Russell Crowe Gives The Opening Night Of Karlovy Vary Int’l Film Festival His Seal Of Approval: “I’ve Been To So Many Film Festivals That Are Absolute Hellscapes”

Self-seriousness is a common trait in the world of European cinema, but the opening night of the 57^th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival was a wholly playful affair, starting with the most unexpected sight of a troupe of acrobatic ice-skating showgirls spinning and whirling through fake snow and dry ice. MC Marek Eben followed in a similarly feelgood vein, with a dryly witty monologue that touched on current affairs in the Czech Republic and the wider world without getting too heavily into the politics. A “surprise” appearance by festival stalwart Jiří Bartoška, whose attendance was initially in doubt, occasioned the first standing ovation of the night.

One of the bigger stars of this year’s festival was there in spirit, if not in physical form: it is a tradition that a guest to KV pays back the favor next year with an appearance in one of the festival’s famously irreverent trailers, joining Casey Affleck, Helen Mirren, Jude Law, John Malkovich and many more in an elite club. Abandoning the usual black-and-white format, this year’s trailer shows Johnny Depp bumbling into an interview with a young female Czech journalist, who, after gushing about his career, points out that he is the only visitor to the festival who has never received one of the festival’s famous Crystal Globes.

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It’s a funny comment on the lifetime achievement awards that are the lifeblood of the festival circuit, and Depp’s deadpan, wounded reaction proves that he still has serious comic chops.

Two actual Crystal Globes were presented tonight, the first — the Karlovy Vary President’s Award — went to Alicia Vikander, star of opening film Firebrand, a fanciful historical reimagining of the marriage between King Henry VIII and his last wife. Struggling to hold the famously heavy Crystal Globe, Vikander said, “I feel incredibly honored to be given this award, I’ve heard incredible things about this festival from friends and from colleagues over the years.” Referring to her breakout role opposite Mads Mikkelsen in 2012’s A Royal Affair, which shot in Prague, she added: “And I’m also very happy to be back in the Czech Republic, where, actually, my international career started.”

Unlike Vikander, Russell Crowe — receiving The Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema — confessed that Karlovy Vary was entirely new to him. “I have to tell you the truth,” he said, before getting the biggest laugh of the night,  “I was unaware of this film festival until very recently. I’ve been to so many film festivals that are completely disorganized and absolute hellscapes. But I have to congratulate the organizers [of this one], it runs like clockwork, everything’s on time.”

Taking the microphone, Crowe made a simple but heartfelt speech about his experiences as an actor. “The thing about me and my career,” he said, “is that I started acting when I was six years old. I did my first television show in 1970 and I’ve been making feature films since 1989. Luckily enough for me, I still love coming to work. I love getting up every day thinking about the scenes that are ahead of me. And I believe that’s because I make decisions to do particular movies where I feel there’s a particular connection. So I never have to wake up at 4am and wonder why I’m there. I always know why I’m at work. And my relationship with cinema? The older I get, the deeper it gets: my love of film and what it can achieve, how it can educate and how it can thrill. It just gets deeper and deeper.

“You have to remember — to all the filmmakers in the room — it only takes one voice to make a difference. So make that voice yours.”

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