling the stage with androgynous women dressed in black and making sometimes terrifying use of pure white light and heavy industrial techno, the latest interpretative dance extravaganza appeared to be a Lynchian comment on the parlous state of today's world. Whatever it actually was, it remains, as always in Karlovy Vary, open to interpretation. Two of this year's special guests were there to pick up their Crystal Globe awards, the first being actress Vicky Krieps, who confessed to being woefully unprepared for the occasion. 'I have to tell you the truth,' she said. 'I'm really bad at this. I'm not good at behaving, or fitting in, or doing what I'm supposed to do, so I'll not give the speech you think I'm going give. I don't even know how. My son just told me, 'Oh, mom, it's fine. You got this. Just improvise.' So that's what I'm doing.' Krieps's brief speech also touched on the thorny issue of current affairs. 'Other than saying thank you for this award — I actually very much appreciate it — I would like to say that I love film festivals,' she said. 'I think they're just the best thing in the world, together with cinema, and if movies are not misused, they can go across borders and transport the most powerful messages. They don't ask for your passport, or where you from or how much money you have or if you're cool or not.' 'I was never cool,' she said, to much laughter. 'I was always not cool. I didn't finish my studies. But I'm here, and all I did was I believe in the dream. Y'know, movies give us the space to dream and cope. We come to this planet with nothing, and I will leave with nothing. So, unfortunately, even a beautiful award will not go with me to where I'm going. But I will take all the memories and all my dreams, and that's what movies can do. So, we should try and save movies, so they continue to exist, and they continue to spread love and peace and, more importantly, forgiveness.' Following her onto the stage was American actor Peter Sarsgaard, who made a slightly more daring comment, directly addressing the zeitgeist back home while stopping short of naming the elephant in the room. 'Making a film is a collective action,' he said with a wry smile, after a wide-ranging clip reel of his performances, 'and I'm proud of some of the work that you just saw. Maybe not all of it, but any actor will tell you the good work is only possible in an environment that supports it. [Director] Michelle Franco supports it. Tim Fehlbaum supports it. Billy Ray, Kim Pierce, Tim Robbins, and, of course, my wife Maggie Gyllenhaal. There is no going it alone. 'As my country retreats from its global responsibilities and tries to go it alone,' he continued, 'it is also being divided into factions within factions, of politics, gender, sexuality, race… Jews [are] split over war. But when there's a common enemy, there is no going it alone. The enemies are the forces that divide us, that individuate us. We all know who they are. Collective action is the only way forward in art and in our happiness. So, thank you for this. I couldn't have done it without all of you. And in the words of [former Czech president Václav Havel], one half of a room cannot remain forever warm while the other half is cold. Thank you.' Best of Deadline 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery 'Poker Face' Season 2 Guest Stars: From Justin Theroux To Jason Ritter Remembering Michael Madsen: A Career In Photos
Geek Tyrant
12 hours ago
- Geek Tyrant
New Details For ADVENTURE TIME: FIONNA AND CAKE Season 2 Reveal a Return to 'Normal, But It's Still Pretty Strange" — GeekTyrant
The Land of Ooo is stirring again, though maybe not in the way fans expect. At this year's Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake took the spotlight alongside some of Cartoon Network's heaviest hitters. While the event didn't drop a new trailer or premiere date for Season 2, it did reveal some interesting details about what's coming next for the gender-swapped duo. Showrunner Adam Muto was on hand to preview the future of the series, and while the footage shown hasn't made its way online yet, Muto confirmed a shift in direction from Season 1's multiverse-hopping madness. This time around, Fionna and Cake are staying put. or at least, sticking closer to Fionna's original universe. Muto explained: 'This time, we wanted to keep most of the adventures in Fiona's world and I thought that would make it more normal. But it's still pretty strange. And that's kind of baked into Adventure Time DNA.' Strange is definitely the vibe, and fans wouldn't have it any other way. It was also revealed that the show will see the return of Adventure Time's Huntress Wizard, who, if you remember, once had a romantic subplot with Finn in the original series. She's stepping into a major role in Season 2, though exactly how she'll interact with Fionna, Cake, and this slightly off-kilter version of 'normal' is still under wraps. It was also announced that Steven Universe creator Rebecca Sugar appeared in the crowd to announce that she wrote an original song for Season 2. Season 1 of Fionna and Cake took some wild swings with multiversal chaos, existential themes, and heart-tugging nostalgia. Now, Season 2 is shaping up to be a little more grounded, but no less surreal because let's be real, 'normal' in the Adventure Time universe is always going to be a little weird. And that's exactly how fans like it. Source: Variety
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
Why the John Garfield Retrospective at Karlovy Vary May Seem More Political Than Intended
A John Garfield retrospective at the 59th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) promises black-and-white treasures, a showcase of Hollywood's method acting pioneer and that special 35 millimeter film experience. Oh, and it may also cause some viewers to debate political parallels between the U.S. of Garfield's time and today. Garfield, known for such movies as The Postman Always Rings Twice, Four Daughters, and Body and Soul, made a name for himself by playing brooding working-class characters in the 1940s. He then sought greater creative control as a contract with Warner came to an end, so he co-founded the production company Roberts Productions. More from The Hollywood Reporter Paolo Sorrentino's 'La Grazia' Set to Open Venice Film Festival La Roux Wants You to Know That Beyond Singing, She Also Writes, Produces, and Performs Her Music Monotony and a First-Time Actor Loom Large in Reintegration Drama 'Rain Fell on the Nothing New' 'It's my baby,' KVIFF artistic director Karel Och tells THR about the retrospective. 'I've been wanting to do Garfield for many years, since the centenary [of his birth] in 2013, because I don't think we've ever done a tribute to an actor, and also an actor who tried to build his career in times which were very difficult, politically speaking, in America.' After all, Garfield's career took a hit when he was called to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) that looked into allegations of Communist ties and activities by people in Hollywood and beyond. 'The accusations had a fatal box office impact on one of his final films, The Breaking Point (1950), an adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's adventure novel To Have and Have Not, which the author himself considered the best film adaptation of any of his books,' according to KVIFF organizers. 'Unlike others who collaborated with the authorities and denounced their colleagues in order to protect their own skins, the exhausted Garfield, already suffering poor health, did not 'name names,'' making him a victim of McCarthyism. Given U.S. President Donald Trump's battle with cultural and media organizations and personalities, Garfield's life story may strike some as fitting into some of today's narratives. Och has developed a reputation for booking the festival with a focus on artistic decisions rather than politics or gimmicks, though. And he emphasizes that this was also the case with the long-planned Garfield retrospective. 'First and foremost, the intention for this is aesthetic and historical, to tell people in my country and in Central Europe who have no clue who he was that this guy was here before Marlon Brando and before James Dean, and he was the first method actor. People will maybe also see that America then and America nowadays are not that different in terms of certain things, politically speaking.' He has an example of a scene that may sound topical again today: 'There is a movie with Garfield, which we are screening, called Pride of the Marines, which is less known and which I only discovered some time ago. It's based on the real story of a soldier, Al Schmid, who went to Guadalcanal in the Second World War, ended up blind, and came back and tried to continue his life. There is a strong scene in the movie set in the hospital with all the soldiers who are about to go home, and they are a little worried about what they will find, in terms of private life, but also in terms of work. And one soldier says, 'Well, I'm going back home, and I may find out that there's some Mexican doing my job.' This is 1946. And the camera pans to a guy who is his fellow soldier, who's Mexican. And the first soldier realizes this, and he's like: 'Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean you, I meant the other Mexican.' And the guy responds: 'Well, I am the other Mexican.'' Och understands that scenes like that could leave audiences pondering some very clear parallels with our current moment. 'You have such a strong statement that you could also have in a movie nowadays, basically,' he tells THR. 'And with Garfield, you have this incredible personality who tried to stay true to his ideals in the times of this [anti-communist] witch hunt and economic crisis and whatnot. But first and foremost, these movies are just fascinating. Certain issues might or will be perceived as political, but these are never on our minds in the first instance. We're doing Garfield because he was the most amazing actor.' Och is also proud to be able to screen a large part of the retrospective on old-school film. 'We have eight of the 10 movies on 35 millimeter prints. So, I hope it will be enlightening, also maybe for a younger generation, from this point of view, because the chances to see films on film material are more and more rare nowadays.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter The 40 Best Films About the Immigrant Experience Wes Anderson's Movies Ranked From Worst to Best 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts
