The 45th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which opened with Scott Cooper’s double Oscar-winning “Crazy Heart,” and closed with French romantic-comedy, “Heartbreaker,” from director Pascal Chaumeilclosed, came to an end this Saturday in the Czech Republic. The festival juries handed out awards for their top picks at the Official Closing Ceremony, with Spain’s “The Mosquito Net,” from director Agusti Vila, going on to win the night’s biggest award, the Grand Prix, with a $30,000 cash prize to boot. The film had its world premiere at the festival.
One of the most notable Czech entries, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Jan Sverak party animated “Kooky,” meanwhile walked off with the Special Jury Prize. Praised for its visual inventiveness, the film marks a comeback for Sverak, who won the best foreign-language film Oscar back in 1996 for “Kolya.”
Producer Ron Yerza (“Little Miss Sunshine”) headed this year’s jury, that included film critic David Stratton and directors Chang-dong Lee and Alexei Popogrebsky. In other awards, Rajko Grlic nabbed Best Director for his Serbian film “Just Between Us,” Best Documentary Feature went to Mikael Wistrom and Alberto Herskovits’ acclaimed “Familia,” and Dmitri Mamulia’s Russian film “Another Sky” got a Special Jury Mention.
In addition, Jude Law was on hand to pick up Karlovy Vary’s lifetime honor, the President’s Award. Martin Scorsese, Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker (“Raging Bull”) and Scottish director Kevin Macdonald were all in attendance for Law’s acceptance.
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