The Karlovy Vary Film Festival is the largest film festival in the Czech Republic and the most prestigious such festival in Central and Eastern Europe. It is one of the oldest A-list film festivals. Among filmmakers, buyers, distributors, sales agents, and journalists, KVIFF is considered the most important event in all of Central and Eastern Europe. Every year, the festival presents some 200 films from around the world, and regularly hosts famous and important filmmakers. We had a chance to interview Karel Och, the festival Artistic director, on the festival and his vision for the festival.
Amir Ganjavie, UniversalCinema Magazine (UM): How do you define Karlovy Vary festival? What aspect of your festival makes it different from other festivals?
Karel Och (KO): One of the oldest film festivals in the world, audience-friendly, one of filmmakers´ favourites. I like to use a definition made up by a friend producer a while ago: GENTLY EDGY
(UM): Do you have a selection committee? If yes, what is the relationship between you as the festival artistic director and the committee? Who has the final words on the film selection process? Can a film programmer select a film, even when you don’t like it?
(KO): We are five people who program the festival, the selection committee with my humble self as the final decision-maker. I am very proud of my colleagues and respect their opinion a great deal. They are the reason why I love going to work every day. And no, a programmer cannot select a film, however, they sometimes are convincing enough to make me respect their opinion to the point of having a different view on my own opinion.
(UM): What is a good film for you? Do you have a few examples in mind?
(KO): Every single film you can find in the festival´s line-up we consider a good film. There are many reasons why we can say about a film that it is good, often it´s a combination of several aspects. One of the most important ones is an ability of a filmmaker to offer a new way to tell a story without necessarily making us feel it is the only reason of his or her effort.
(UM): How many films do you usually watch each year, and how many do you select?
(KO): About 500 which is the usual number for any programmer. This year we selected 127 feature films out of some 2000 submitted titles.
(UM): What is the relationship between the festival and international distributors? Do you prefer films with international distributors?
(KO): KVIFF has a very healthy and mutually satisfying relationships with many International distributors which are using especially the main competition to launch a film. We love working with the sales agents, many of them are our friends.
(UM): How is it essential for you to have a premiere of a film?
(KO): It is an important aspect of any ambitious festival´s endeavor. If you do not have premieres you are not interesting for press and industry, logically. However, the regular audience which is one of KVIFF´s most important assets does not really care if a film they are about to watch is a premiere or has been shown around, they just want to see a good film. The key element of our work is to balance these two aspects.
(UM): Does it make sense to select a complex film that might not attract an audience, or do you prefer movies that can secure a good turnout of the audience?
(KO): We do not suck up to our audience, we love to challenge it. But it´s important to make the audience understand there is passion behind every single choice we make, and that is how we show respect to our spectators.
(UM): What is the relationship between your festival and the audience ? Do you get feedback or guidelines from them? Does this impact your selection of films and your independence?
(KO): We get feedbacks from our audience at every discussion after every film, at a random meetings in any festival facility, by email etc. We want our audience to feel involved and humbly, it seems we are succeeding.
(UM): How is the importance of “right” content for you? Are you looking for films with a good humanistic/social message? If a filmmaker makes a fascinating, complicated film on a controversial topic, if he makes a perfect film on the defence of capital punishment or Trump, for example, will you accept his work?
(KO): There are certain ethical limits we would never cross. Until we feel such limits are attacked (and it would involve a thorough conversation within the team) we are very open minded.
(UM): Do you have a quota to meet for films from different regions?
(KO): No, we do not.
(UM): Do you have a specific inclusionary/gender policy in terms of selecting films? If so, how does that work, can you explain the process?
(KO): We do not have any quotas, we believe that a quota is an enemy of a good programmer. Three woman and two men respecting each other´s opinion, gaze etc., such is the programming team. We have always supported both male and female filmmakers in an equal way, and will continue doing so, regardless the charts, quotas, manifestos and so on.
© 2021. UniversalCinema Mag.