The biggest Slovenian success in Karlovy Vary

06. June 2005

From 1 to 9 July the fortieth International Film Festival is going to take place in Karlovy Vary. The new film by Igor Šterk, Tuning (with the working title Red Horizons), qualified for the main competition program. The film is going to have its world premiere at the international festival, which in terms of importance immediately follows the big three festivals Cannes - Berlin - Venice and is in the category of festivals like Locarno and Rotterdam.

Igor Šterk is the first Slovenian director to have qualified for the competition program of the festival in Rotterdam with his second film Ljubljana (2002). Ljubljana also had a guest appearance in Karlovy Vary in the independent section. That year as many as three Slovenian films were shown at that festival: Ljubljana in the independent forum, Bread and Milk by Jan Cvitkovič in the Horizons section, which presents the winners of important festivals, and Guardian of the Frontier by Maja Weiss in the East of West section, which is intended for films from Central and Eastern Europe. That was the most important presentation of our films in Karlovy Vary. However, this year that success has been surpassed, since Šterk's third film is going to appear in the competition section, while two other films are to appear in other sections. The film Suburbs by Vinko Möderndorfer is the first Slovenian film to appear in the Variety critics' choice section, and Ruins by Janez Burger is to appear in the East of West section, which is going to be presided over by a five-member jury for the first time this year.

The first Slovenian film in the competition program of the Karlovy Vary festival was Idle Running by Janez Burger in 1999.

In Karlovy Vary Igor Šterk will be able to compete for the main prize of the Crystal Globe and 20.000 USD, and for four other official prizes.

The high quality of films, selected for the competition section, can also be illustrated by the fact that two years ago the German film Nowhere in Africa, which had its world premiere at the festival, received the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film later on.