The 52nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has been officially declared open by its president Jiří Bartoška. Just before that, he awarded the Crystal Globe for outstanding contribution to world cinema to the composer James Newton Howard who has scored over 100 films. „I am grateful to the film industry. Without it my life would have been quite different,“ he said while not failing to mention the beauty of the city of Karlovy Vary. „I grew up in a sprawl of Los Angeles where the only memorable places are McDonald's and gas stations. This city is stunning.“
The other recipients of the statuettes, the President's award, are two American actors. Uma Thurman, the star of Tarantino's movies Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, who thanked the audiences declaring that „thanks to them we can keep doing what we love.“ This year's Academy Award winner for the film Manchester by the Sea, Casey Affleck, said that film festivals such as this one „are a wonderful opportunity to share the art that we are proud of.“
The ceremony, which opened with „anguished voices” of the singers, was accompanied by the Karlovy Vary symphonic orchestra and drew visual inspiration from horror movies, was then followed by the screening of a candid romantic comedy The Big Sick.
