Revival beat out the festival’s front-runner, Croatian comedy and box office hit The Priests’ Children (www.interfilm.hr), when it made its international premiere on the final week-end of the festival.

Karlovy Vary’s most young audiences roared their appreciation for the story about an aging rock band (known as the Czech Beatles) that reunites for a series of concerts. With Boleslav Polivka heading up a cast that include current rock (and gossip page) sensation Vojta Dyk, cinemas across the country are lining up to show the film. Domestic distributor Bontonfilm (www.bontonfilm.cz) said that 150 cinemas around the country have asked to screen the film. 

Mirka Spacilova, the doyen of Czech film critics, told the creative team, “It was pure joy.” Her valentine of a review earned a quip at the opening night party concert when a pair of lace undies was tossed on the stage, and the emcee offered to return them to the critic.

The film was one of the first projects to emerge from Czech TV’s (www.ceskatelevize.cz) new indie production unit in partnership with Slovak producer Rudolf Biermann’s IN Fi lm (www.infilm.cz). The film’s back story drew its own share of attention. Nellis was in the last couple of months of her pregnancy during the filming, but the producer had a stand-by director on hand in case of an emergency: Slovak director Martin Sulik, who directed two of Biermann’s previous Karlovy Vary IFF award winners (The Garden and Gypsy).
The film will also embark on a festival tour. Biermann told FNE that following the premiere, the movie was invited to the Palm Springs IFF in the U.S., and there are also plans to screen it at Toronto.