Alumni Films Triumph at Karlovy Vary Film Festival

By
Carlos Barragán
July 09, 2024

On July 8, the juries of the 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival announced the winners of festival awards and commendations, with two Columbia alumni among them.

Nelicia Low ’18 won the prestigious award for Best Director for her film Pierce, which was executive produced and edited by Professor Eric Mendelsohn. In her acceptance speech, delivered in a mix of English, Mandarin, and Cantonese, Low thanked the jury, festival organizers, cast, crew, and the Taiwanese fencers who served as extras. “My family who’s here in this audience, thank you for traveling to be with me here tonight. To my parents, sorry I’m such a rebel daughter,” she said in English, before adding in Cantonese: “You don’t have to worry so much about me from now on.”

Additionally, George Sikharulidze ’17 received a Commendation of the Ecumenical Jury for his film Panopticon, a film following teenager Sandro as he falls into a spiral of adolescent uncertainties when his father leaves for a monastery to become a monk. Since 1994, the Ecumenical Jury has awarded films from the Crystal Globe Competition that display high artistic quality while questioning social, political, ethical, and spiritual values. It promotes directors who emphasize the search for truth, justice, and hope in accordance with Christian Gospels.

See a full list of the winners here.

Original: June 7, 2024

The 58th edition of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Central and Eastern Europe’s premier cinema event, has announced its official selection, which includes films by two School of the Arts alumni: Nelicia Low ’18 and George Sikharulidze '17.

In the Crystal Globe competition, Low is participating with her film Pierce, which was executive produced and edited by Professor Eric Mendelsohn. Pierce tells the story of Zi-Jie, a high school fencer whose older brother is released from prison. Believing his brother is innocent, Zi-Jie helps him behind their mother’s back, only to realize that the brother he idolized might only be a fantasy.

film still, two people smoking

In the main competition, Sikharulidze presents his film Panopticon, which he wrote and directed. In the movie, teenager Sandro falls into a spiral of adolescent uncertainties when his father leaves for a monastery to become a monk. With a mother working abroad illegally and a grandmother too old to substitute as a parent, he is practically left alone. He has no choice but to support his father, as devoting one’s life to God is one of the most noble acts in the deeply religious, post-Soviet Georgia. He must turn to religion himself and, without realizing it, his choices and behavior are shaped by the oppressive, invisible spiritual surveillance of his father and God.

The Karlovy Vary Film Festival, running from June 28 to July 6, 2024 in the Czech Republic, is renowned for its celebration of both emerging and established filmmakers. “The 58th KVIFF official selection, [the] closely watched core of the festival's annual line-up comprising the Crystal Globe and Proxima competitions as well as the Special Screenings program, offers a unique epicenter of genres and themes vibrating through contemporary cinema,” said Artistic Director Karel Och, who curated this year’s selection. “Freshly revisionist takes on the esthetical canons of a period film, a balanced, caring but also provocative look on the fate of a woman in contemporary society in any moment of her life, and the immediate influence of political events on the life of an individual human being anywhere in the world. My colleagues and I discovered these themes running through our selection of films.”

The festival also announced the distinguished juries for its Crystal Globe and Proxima competitions. The Crystal Globe jury includes producer Christine Vachon, actor Geoffrey Rush, director Gábor Reisz, poet and novelist Sjón, and actor Eliška Křenková. The Proxima Competition will be judged by filmmaker Mohamed Kordofani, producer Bianca Balbuena, Daniela Michel, the founding director of the Morelia Film Festival, Wouter Jansen, the founder of the sales company Square Eyes, and filmmaker Adéla Komrzý.

See the full lineup here.