The
59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) takes place this year from Friday 4th July through until Saturday 12th July in the Czech Republic city of Karlovy Vary, situated about sixty-six miles west of Prague. It is the largest film festival in the Czech Republic and the most prestigious such festival in Central and Eastern Europe, and is one of the oldest A-list film festivals, a category it shares with the festivals in Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Locarno, San Sebastian, Montreal, Shanghai, and Tokyo.
Each year, the KVIFF presents some two hundred films from all around the world. Many of the films are exclusively shown at the festival, while others make it into Czech or foreign distribution, onto television, or into other festivals thanks in part to their screening in Karlovy Vary. The greatest focus is on the traditional programme sections – the
Crystal Globe Competition, which is reserved for feature-length films shot during the previous season that have not been shown at any other festival in international competition, and the
Proxima section, an international competition which aims to complement the Crystal Globe Competition by celebrating contemporary cinema with a collection of forward-thinking and exciting discoveries shown exclusively as World or International Premieres - so reads the official website.
Eleven of the twelve titles in the Crystal Globe Competition have been announced. The remaining film, from Iran, will be revealed closer to the end of the festival to ensure the safety of its creators. Those films are as given below, in brief :-
* 'Better Go Mad in the Wild' - from the Czech Republic and Slovakia and Written for the screen, Co-Produced, Co-Photographed and Directed by Miro Remo. World Premiere.
* 'Broken Voices' - from the Czech Republic and Slovakia and Written and Directed by Ondrej Provaznik. World Premiere.
* 'Cinema Jazireh' - from Turkey, Iran, Bulgaria and Romania and Written, Co-Produced, Directed and Co-Edited by Gozde Kural. World Premiere.
* 'Divia' - from Poland, Ukraine, Netherlands and the USA and Written, Co-Photographed, Directed and Co-Edited by Dmytro Hreshko. World Premiere.
* 'Don't Call Me Mama' - from Norway and Co-Written and Directed by Nina Knag. World Premiere.
* 'Jimmy Jaguar' - from Hungary and Written, Directed, scored and sound designed by Bence Fliegauf. World Premiere.
* 'The Luminous Life' - from Portugal and France and Written and Directed by Joao Rosas. International Premiere.
* 'Out of Love' - from France and Written and Directed by Nathan Ambrosioni. World Premiere.
* 'Rebuilding' - from the USA and Written and Directed by Max Walker-Silverman, and starring Josh O'Connor, Lily LaTorre, Meghann Fahy and Amy Madigan. International Premiere.
* 'The Visitor' - from Lithuania, Norway and Sweden and Co-Written, Photographed and Directed by Vytautas Katkus. World Premiere.
* 'When a River Becomes a Sea' - from Spain and Co-Written, Directed and Co-Edited by Pere Vila Barcelo. World Premiere.
For the full details of the above named feature films, plus all the other film strands being showcased including the Proxima Competition, Special Screenings, Horizons, Imagina and Afterhours, and a whole lot of other good stuff, you can go to the official website at : https://www.kviff.com/en/homepage
Turning the attention then back to this weeks five new movies coming to your local big screen Odeon, we kick off with this seventh offering in this 'monster' franchise that sees an expedition having to brave it out in isolated equatorial regions to extract DNA from three massive prehistoric creatures for a groundbreaking medical breakthrough. Then we turn to a story of a creative entrepreneur who lost his spouse, and develops a machine designed to communicate with deceased individuals. This is followed by a film about a Mongolian family who must leave their nomadic desert life after a devastating storm. Next up is an Aussie film about a man in his 30's with Down Syndrome, whose mother is dying of lung cancer, and embarks on a journey to find his father - a rock band singer; before closing out the week with a Taiwanese film that explores first love, teenage confusion and mental health though the lens of high school life.
Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.
- is an American science fiction action film Directed by Gareth Edwards whose previous feature film credits take in his Directorial debut in 2010 with
'Monsters' which he would follow up with
'Godzilla' in 2014,
'Rogue One : A Star Wars Story' in 2016, and
'The Creator' in 2023. This film is a standalone sequel to 2022's
'Jurassic World Dominion' the fourth
'Jurassic World' film and the seventh instalment overall in the
'Jurassic Park' franchise. The first six films in the series so far have grossed at the worldwide Box Office a total of US$6,076B against combined production budgets of US$1,143B - so long live the dinosaurs! The film is released in the US this week too, and cost US$180M to produce.
Set five years after the events of
'Jurassic World : Dominion', the planet's ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived. Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) leads a top secret expedition with a team of skilled operatives to the most dangerous place on Earth, an island research facility for the original Jurassic Park. Their mission is to secure DNA from the three most colossal creatures within that tropical biosphere that hold the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind. Also starring Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo and Ed Skrein.
'THE SHROUDS' (Rated MA15+) - this Canadian and French Co-Produced body horror drama film is Written and Directed by David Cronenberg whose feature film debut came along in 1969 with
'Stereo' and who subsequently went on to helm the likes of
'Shivers' in 1975,
'The Brood' in 1979,
'Scanners' in 1981,
'Videodrome' in 1983,
'The Fly' in 1986,
'Naked Lunch' in 1991,
'Crash' in 1996,
'A History of Violence' in 2005,
'Eastern Promises' in 2007,
'Maps to the Stars' in 2014 and
'Crimes of the Future' most recently in 2022. Here, four years after his wife Becca's (Diane Kruger) death from cancer, businessman Karsh (Vincent Cassel) has invented 'GraveTech', a tombstone that broadcasts a live, interactive 3D image of a deceased's decomposing corpse. The image of the dead person is created by a modified burial shroud. What could possibly go wrong?? Also starring Guy Pearce and Sandrine Holt. The film was screened in Main Competition section at the Cannes Film Festival on mid-May 2024, and was released in Canada, France and the US at the back end of April this year having garnered generally favourable critical reviews and grossing so far US$1.3M at the Box Office.
'THE WOLVES ALWAYS COME AT NIGHT' (Rated PG) - is a Co-Production between Australia, Germany and Mongolia that blends both documentary with fictional elements, and is Co-Written and Directed by the Australian filmmaker Gabrielle Brady in only her second feature film outing. The film follows Davaasuren 'Davaa' Dagvasuren and Otgonzaya 'Zaya' Dashzeveg (who also Co-Wrote the film with the Director), a young nomadic couple in the vast Bayanhongor region of Mongolia who are in the throes of animal birthing season when they are forced to abandon their familiar lives as shepherds and move to Ulaanbaatar after their livelihood is disrupted by climate change. The film Premiered in the Platform Prize programme at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, and was subsequently screened in competition at the 2024 BFI London Film Festival.
'WHAT ABOUT SAL?' (Rated M) - is a 2023 Australian comedy drama film Written, Produced and Directed by John Jarratt, the Australian Actor and film maker whose other two Directing credits are
'StalkHer' in 2015 and the doco
'Wake in Film' currently in post-production. Sal (Gerard O'Dwyer) is in his 30's and with Down Syndrome. He lives with his mum Sophie (Kaarin Fairfax) who has an aggressive form of lung cancer. She has only weeks to live, and with no living family members left, Sal could become a ward of the state, or homeless. He refuses to become neither. When Sal becomes aware that he was a product of a one night stand and that his mum doesn't remember his name, he plays detective and embarks on a journey to find his unnamed father - a rock band singer thirty years ago. Also starring Justin Banks, Chad R. Bennett and John Jarratt. The film was originally released here in Australia in early March last year, and it looks as though its getting a re-run from this week in select cinema's.
'LOVESICK' (Rated PG) - this Taiwanese romantic comedy drama film is Directed by Fu-Hsiang Hsu and here sees Zijie (Huai-yun Zhan), a rebellious teenager, stumbles upon the unexpected perks of being mistaken for being terminally ill. Intrigued by the attention and freedom, he chooses to play along, embracing a carefree 'lying flat' lifestyle. His act soon draws the concern of Yezi (Chi Chiang), a straight-A classmate with a mysterious warmth. As Zijie's deception deepens, the lies spiral out of control. Just when he's on the verge of being exposed, a twist turns everything upside down - Yezi is the one truly battling a terminal illness. Bound by secrets and a ticking clock, the faker and the genuinely ill set off on a heartfelt mission - to check off each other’s bucket lists before time runs out. The film was released in its native Taiwan in late April and has so far grossed US$2M.
With five new release movie offerings this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere at your local Odeon in the coming week.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
What Gareth Edwards has delivered here is a fairly formulaic by the numbers dino offering that does hark back in some ways to the original 'Jurassic Park' film, and yet it still treads almost the same path as the majority of instalments that have gone before. And that is that a bunch of guys and gals venture into largely unknown dino territory on some sort of expedition and the bad guys (and you know who they are from the get go) all get chomped on and spat out, and the good guys come back victorious ready for the next film in the series. So it is here, and the script writers have here pushed the boundaries of what might seem fair and reasonable to the average movie goer too. That said Scarlett Johansson delivers an admirable performance as do the principle cast, and Gareth Edwards knows how to ramp up the action set pieces, which I guess is the main reason why you go to see a movie that features prehistoric dinosaur versus human interaction writ large, and on that note 'Jurassic World : Rebirth' delivers.
