26th Prague IFF – Febiofest to honour Oscar-winning director Bille August
This year the Prague International Film Festival – Febiofest will once again deliver a broad range of contemporary world cinema, as well as bringing a number of noteworthy filmmakers to Prague. As well as going to Czech actress Jiřina Bohdalová, one of the festival’s awards, the Kristián, will be bestowed on an Oscar recipient and winner of the Cannes IFF’s Palme d’Or, Danish director Bille August.
Oscar recipient and Palme d’Or winner returns to Prague
Throughout the entire existence of the Cannes film festival, only eight directors have received its Palme d’Or prize twice. One of them is Bille August. The Danish director, who recently turned 70, is not coming to Prague for the first time: he shot Les Misérables with Liam Neeson and Uma Thurman here in 1997. In 1989 he earned an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film for Pelle the Conqueror, which had earned a Palme d’Or the previous year. In 1992 he again took a Palme d’Or, this time for The Best Intentions. His filmography also includes two movies about the young Indiana Jones, while last year Febiofest audiences had a chance to catch his 55 Steps, starring Helena Bonham Carter and Hilary Swank. Bille August, who has also worked with such Hollywood stars as Meryl Streep, Winona Ryder or Antonio Banderas, will receive a Kristián award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at Febiofest’s closing ceremony on 28 March. The festival will present his pictures Pelle the Conqueror, Silent Heart, The House of the Spirits and his latest work, A Fortunate Man, which will receive a premiere screening.
Classics section brings world cinema greats back to the big screen
Over nine days the festival in Prague will show over 150 films in 16 sections, with one of the most popular sure to be the brand new Classics section. After the success of the jubilee Best Of section last year, this year a permanent forum has been created for newly restored and digitalised world cinema classics. Viewers will be able to enjoy The Swimming Pool with Alain Delon and Romy Schneider, which is exactly 50 years old, Wings of Desire by Wim Wenders or David Lynch’s Wild at Heart. Also being screened will be the director’s cut of William Friedkin’s horror The Exorcist, and Daisies, a key work by Czech director Věra Chytilová and cinematographer Jaroslav Kučera.
Docs to exclusively present WWI film by Peter Jackson
Among the 10 documentaries in the Docs section the biggest hit is sure to be exclusive screenings of They Shall Not Grow Old by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson. The film comprises remastered original footage capturing World War I from the perspective of ordinary people and soldiers. The makers drew on over 100 hours of material that was over a century old. Other noteworthy documentaries will include Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist about the famous UK fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and Friedkin Uncut about William Friedkin, unconventional director of cult films (e.g. The French Connection, The Exorcist). Viewers can also enjoy the world premiere of Jaroslav Kučera Up Close, about Czech cinematographer Jaroslav Kučera.
Drama by actor-director Ralph Fiennes set for Central Park
The Central Park section – known for distribution premieres, comedies, historical dramas and star actors – will deliver highly attractive current productions, including actor turned director Ralph Fiennes’ The White Crow, a biopic of dancer and choreographer Rudolf Nureyev focused on his defection from the USSR in 1961, the German-Italian thriller Never Look Away by Oscar-winning director Florian Henckel von Donnesmarsk (The Lives of Others) and an exclusive presentation of If Beale Street Could Talk by Barry Jenkins, whose Oscar-winning Moonlight was shown at the festival in the past.
Culinary Cinema to focus on French, Moroccan and Spanish cuisine this year
The festival’s highly popular culinary section is this year offering three unforgettable experiences over three evenings. On Friday 22 March Morocco meets France in Jean-Philippe Guad’s Tazzeka, a debut feature about love and migration. Afterwards viewers will savour a special menu created for the film by master chef Lukáš Čížek. Saturday 23 March will see a screening of Marco Ferreri’s La Grande Bouffe, an opulent gastro orgy headed in one direction… chefs Filip Sajler, Martin Staněk and Lukáš Čížek have prepared a menu in a similar spirit for those who survive. Sunday will belong to Constructing Albert, a documentary by Jimi Loomis and Laura Collado about the road to Michelin stars. A dinner inspired by that film will be produced by Filip Sajler. Gourmet Academy and the company Potten & Pannen – Staněk are partners of the Culinary Cinema section.
The festival will get underway with a gala opening on Thursday 21 March 2019 at Prague’s Municipal House and will run until 29 March. The closing ceremony, at which the winners of the New Europe section, the Amnesty International Febiofest Award and the You’re the Filmmaker competition will be announced, will take place at CineStar Anděl on Thursday 28 March. As every year, screenings will be held at the CineStar Anděl and CineStar Černý Most multiplexes and the NFA Ponrepo and Municipal Library cinemas. Febiofest will take place in the regions from 1 to 18 April 2019, stopping at: České Budějovice, Hradec Králové, Plzeň, Beroun, Pardubice, Jihlava, Ostrava, Mikulov, Kladno, Liberec, Děčín, Olomouc, Uherské Hradiště, Chomutov and Zlín.
Tickets and festival passes
Admission to individual screenings is CZK 99.
Festival passes cost CZK 699 for 3 days, CZK 999 for 5 days and CZK 1,699 for 9 days.
Admission to films and exclusive dinners within Culinary Cinema is CZK 1,190.
Advance sales for festival passes and Culinary Cinema events are already underway at www.febiofest.cz.
