Skip to main content

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival · 2017

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2017

Another View

Programme

20 films · 7 reviews

Jump to a film

Araby (Arábia)

The story of ex-con and eternal optimist Cristiano, as he journeys across Brazil in search of work and self-knowledge.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2017; Director: João Dumans, Affonso Uchoa; Writer: João Dumans, Affonso Uchoa; Stars: Aristides de Sousa, Murilo Caliari, Gláucia Vandeveld, Renata Cabral, Renan Rovida)

Austerlitz

There are places in Europe that have remained as painful memories of the past. People suffered and died there. These were factories where humans were turned into ash. Now these places are museums that tourists come to visit.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2016; Director: Sergei Loznitsa)

April's Daughter

After a teenager falls pregnant, her half-sister calls their long-absent mother, sparking trouble.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2017; Director: Michel Franco; Writer: Michel Franco; Stars: Emma Suárez, Hernán Mendoza, Joanna Larequi, Enrique Arrizon, Ivan Cortes)

Axolotl Overkill

Mifti, age 16, lives in Berlin with a cast of characters including her half-siblings; their rich, self-involved father; and her junkie friend Ophelia. As she mourns her recently deceased mother, she begins to develop an obsession with Alice, an enigmatic, and much older, white-collar criminal.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2017; Director: Helene Hegemann; Writer: Helene Hegemann; Stars: Jasna Fritzi Bauer, Arly Jover, Laura Tonke, Mavie Hörbiger, Nikolai Kinski, Hans Löw, Julius Feldmeier, Sabine Vitua, Lorna Ishema)

Centaur

Story of the bond between horse and human.

(Country: France, Germany, Netherlands, Kyrgyzstan; Year: 2016; Director: Aktan Arym Kubat; Writer: Ernest Abdyjaparov, Aktan Arym Kubat; Stars: Nuraly Tursunkojoev, Zarema Asanalieva, Aktan Arym Kubat, Taalaikan Abazova, Ilim Kalmuratov, Bolot Tentimyshov, Maksat Mamyrkanov)

City Of The Sun

Chiatura was once a proud ore-mining centre but today its remaining inhabitants eke out their livelihoods among the ruins of Soviet ambition.

(Country: Georgia; Year: 2017; Director: Rati Oneli; Writer: Dea Kulumbegashvili, Rati Oneli; Stars: Archil Khvedelidze, Zurab Gelashvili, Mariam Pkhaladze, Irina Pkhaladze)

La Familia

(Country: Venezuela, Chile, Norway; Year: 2017; Director: Gustavo Rondón Córdova; Writer: Gustavo Rondón Córdova; Stars: Giovanni García, Reggie Reyes)

Freak Show

Review preview for Freak Show

A film like this is a costume designer's dream.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A teenager who moves to a small town decides to tackle bullying attitudes by running for homecoming queen.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Trudie Styler; Writer: Patrick J Clifton, Beth Rigazio, James St James; Stars: Alex Lawther, Ian Nelson, Abigail Breslin, AnnaSophia Robb, Laverne Cox, Bette Midler, Willa Fitzgerald, Celia Weston, Mickey Sumner, Doris McCarthy, John McEnroe, Christopher Dylan White, Larry Pine, Michael Park, Eddie Schweighardt)

Full review

Jeannette: The Childhood Of Joan Of Arc (Jeannette L'Enfance De Jeanne D'Arc)

Review preview for Jeannette: The Childhood Of Joan Of Arc

Eternal greatness encounters sacrifice and the film dares to musically tackle questions of complicity in evil. Péguy's socialism, patriotism, and Catholicism mix well with the eager young actors. This is unlike any film you have ever seen.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
Musical about the French heroine.

(Country: France; Year: 2017; Director: Bruno Dumont; Writer: Bruno Dumont, based on the play by Charles Péguy; Stars: Lise Leplat Prudhomme, Jeanne Voisin, Lucile Gauthier, Victoria Lefebvre, Aline Charles, Elise Charles, Anaïs Rivière, Gery De Poorter, Régine Delalin, Nicolas Leclaire)

Full review

Kingdoms (Reinos)

Drama tracks a university love affair.

(Country: Chile; Year: 2017; Director: Pelayo Lira)

The Last Of Us

Chronicle of an unnamed man's inadvertent journey into nature.

(Country: Tunisia, Qatar, UAE, Lebanon; Year: 2016; Director: Ala Eddine Slim)

Los Perros

Review preview for Los Perros

Zegers and Castro are no strangers to strange chemistry, most notably in Post Mortem, and they bring a dark psychological edge to their interactions.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A woman embarks on an affair with a colonel suspected of human rights abuses.

(Country: France, Chile; Year: 2017; Director: Marcela Said; Writer: Marcela Said; Stars: Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegers, Rafael Spregelburd, Alejandro Sieveking)

Full review

Menashe

Review preview for Menashe

Rather than pick apart rituals... Weinstein simply lets us see them in action as part of the natural fabric of his life

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A man faces losing custody of his son after the death of his wife.

(Country: US; Year: 2017; Director: Joshua Z Weinstein; Writer: Joshua Z Weinstein, Alex Lipschultz, Musa Syeed; Stars: Menashe Lustig, Ruben Niborski, Yoel Weisshaus) , Trailer

Full review See: Menashe co-writer/producer Alex Lipschultz on the challenges of making the film

The Misandrists

Review preview for The Misandrists

Something like a cross between Carry On Solanas! and The Beguiled

Jane Fae · 4 out of 5
A radical female ‘army of lovers’ is preparing itself to fight for a world without men.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2017; Director: Bruce La Bruce; Writer: Bruce La Bruce; Stars: Susanne Sachße, Viva Ruiz, Kembra Pfahler, Caprice Crawford, Grete Gehrke, Kita Updike, Victoire Laly, Olivia Kundisch, Lina Bembe, Til Schindler, Dominik Hermanns)

Full review

The Nothing Factory (A Fábrica De Nada)

One night, a group of workers realizes that the administration is stealing machines and raw materials from their own factory, forcing the staff to take a stand.

(Country: Portugal; Year: 2017; Director: Pedro Pinho; Writer: Tiago Hespanha, Luisa Homem, Leonor Noivo, Pedro Pinho, Jorge Silva Melo; Stars: Carla Galvão, Dinis Gomes, Américo Silva, José Smith Vargas)

Poolside Man (Pûrusaido man)

Observational drama about a taciturn lifeguard.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2016; Director: Hirobumi Watanabe; Writer: Hirobumi Watanabe; Stars: Yukiko Hachisu, Misao Hirayama, Gaku Imamura, Karin, Takanori Kurosaki, Mayumi Nakayama, Hitoshi Suzuki, Mina Takeda, Kodô Toda, Hirobumi Watanabe)

Quality Time

Review preview for Quality Time

An excellent demonstration (in places) of Daan Bakker's agility and ability as a writer and director.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
Five men, five stories.

(Country: Netherlands; Year: 2017; Director: Daan Bakker; Writer: Daan Bakker; Stars: Steve Aernouts, Idar Andersen, Maja Baaserud, Thomas Aske Berg, Anneke Blok, Bert Bunschoten, Steef Cuijpers, Raymonde de Kuyper, Randi Egeland, Tore Egeland, Adam Ekeli, Dennis Foose, Gaute Garlid, Fred Goessens, Vegar Hoel)

Full review

Requiem for Mrs J (Rekvijem za gospodju J)

Review preview for Requiem for Mrs J

Comedy doesn't come in many darker shades than that employed by Serbian director Bojan Vuletic in Requiem For Mrs J, this is truly the vantablack of humour.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Jelena wants to end her life and she’s only got a week to sort things out... a situation that proves difficult.

(Country: Serbia; Year: 2017; Director: Bojan Vuletic; Writer: Bojan Vuletic; Stars: Mirjana Karanovic, Jovana Gavrilovic, Danica Nedeljkovic, Vucic Perovic, Mira Banjac, Aleksandar Alac, Vladimir Aleksic, Radoje Cupic, Zinaida Dedakin, Boris Isakovic, Valcho Kamarashev, Katarina Markovic, Radoslav 'Rale' Milenkovic, Radovan Miljanic, Bora Nenic)

Full review

Stockholm, My Love

A woman walks through her native city on a journey of recovery from a bad thing that happened to her exactly one year before.

(Country: Sweden, UK; Year: 2016; Director: Mark Cousins; Writer: Mark Cousins, Anita Oxburgh; Stars: Neneh Cherry)

White Sun (Seto Surya)

On the occasion of his father’s funeral, Chandra returns to the village he left years earlier to join the Maoists, and finds himself united with the daughter he never met and revisiting uneasy relations with family members and neighbours.

(Country: Nepal, US, Qatar, Netherlands; Year: 2016; Director: Deepak Rauniyar; Writer: Deepak Rauniyar, David Barker; Stars: Dayahang Rai, Asha Maya Magrati, Rabindra Singh Baniya, Sumi Malla, Amrit Pariyar)