News

The 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff) wrapped up on Saturday with a celebration of international cinema and notable industry figures. The festival’s top honor, the Grand Prix – Crystal Globe, was awarded to Mark Cousins’ documentary “A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things,” narrated by Tilda Swinton, exploring the life of Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham.

Norwegian director Lilja Ingolfsdottir’s marital drama “Loveable” emerged as a major winner, securing five awards including the Special Jury Prize, the Europa Cinemas Label, and the Fipresci Award. The film’s lead actress, Helga Guren, also took home the Best Actress award.

Other significant winners included:

Best Director: Nelicia Low for “Pierce” Best Actors: Ton Kas and Guido Pollemans for “Three Days of Fish” Audience Award: “Waves” by Jirí Mádl Proxima Grand Prix: “Stranger” by Zhengfan Yang

The closing ceremony was highlighted by the presentation of the Kviff President’s Award to British actor Clive Owen,...

Mark Cousins wins Grand Prix Crystal Globe at the closing ceremony of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Photo: Film Servis Karlovy Vary

A documentary portrait of the Scottish modernist painter Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, by film-maker Mark Cousins, has won the top prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which ended with an awards ceremony tonight.

A Sudden Glimpse To Deeper Things scooped the accolade from a jury that included indy film producer Christine Vachon and Australian actor Geoffrey Rush.

British actor Clive Owen said festivals such as Karlovy Vary are needed “now more than ever.” Photo: Film Servis Karlovy Vary

Cousins, accepting the award, the Grand Prix Crystal Globe, said 'Willie' Barns-Graham “lived completely, truly and utterly – let’s all try to do that.”

A divorce story, Loveable, won the Crystal Globe jury prize, as well as three other awards categories, taking home the Fipresci, Ecumenical and Europa Cinemas...

Mark Cousins’ unconventional portrait of an artist “A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things” took top honors at this year’s Karlovy Vary Film Festival, snagging the fest’s iconic Crystal Globe alongside a cash prize of $25K to split by the Scottish-Irish filmmaker and his producing partners.

Featuring the voice work of Tilda Swinton, the award-winning doc follows the life and career of artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, a lesser-known master of modern art whose outlook and output underwent a profound spiritual, aesthetic and ideological transformation once the painter had a moment of epiphany atop Switzerland’s Grindelwald glacier in 1949.

The climbing expedition left Barns-Graham with a new set of obsessions and forms of expression – giving her life a new meaning.

Before claiming the Jury Prize, Lilja Ingolfsdottir’s domestic drama “Loveable” also took acting honors for star Helga Guren as well as parallel awards from the Ecumenical Jury, the Europa Cinema Label,...

Mark Cousins’ portrait of a British modernist painter, “A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things,” took the Karlovy Vary Film Festival top prize Saturday, winning over a jury that included Christine Vachon and Geoffrey Rush with its perceptive take on art and seeing.

Cousins said the film’s subject, painter Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, “lived completely, truly and utterly – let’s try to do that.”

Norwegian divorce story “Loveable” won the Crystal Globe jury prize, as well as three other awards categories, taking home the Fipresci, ecumenical and Europa Cinemas Label prizes with its nuanced look at a woman morphing into a new life.

Director Lilja Ingolfsdottir scored big with her first feature-length drama with “Loveable,” telling the audience at the Hotel Thermal Grand Hall the story helped her “find barriers we have built against connections.”

The directing prize went to Nelicia Low for the Singapore/Taiwan/Poland production “Pierce,” an intricate account...

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things, Mark Cousins‘ documentary essay about Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and her neurodiversity, including diary passages narrated by Tilda Swinton, won the Grand Prix – Crystal Globe, the top award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff) on Saturday. Clive Owen was honored with a Kviff award at the closing ceremony.

A Sudden Glimpse is “exploring the pivotal 1949 experience atop Switzerland’s Grindelwald glacier that reshaped British modernist painter Wilhelmina Barns-Graham’s artistic perspective for decades to come.” The Crystal Globe comes with a $25,000 prize. “I did not expect this in a million years,” Cousins said in accepting the honor. About Barns-Graham, he said: “She didn’t change the world. But she lived completely, fully and utterly. Let’s try to do that.”

The 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival‘s closing ceremony also honored the Norwegian marital drama Loveable, directed by Lilja Ingolfsdottir, with its special jury prize,...

The 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (June 28 – July 6) came to a close this evening with an awards ceremony that saw Mark Cousins’ essay film A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things win the main prize in the festival’s Crystal Globe competition. Narrated by Tilda Swinton and — in Cousins’ familiar, idiosyncratic style, exploring themes of gender, climate change and creativity — the UK film offers a creative biography of Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912-2004). Coming what most have been a close second to take the Jury Prize — and Best Actress Award for its star, Helga Guren — was Norway’s acclaimed divorce drama Loveable, directed by Lilja Ingolfsdottir.

Also taking the stage tonight was Czech actor Ivan Trojan, already perhaps the country’s most garlanded performer, who received the Festival President’s Award for Contribution to Czech Cinema. And following hot on the heels of Viggo Mortensen and Daniel Brühl, British actor...

UK director Mark Cousins’s A Sudden Glimpse To Deeper Things has won the top prize, the Crystal Globe, at this year’s Karlovy Vary Film Festival, while Loveable by Norwegian director Lilja Ingolfsdottir won five awards in total including the special jury prize and best actress award for Helga Guren.

Cousins‘ A Sudden Glimpse To Deeper Things is a documentary portrait of British painter Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, a leading figure in the modernist St Ives group of artists. Screen’s review said that Cousins brought “his distinctively poetic and enquiring approach to this elegiac cine-essay“ to the film. Conic acquired...

If Alexander Payne’s home discomforts weren’t Nebraskan but instead the soft climate and flat sidewalks of Rotterdam — if his name were Alexander Peijn, perhaps — his films might turn out a little like Peter Hoogendoorn’s hangdog charmer “Three Days of Fish.” At once universally familiar and so quintessentially Dutch in flavor that it should come with a side of fritessaus, this story of a brief, fraught reunion between a distant father and his unmoored son is an intimate, closely examined character piece rooted in the director’s own family history — much like his debut “Between 10 and 12,” which premiered at Venice in 2014 but never found the international distribution it deserved. Bowing in competition at Karlovy Vary, this decade-later sophomore feature may be modestly built, but has enough emotional heft and wry humor to raise Hoogendoorn’s profile on the arthouse circuit.

It takes a little time to work out...

Three Days of Fish, the sophomore feature outing from Dutch director Peter Hoogendoorn (Between 10 and 12) had its world premiere in the main competition of the 58th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff) this weekend.

“Just as he does every year, dad flies from sunny Portugal for a three-day visit to the Netherlands, the drab country of his birth,” reads the film description on the fest website. “He has his usual errands to run and he visits his doctor for his annual check-up, accompanied by his eccentric grown-up son.”

The film’s cast is led by Ton Kas and Guido Pollemans. Highlighted the fest programmers: “This intimate film offers a glimpse into the relationship between two men who have grown apart yet, as they engage in seemingly mundane activities, little by little they try to find their way back to one another.”

At one Kviff screening that was followed by a Q&a,...

A deadpan comedy with a lot of heart, Peter Hoogendoorn's sophomore feature contemplates the complexities of fractured familial relationships. Focusing on the struggle of a father and son, who are both equally uncommunicative, to reconnect, it weaves an intimate story driven by wry humour and unexpected heartache. Shot in black-and-white, Three Days Of Fish exhibits a modest space carefully crafted around the two leads. Constantly pulling back in the interactions, the protagonists allow physical distance to become a poignant third character - a reminder of their difficulties, mistakes and ultimately their endearing effort to restore their bond.

Gerrie (Ton Kas), a Dutch man in his sixties returns to his home country for his annual health check-up. He meets with Dick (Guido Pollemans), his adult son, who's expecting to spend some quality time with his father before he returns to Portugal. From the get-go, their interaction is stiff, greeting each other with.

It had me confounded, in the most delightful way, and left me with a big stupid grin on my face and tears in my eyes. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

If you see lots of movies, eventually it gets to be easy to predict where the latest one is going. But the deeply weird Matterhorn had me confounded, in the most delightful way, from the start. We meet Fred (Ton Kas), who lives alone in a small Dutch town, just a few doors down from his austere church; a photo of, perhaps, a wife and son hints that life was once fuller, but now the high point of Fred’s day appears to his bland meat-and-potatoes dinner, at 6pm on the dot, and not a moment sooner. Writer-director Diederik Ebbinge allows us to be...

On the surface, the van End family seems like a perfect middle class Dutch family. Once we delve beneath the surface, however, it quickly becomes apparent that they are just as dysfunctional as the rest of the world. Evert (Ton Kas), the father, is a spineless company man; at home, his wife and kids ignore all of his suggestions. The real head of the household is the mother, Etty (Jacqueline Blom), but she seems to want to relinquish her power in exchange for a bit of tranquility. The eldest child, Erwin (Tomer Pawlicki), is an acne-riddled floor manager at a large home improvement store and is preparing to move in with his fiancé (Anandi Gall). It is also worth noting that Erwin is Etty's unabashed favorite child. Next is Manuel (Abe Dijkman), the rude, pot-smoking middle child. Evert shows preference to Manuel, only because he has won so many sausage-eating contests sponsored by Evert's employer.

After a string of announcements, it looks like the Toronto International Film Festival have locked down their line-up and it’s looking like a fantastic slate. Much of the additions today come in the form of previous Cannes premieres, including Michael Haneke‘s Amour (review), Cristian Mungiu‘s Beyond the Hills (review), Abbas Kiarostami‘s Like Someone in Love (review), Bernardo Bertolucci‘s Me and You (review), Hong Sang-soo‘s In Another Country and the Venice premiere Olivier Assayas‘ Something in the Air. Most notably missing is Leos Carax‘s Holy Motors, but we do get a new Michael Winterbottom film titled Everyday. Out of the Discovery section, the biggest film seems to be The Brass Teapot, and indie drama starring Juno Temple and Michael Angarano and one can check out all the additions below.

Masters

Amour Michael Haneke, Austria/France/Germany North American Premiere Screen legends Jean-Louis Trintignant and...

The Heineken Kidnapping / De Heineken ontvoering Teaser Trailer. Maarten Treurniet‘s The Heineken Kidnapping / De Heineken ontvoering (2011) teaser trailer stars Rutger Hauer, Sallie Harmsen, Marcel Hensema, Gijs Naber, and Ton Kas. The Heineken Kidnapping / De Heineken ontvoering‘s plot synopsis: “The Heineken Kidnapping is based on the kidnapping of beer tycoon Freddy Heineken that hit the news in the Netherlands and abroad in the eighties of the last century. The film exceeds the well known story of the kidnap and goes on to tell the story of Alfred Heineken’s revenge, which culminates in a chase of the kidnappers across the world. Focusing on the psychological power struggle between the successful and charismatic beer brewer and a ruthless young criminal with a grudge”.

I was completely unaware of The Heineken Kidnapping but I believe everyone is aware of Heineken beer. I am looking forward to seeing when Freddy Heineken seeks revenge against the kidnappers.

A kidnap thriller titled The Heineken Kidnapping aka De Heineken ontvoering is being set for release in the Netherlans this October. This is a real life story of how Freddy Heineken was kidnapped and ransomed for $16 million Euros. Freddy was eventually freed, but his kidnappers, including Willem Holleeder and Cor Van Hout, had a less than peaceful life thereafter. Hout would end up murderered and Holleeder is still in jail, serving a term for extortion. Rutger Hauer will star as Freddy Heineken. Have a look at more of the biopic film details on The Heineken Kidnapping below.

The synopsis for The Heineken Kidnapping:

"The Heineken Kidnapping is based on the kidnap of beer tycoon Heineken that hit the news in the Netherlands and abroad in the eighties of the last century. The film exceeds the well known story of the kidnap and goes on to tell the story of Alfred Heineken's revenge,...

Amsterdam -- Romantic comedy "Love Is All" took home the Golden Calf for best Dutch feature Friday night as the Dutch Film Festival in Utrecht came to a close. Its helmer, Joram Lursen, received the award for best director.

"Love," a romantic comedy similar to the U.K.'s "Love Actually," stars Carice van Houten and, with 1.3 million admissions, is the biggest boxoffice hit in the Netherlands in recent years.

The festival jury, headed by former banker and film financier Frans Afman, was very critical of the quality of most of the Dutch features in competition, stating that many productions had not deserved financial support.

One of the highlights of the festival was opening night. While career achievement winner Rutger Hauer was not in town to receive his award, he sent along a short film in which he rides a bicycle through Amsterdam with Dutch Culture Minister Ronald Plasterk as his passenger.