Dumont’s “Angel” Leads Karlovy Vary Winners

Frédéric Dumont accepts the top prize of the 44th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Image courtesy of the festival.

The 44th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival came to a close this weekend, with Frédéric Dumont’s Belgian-Canadian co-production “Angel at Sea” (Un ange à la mer) taking home the fest’s $30,000 Crystal Globe prize.  The main jury, led by French producer Claudie Ossard, also awarded “Angel” star Olivier Gourmet with the best actor prize.  Gourmet stars as a manic-depressive father who develops a troubled relationship with one of his sons.  He shared he best actor prize with Paul Giamatti, for his work in the lone U.S. competition entry “Cold Souls.”

The Special Jury Prize - which comes with a $20,000 payout - was given to Iranian Abdolreza Kahani’s “Twenty,” while best director went to Germany’s Andreas Dresen for the comedy “Whisky with Vodka.”  Other awards in the main competition included Paprika Steen taking home the best actress statuette for her work in “Applause,” and a special mention for acting given to 15-year-old Filip Gabacz, who played a young prostitute in the Polish film “Piggies.”

The documentary jury awarded Slovak filmmaker Marko Škop best documentary honors for his film “Osadné,” while American doc “We Live in Public,” directed by Ondi Timoner, won a special mention. In the short documentary category, German-Indian-Pakistani co-production “Wagah” took top honors, with a special mention going to Poland’s “Till It Hurts.”

Karlovy Vary’s East of the West competition - focusing on Eastern European works - honored Andrey Khrzhanovsky’s Joseph Brodsky biopic “Room and a Half” with the top prize (and $10,000).  Special Mention was given to Michal Rosa’s “Scratch,” from Poland.

For a complete list of winners, please see the next page. indieWIRE will publish a full report on Karlovy Vary Monday afternoon.

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