Macedonian Film Wins Karlovy Vary Competition

Director Vladimir Blazevski accepted the award in the closing ceremony on Saturday night, calling it the dearest honor he has ever received. Along with a trophy, he will receive $10,000 USD.

Punk’s Not Dead (Pankot ne e mrtov) is a black comedy about the reunion of a punk-rock band. After making its international premiere at Karlovy Vary, the film now moves on to the Motovun film festival in Croatia and Palic film festival in Serbia later this month.

For Blazevski, the movie marks his first solo directorial effort in 19 years. He is also known for directing Revolution Boulevard (1992) and Hi-Fi (1987), and co-writing the screenplay for The Great Water (2004).  

A Macedonian-Serbian co-production, Punk’s Not Dead stars Jordan Simonov, Kamka Tocinovski, Toni Mihajlovski, Xhevdet Yashari, Vladimir Tuliev, Kiril Pop Hristov and Ratka Radmanovic. It was produced by Darko Popov.

The Israeli family drama Restoration, by director Joseph Madmony, took the top prize at the festival, the Grand Prix Crystal Globe and $30,000 USD.

British actress Judi Dench was given a Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema, and American actor John Turturro and Serbo-Croatian composer and bandleader Goran Bregovic both received the Festival President’s Award.

Film stars John Malkovich and David Morse also attended this year’s festival, the most important Category A film festival in Central and Eastern Europe.