Ukrainian Film Wins Crystal Globe at Karlovy Vary

Kyiv, July 9, 2012. The 47^th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival determined its winners, and Ukrainian black and white feature film House With a Turret by Eva Neymann won the competition section East of the West. “The film got most points, and we did not have to have a discussion as we do with other films. House With a Turret is very comprehensible,” said one of the jury members Natascha Drubek.

“It [the film] touched many people,” said Drubek. “One may notice a dialogue with Soviet film history, and we [the jury] enjoyed this dialogue,” she noted. She also said the film managed to avoid romanticizing the heroic component of the World War II and stay critical.

Natascha Drubek singled out the camera work as it showed the protagonist very closely without getting too intimate. “This is a really good film, I hope it will make it to many festivals,” said Drubek. Notably, House With a Turret was selected for participation in another major international film festival – Shanghai International Film Festival.

The story told by House With a Turret (2011) shows an eight year old boy travelling by train with his sick mother. Eventually, the mother dies at a small railway station in a house with a turret. The plot explores how ever-present death made people insensitive to the grief of others.

House With a Turret is based on a story by Friedrich Gorenstein, who is known for authoring the script for Solaris (1972). It was filmed in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa as well as the central Ukrainian oblast of Cherkasy. Runtime of the movie is 81 minutes and, regardless of being black and white, the film features many of the latest technological advances and special effects.

“Film House With a Turret is very wise, with correctly arranged setups, long shots,” noted another jury member Jaromír Blažejovský. He said these tools made a powerful motion picture, mentioning that distancing the audience from emotions was that new idea, which this film introduced.

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival was founded in 1946 and is one of the largest film festivals in Central and Eastern Europe. East of the West competition program features films from Central and Eastern Europe. Official website of the festival http://www.kviff.com/

Ukrainian director Eva Neymann, 38, is known for her film U Reki (At the River) (2007). Neymann’s film Wege Gottes (Ways of God) (2006) got First Steps Award at the German film festival of the same name.