KVIFF CULMINATING IN A GIANT
The gala closing of the 39th Karlovy Vary IFF has included a screening of the film which was premiered at the Cannes film festival – the second part of the successful animated film SHREK 2, which will be launched into local distribution straight after the festival.
The only thing this kind-hearted ogre longs for is to live in peace, far far away from people in his smelly swamp. Parents of Princess Fiona whose heart Shrek won in the first part change their mind and realize that they would like a better son-in-law and so they hire a fearless ogre-killer – Puss in Boots. If you had considered cartoons children’s matter only, Shrek 1 must have convinced you of the opposite. His bad-manners and politically incorrect humor were phenomenally successful among all categories of viewers and it was, as a first film ever, selected at the Cannes Festival. Shrek totally mocks conventional and educative fairy-tales and ridicules their clichés. The characters were dubbed by Hollywood stars – Cameron Diaz lends voice to Princess Fiona, Antonio Banderas reprises Puss in Boots, Mike Meyers is back as Shreks’s voice, Eddie Murphy gives voice to Donkey. John Cleese, guest to this year’s festival, lends voice to King.
Shrek 2 is one of Cannes selected films that showed in beautifulKarlovy Vary this year.
The programme for the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival saw a large selection of films in the sections Horizons and Another View which attracted the attention of the public and critics at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

LADYKILLERS (Horizons) is the latest film by the Coen brothers, a remake of the film Five Robbers and the Old Lady from 1955. The charlatan Professor Dorr is planning the crime of the century and has chosen Mrs Munson’s cellar as his base and refuge. The professor’s criminal gang, however, has its limits, and the opponent also appears to be stronger than anyone had anticipated. The starring role was entrusted to Tom Hanks, for whom the film signals a return to the comedy genre.

The new film BAD EDUCATION (Horizons) also brought to Cannes one of the most important European filmmakers – Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar. The film is set in three time planes and tells the partly autobiographical story of the hapless influence of religious education during the Franco era. The Korean film OLD BOY (Horizons) by director Park Chan-wook was awarded the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes film festival. It tells the story of an ordinary man living a contented life who is one day abducted for no apparent reason, and he spends the next fifteen years planning his revenge. Another film from the Cannes competition is the Austro-German film EDUCATORS (Horizons) by director Hans Weingartner. In this story about three rebels who find their own unique way to “educate” the local wealthy residents, we see the young star Daniel Bruhl who became famous for his role in the film Good Bye, Lenin! The Cannes section Un certain regard included the Austro-German film HOTEL (Horizons) by director Jessica Hausner, a story about the mysterious disappearance of the receptionist of a mountain hotel. From the same Cannes section, the Karlovy Vary festival brings the film WHISKY (Horizons), by directors Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll, about the subsequent meeting of two brothers whose lifelong rivalry is influenced by a woman. The film PASSAGES (Another View), the debut by young Chinese filmmaker Lu Cheng, was awarded the Golden Camera at Cannes in the section Un certain regard. The film tells the story of two students who try their luck in the big city by investing in an unusual project. The collection of films from Cannes also includes the Japanese film THE TASTE OF TEA (Another View) by director Katsushito Ishii, and the Canadian-French film CQ2, Seek You Too (Another View) by director Carole Laure.