Kozole wins best director award at Karlovy Vary Intl Film Festival
Karlovy Vary, 10 July - Director Damjan Kozole won the best director award at this year's Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on Saturday for his new feature film, Nočno življenje (Night Life), inspired by the 2010 Baričevič scandal.
Ljubljana
Director Damjan Kozole
Photo: Stanko Gruden/STA
Kozole convinced the jury with the film that was inspired by doctor Sašo Baričević, who was mauled to death by his dogs six years ago. It deals with the basic issues of the modern European society such as trust, ethics, hypocrisy, corruption and fear of media, the jury said.
"This is a film about a society driven by fear. It is a film about frightened, even cowardly people. We live in a time when fear of media murder is stronger than fear of real death," Kosole said about the film.
According to production company Vertigo, the film also received excellent reviews in several internationally claimed publications such as Variety, Screen International, Cineuropa, and The Wrap.
It also received the highest average grade by international film critics who were assessing the festival's competition programme on the website FilmNewEurope.
The grand prix of the festival, which screens some 150 films from around the world every year, this year went to Hungarian film It's Not the Time of My Life, directed by Szabolcs Hajdu.