Karlovy Vary Reveals Award Winners: Mark Cousins’ Doc ‘A Sudden Glimpse To Deeper Things’ Takes The Crystal Globe

The 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (June 28 – July 6) came to a close this evening with an awards ceremony that saw Mark Cousins’ essay film A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things win the main prize in the festival’s Crystal Globe competition. Narrated by Tilda Swinton and — in Cousins’ familiar, idiosyncratic style, exploring themes of gender, climate change and creativity — the UK film offers a creative biography of Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912-2004). Coming what most have been a close second to take the Jury Prize — and Best Actress Award for its star, Helga Guren — was Norway’s acclaimed divorce drama Loveable, directed by Lilja Ingolfsdottir.

Also taking the stage tonight was Czech actor Ivan Trojan, already perhaps the country’s most garlanded performer, who received the Festival President’s Award for Contribution to Czech Cinema. And following hot on the heels of Viggo Mortensen and Daniel Brühl, British actor Clive Owen accepted the third and last of the President’s Awards to be presented at this year’s festival.

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The full list of winners and juries are below:

CRYSTAL GLOBE COMPETITION

CRYSTAL GLOBE JURY

Christine Vachon, USA
Geoffrey Rush, Australia
Sjón, Iceland
Eliška Křenková, Czech Republic
Gábor Reisz, Hungary

GRAND PRIX – CRYSTAL GLOBE (25 000 USD)
The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film.

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things
Directed by: Mark Cousins (United Kingdom, 2024)

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE (15 000 USD)
The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film.

Loveable / Elskling
Directed by: Lilja Ingolfsdottir (Norway, 2024)

BEST DIRECTOR AWARD

Nelicia Low for the film Pierce / Cì xīn qiè gŭ (Singapore / Taiwan / Poland, 2024)

BEST ACTRESS AWARD

Helga Guren for her role in the film Loveable / Elskling (Norway, 2024)

BEST ACTOR AWARD

Ex-aequo to Ton Kas and Guido Pollemans for their role in the film Three Days of Fish / Drie dagen vis (Netherlands, Belgium, 2024)

SPECIAL JURY MENTION

Xoftex
Directed by: Noaz Deshe (Germany / France, 2024)

Our Lovely Pig Slaughter / Mord
Directed by: Adam Martinec (Czech Republic / Slovak Republic, 2024)

PRÁVO AUDIENCE AWARD

Waves / Vlny
Directed by: Jiří Mádl (Česká republika / Slovenská republika, 2024)

PROXIMA COMPETITION

PROXIMA JURY

Bianca Balbuena, Philippines
Wouter Jansen, Netherlands
Adéla Komrzý, Czech Republic
Mohamed Kordofani, Sudan
Daniela Michel, Mexico

PROXIMA GRAND PRIX (15 000 USD)
The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film.

Stranger / Ju wai ren
Directed by: Zhengfan Yang (USA / China / Netherlands / Norway / France, 2024)

PROXIMA Special Jury Prize (10 000 USD)
The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film.

Night Has Come / Vino la noche
Directed by: Paolo Tizón (Peru / Spain / Mexico, 2024)

SPECIAL MENTION

March to May / Od marca do mája
Directed by: Martin Pavol Repka (Czech Republic, 2024)

FESTIVAL PRESIDENT’S AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTION TO CZECH CINEMATOGRAPHY

Ivan Trojan, Czech Republic

FESTIVAL PRESIDENT’S AWARD

Viggo Mortensen, USA
Daniel Brühl, Germany / Spain
Clive Owen, United Kingdom

NON-STATUTORY AWARDS

THE ECUMENICAL JURY AWARD

Since 1994 the Ecumenical Jury has awarded films from the Crystal Globe Competition that display high artistic quality while questioning social, political ethical, and spiritual values. It promotes directors who emphasize the search for truth, justice, and hope in accordance with Christian Gospels.

THE ECUMENICAL JURY

Barbora Cihelková, Czech Republic
Guido Convents, Belgium
Viktor Kókai-Nagy, Hungary

GRAND PRIZE OF THE ECUMENICAL JURY

Loveable / Elskling

Directed by: Lilja Ingolfsdottir (Norway, 2024)

COMMENDATION OF THE ECUMENICAL JURY

Panopticon / Panoptikoni
Directed by: George Sikharulidze (Georgia/ France / Italy / Romania, 2024)

EUROPA CINEMA LABELS AWARD

Since 2003, the Europa Cinemas Label has been awarded to a European film by a jury of Europa Cinemas network exhibitors at five European festivals. It aims to increase the promotion, circulation and exhibition lifespan of winning films. The Europa Cinemas Label awards the best European film among those selected for the Crystal Globe Competition and the Proxima Competition.

EUROPA CINEMA LABELS JURY

Sabine Hofmann, Austria
Alicia Nieto, Spain
Auksė Podolskytė, Lithuania

EUROPA CINEMA LABELS AWARD WINNER

Loveable / Elskling
Directed by: Lilja Ingolfsdottir (Norway, 2024)

FIPRESCI AWARD
The International Federation of Film Critics Jury awards two FIPRESCI Prizes: to a film from the Crystal Globe Competition and a film from the Proxima Competition, for works that best promote film art and encourage new and young cinema.

FIPRESCI JURY

Louise Dumas, France
Sonya Vseliubska, Ukraine
Thor Aaberg, Norway
Mihai Fulger, Romania
Mariam Schaghaghi, Germany
Štěpánka Zapata, Czech Republic

THE FIPRESCI AWARD FOR THE BEST FILM IN THE CRYSTAL GLOBE COMPETITION

Loveable / Elskling
Directed by: Lilja Ingolfsdottir (Norway, 2024)

THE FIPRESCI AWARD FOR THE BEST FILM IN THE PROXIMA COMPETITION

Night Has Come / Vino la noche
Directed by: Paolo Tizón (Peru / Spain / Mexico, 2024)

KVIFF EASTERN PROMISES WINNERS: WORKS IN PROGRESS, WORKS IN DEVELOPMENT – FEATURE LAUNCH AND FIRST CUT+ WORKS IN PROGRESS AT KARLOVY VARY IFF 2024
KVIFF Eastern Promises 2024, the festival’s film market, showcased a total of 39 film projects across five programs during the 58th Karlovy Vary IFF.

WORKS IN PROGRESS

WORKS IN PROGRESS JURY

Gabor Greiner, Germany / Hungary 
Kyle Greenberg, USA
Başak Emre, Turkey

Works in Progress is a platform for feature and documentary films in the post-production or late-production stage from Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the former Soviet Union, the Middle East, and North Africa, which will premiere after the Karlovy Vary IFF. A total of 12 projects were pitched. Two winners were awarded a prize consisting of post-production services – one visual post-production package from UPP and one sound post-production package from Soundsquare. Furthermore, one project was awarded 5,000 EUR for its further development, sponsored by Barrandov Studio.

WORKS IN PROGRESS VISUAL POST-PRODUCTION AWARD (60,000 EUR)

Amedspor / Amedspor 
Directed by: Rezan Yesilbas (Turkey)

WORKS IN PROGRESS SOUND POST-PRODUCTION AWARD (30,000 EUR)

Lover, Not a Fighter / Milovník, nie bojovník
Directed by: Martina Buchelová (Slovakia, Czech Republic)

WORKS IN PROGRESS AWARD (5,000 EUR) 

Virtual Girlfriends / Virtuální přítelkyně
Directed by: Barbora Chalupová (Czech Republic, Slovakia)

WORKS IN DEVELOPMENT: FEATURE LAUNCH & INTENSIVE QUEER
For this platform, KVIFF has partnered with the Midpoint Institute script and project development program as well as with the When East Meets West co-production market and Trieste Film Festival. Together they have showcased 9 projects that have gone through development and mentoring within the Feature Launch program, and 4 projects from the MIDPOINT – Intensive Queer programme, designed to foster diversity in storytelling and provide crucial support to filmmakers in the realm of queer narratives.

WORKS IN DEVELOPMENT MIDPOINT & KVIFF AWARD (10,000 EUR) 

WORKS IN DEVELOPMENT MIDPOINT & KVIFF AWARD JURY

Danijel Hočevar, Slovenia
Christina Tynkevych, Ukraine
Arnaud Gourmelen, France

WORKS IN DEVELOPMENT MIDPOINT & KVIFF AWARD WINNER

Klára is Here / Itt van Klára
Directed by: Dávid Csicskár (Hungary)

EURIMAGES CO-PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT AWARD (20,000 EUR)

EURIMAGES CO-PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT AWARD JURY

Paolo Ciccarelli, Italy
Claudia Bluemhuber, Germany / Switzerland
Ilinka Teodorescu, Romania

EURIMAGES CO-PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT AWARD WINNER

Antonie / Antonie
Directed by: Rozálie Kohoutová (Czech Republic)

CONNECTING COTTBUS AWARD 

CONNECTING COTTBUS AWARD JURY

Marjorie Bendeck, Germany / Republic of Honduras 
Katharina Stumm, Germany

CONNECTING COTTBUS AWARD WINNER

Eli and Them / Eli a oni 
Directed by: Petr Pylypčuk (Czech Republic)

ROTTERDAM LAB AWARD 

ROTTERDAM LAB AWARD JURY

Alessia Acone, Netherlands / Italy
Martina Knoblochová, Czech Republic

WORKS IN DEVELOPMENT – KVIFF TALENTS
KVIFF Talents is the festival’s year-long programme created with the purpose of seeking out and supporting talented Czech and Slovak filmmakers and innovative audiovisual genres. It consists of two distinct sections – Feature Pool, dedicated to feature films, and Creative Pool, which supports other audiovisual genres from series through videoclips, gaming, etc.

This year, from over 150 submitted projects, the KVIFF selectors chose 6 – three feature film concepts and three series concepts. The selected creators and creative teams presented their projects during the Industry Days. They will also receive financial support for scriptwriting, mentoring, the opportunity to create a proof-of-concept video, consultations with experts, and for feature film authors also creative residency in Karlovy Vary this fall. The partners of the project are ČEZ Foundation and Voyo.

The selected projects are:

FEATURE POOL (120,000 CZK FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT)

Inbetween Worlds / Mezi světy 
Directed by: Diana Cam Van Nguyen (Czech Republic, Slovakia)

Letters to the Future / Dopisy do budoucna
Directed by: Myro Klochko (Czech Republic)

Rusalka / Rusalka
Written by: Hana Neničková (Czech Republic)

CREATIVE POOL (50,000 CZK FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT)

Casting / Casting 
Directed by: Terézia Halamová (Czech Republic)

Into the Endless Unknowns / Nekonečno nekonečen – Slaměná
Directed by: Veronika Jelšíková, Petr Vlček (Czech Republic)

Spectrum / Spektrum
Directed by: Igor Smitka (Czech Republic)

FIRST CUT+ WORKS IN PROGRESS 

FIRST CUT+ WORKS IN PROGRESS JURY

Barbara Wurm, Germany
John Nein, USA
Lenka Tyrpáková, Czech Republic

First Cut+ is a programme created for boosting the competitiveness and marketability of feature films that previously participated in First Cut Lab. The programme was launched in 2020 through close cooperation with two dynamic and well-established film industry platforms: Trieste’s When East Meets West and Karlovy Vary IFF’s Eastern Promises Industry Days. Each year, it promotes a portfolio of 16 fiction feature films at the stage of post-production – eight of them were presented here in Karlovy Vary. The winner receives a cash prize for further production, sponsored by Tatino Films and KVIFF.

FIRST CUT+ WORKS IN PROGRESS AWARD (5,000 EUR)

Numakage Public Swimming Pool / Numakage Shimin Pool
Directed by: Shingo Ota (Japan)

SPECIAL MENTION

Mayflies / Tiszavirágok
Directed by: Emílie Goldberg (Hungary, Slovakia)

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