Karlovy Vary International Film Festival opens with Viggo Mortensen

This article was originally published in English

The 58th International Film Festival is currently taking place in the spa town of Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic.

Two of the festival’s main guests, Viggo Mortensen and Geoffrey Rush, arrived on Thursday evening. They were welcomed by festival president Jiří Bartoška in front of the Pupp Hotel.

Viggo Mortensen, known for his role as Aragorn in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, was warmly welcomed by fans on the red carpet, before winning the festival president’s award.

In his acceptance speech, he said that the festival “occupies a special place” in his heart and described the Karlovy Vary festival as a “very important celebration in the world of cinema“.

A nod to Ukraine

Current events are also present in the themes of the films presented at the festival/

This year, a special screening was held for the Ukrainian war documentary “Real”, in which director Oleh Sentsov filmed footage from his time in the Ukrainian armed forces.

Oleg Sentsov explained that he filmed much of the footage accidentally, after turning on his helmet camera while in the trenches.

“I have so many memories and experiences and once we win and if I stay alive, I would like to make it into a feature film“, did he declare.

The Ukrainian director was congratulated by Czech President Petr Pavel, who is also a retired army general and a former chairman of the NATO Military Committee.

“These images are incredibly authentic, powerfully conveying to the audience the experiences and emotions of the soldiers.“, did he declare.

Some of the soldiers featured in the documentary have since been killed in the war between Russia and Ukraine. The audience at the screening paid tribute to them during the screening.