Mark Cousins’ unconventional portrait of an artist “A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things” took top honors at this year’s Karlovy Vary Film Festival, snagging the fest’s iconic Crystal Globe alongside a cash prize of $25K to split by the Scottish-Irish filmmaker and his producing partners.
Featuring the voice work of Tilda Swinton, the award-winning doc follows the life and career of artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, a lesser-known master of modern art whose outlook and output underwent a profound spiritual, aesthetic and ideological transformation once the painter had a moment of epiphany atop Switzerland’s Grindelwald glacier in 1949.
The climbing expedition left Barns-Graham with a new set of obsessions and forms of expression – giving her life a new meaning.
Before claiming the Jury Prize, Lilja Ingolfsdottir’s domestic drama “Loveable” also took acting honors for star Helga Guren as well as parallel awards from the Ecumenical Jury, the Europa Cinema Label, and The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI), solidifying the Norwegian film as the clear breakout of this year’s festival.
Sharing a producer with “The Worst Person in the World,” “Loveable” also tracks a later-in-life coming-of-age tale, only here focusing on a fortysomething mother-of-four reckoning with an unexpected breakup.
Rounding out the prizes, “Three Days of Fish” stars Ton Kas and Guido Pollemans shared the best actor trophy, while Singapore-born Nelicia Low won best director for her film “Pierce.”
The five jurors – among them Christine Vachon and Geoffrey Rush – also singled out Noaz Deshe’s “Xoftex” and Adam Martinec’s “Our Lovely Pig Slaughter” for special mentions, while the festival-goers exalted Jiří Mádl’ “Waves” with Právo Audience Award – a win that came with little shock given the unprecedented 34-minute standing ovation that greeted the film earlier this week.
The complete list of winners:
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
“A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things”
Directed by: Mark Cousins
United Kingdom, 2024
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
“Loveable”
Directed by: Lilja Ingolfsdottir
Norway, 2024
BEST DIRECTOR AWARD
Nelicia Low for the film “Pierce”
Singapore, Taiwan, Poland, 2024
BEST ACTRESS AWARD
Helga Guren for her role in the film “Loveable”
Norway, 2024
BEST ACTOR AWARD
Award was awarded ex-aequo.
Ton Kas and Guido Pollemans for their roles in the film “Three Days of Fish”
Netherlands, Belgium, 2024
SPECIAL JURY MENTION
“Xoftex” Directed by: Noaz Deshe
Germany, France, 2024
“Our Lovely Pig Slaughter”
Directed by: Adam Martinec Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2024
PRÁVO AUDIENCE AWARD
“Waves”
Directed by: Jiří Mádl
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2024
Proxima Competition
PROXIMA JURY
Bianca Balbuena, Philippines
Wouter Jansen, Netherlands
Adéla Komrzý, Czech Republic
Mohamed Kordofani, Sudan
Daniela Michel, Mexico
PROXIMA GRAND PRIX
“Stranger”
Directed by: Zhengfan Yang
USA, China, Netherlands, Norway, France, 2024
PROXIMA SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
“Night Has Come”
Directed by: Paolo Tizón
Peru, Spain, Mexico, 2024
SPECIAL MENTION
“March to May”
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
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