Cerise Howard and Jessica Kiang’s film festival reports emphasise the importance of face-to-face festivals, the excitement of returning in-person and ultimate disappointment in certain elements of the programming of these events.
Howard expresses her disappointment in the program of the 56th anniversary of KVIFF, with the absence of “a section dedicated to Czech cinema” of 2021 and “no retrospectives of substance programmed.” Being the first edition of KVIFF since the pandemic that Howard was able to attend, she reflects on the festival’s decision to exclude Czech cinema from the previous year, one that was made “based on an assumption that overseas visitors to the KVIFF don’t have an interest in the domestic cinema of the festival’s host nation.” It would be assumed that being an A-list film festival naturally warrants celebration of its nation’s cinema made at the height of the pandemic, offering insight to overseas festivalgoers to how filmmakers in Czechia adapted to COVID-19 restrictions in their creative work, but instead, the program featured films mostly from neighbouring nations.
Despite her disappointment in the disappearances in the program, Howard reports on her “delight” in the notable films featured made during the pandemic, including Jonás Trueba’s Tenéis que venir a verla (You Have to Come and See It), which “expressly position[s] itself in the pandemic-afflicted present day.” Howard also makes note of “another rare film shot and explicitly set within COVID times,” Bliadze’s ‘A Room of My Own’. Kiang’s 2022 report ‘The Joy (and Pain) of the Physical, at an In-person Berlin Film Festival’ also makes note of successful covid-era made films, one being Claire Denis’ Fire, which “acknowledges the pandemic without making it the subject of the film.”
Looking back at Miroslav Janek’s 2015 Film Spa, an exploration of the history of KVIFF and the program’s censorship in its earlier editions being under a totalitarian regime, it’s interesting to see KVIFF’s decision to feature a Russian government-funded film in its 56th edition, “against the wishes of Ukrainian filmmakers” as Howard reports. Howard makes note of the statement made by the film’s co-directors Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov, who “crafted a film which serves as ‘an indirect, but very distinct criticism of the current Russian state regime.’” This criticism suggests change and willingness to challenge said regimes, as an opportunity to show solidarity to other nations in a festival format.
Kiang’s 2022 report in The New York Times Critic’s Notebook on attending the recent Berlin International Film Festival notes the difference in the previous year’s online festival, which “debuted a stronger selection of films but didn’t feel like a festival at all”. Kiang reflects on the complaints surrounding the layout of the venue and encourages those to “consider that lonely experience as the alternative and the staircases, seating hassles and swabbing become a small price to pay.” COVID-19 protective measures are now a way we can attend these events safely, and as Kiang notes, being face-to-face is much more festive than hosting a festival online.
References
Cerise Howard, ‘Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? The 56th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival’, Senses of Cinema, no. 102 (Aug. 2022)
Jessica Kiang, ‘The Joy (and Pain) of the Physical, at an In-Person Berlin Film Festival’, New York Times, Feb. 17, 2022