Main prize of the Karlovy Vary Festival goes to dropout documentary

The main prize of the 59th Karlovy Vary Film Festival has been awarded: Slovakian director Miro Remo accepted the crystal globe for his documentary film with the translated title "Lieber in der Wildnis verrückt werden". It is about two twin brothers who live in seclusion on a farm with animals in the Czech Bohemian Forest near the Bavarian border. The main prize is endowed with 25,000 US dollars, the equivalent of just under 21,400 euros.

The visit of Hollywood star Michael Douglas had already caused a stir at the start of the festival. The 80-year-old presented a restored version of the classic film "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", which he co-produced. Douglas accepted a crystal globe as a replacement for an award he had already received in 1998 - back then in the form of a typical Karlovy Vary wafer.

Skarsgard honored for lifetime achievement

One of the guests of honour at the closing gala on Saturday evening in the large hall of the Hotel Thermal in Karlovy Vary was Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard. The 74-year-old was awarded the Crystal Globe for extraordinary services to world cinema for his life's work. He is known from the drama "Good Will Hunting" and the science fiction film "Dune", among others.

In total, more than 130 feature-length fiction and documentary films were on the program. It was the first edition of the film festival since the death of long-time festival president Jiri Bartosek in May. Founded in 1946, the film festival, which initially took place alternately with its Moscow counterpart, is one of the oldest in the world. Every summer, it attracts tens of thousands of visitors from Germany and abroad to the West Bohemian spa town, which is located around 100 kilometers east of Bayreuth and 70 kilometers south of Chemnitz.