Prague, May 3 (CTK) – British film director Mike Leigh, 75, will visit the 44th Czech Film School (LFS) festival to be held in Uherske Hradiste, south Moravia, on July 27-August 5, and receive the Association of Czech Film Clubs’ (ACFK) award, festival director Radana Korena told reporters on Thursday.
Czech actress Iva Janzurova, 76, another festival guest, will get the same award from the organisers.
Leigh, one of the most respected European film-makers, won the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival as well as the Golden Lion award at the Venice festival. He is a holder of the British Empire Order.
Leigh will introduce the retrospective of his films at the LFS, along with the three works of world cinematography that influenced him the most, one of which will be Loves of a Blonde (1965) directed by Oscar-winning Czech-born director Milos Forman, who died recently aged 86 years.
Other confirmed guests to the LFS are German director Roland Klick and Chilean film-maker Alejandro Fernandez Almendras.
The festival’s section “Thorn Curtain” will highlight manipulation in film. It will present two films from the 1950s shot on the opposite sides of the Iron Curtain. The screenings will be accompanied by debates with historians and psychologists, LFS programme director Iva Hejlickova said.
This year’s LFS sections will also remind of the 100th birth anniversary of the legendary Swedish film-maker Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007), 100 years of the foundation of Czechoslovakia and 120 years of the Czech film.
The annual Silent Film section with live music will present works by German Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (1888-1931).
The festival’s accompanying programme will offer free concerts and theatre performances of the new circus ensemble La Putyka.
More information on the 44th LFS is available on www.lfs.cz.
