Myanmar-Set ‘Fruit Gathering’ Wins at Karlovy Vary: ‘Harrowing Drama of Obsession and Queer Desire’
Aung Phyoe’s “Fruit Gathering” won the Crystal Globe at Karlovy Vary Film Festival on Saturday.
Set in contemporary Myanmar, it follows the friendship and connection that forms between two young women working at a textile factory.
The film “begins as a lush and meditative portrait of work and friendship before morphing, unexpectedly and organically, into a harrowing drama of obsession and queer desire,” the jury said.
“My producers have gone through many difficulties to make this film – and they had to deal with me, too. I don’t know why they believed in me. I don’t believe in myself,” said Phyoe, during the ceremony, also thanking his mother: “She has been the mother of a long-suffering artist for many, many years.”
“I wanted to make a film that was very atmospheric, maybe, and also very restrained because it was a world I knew,” he told Variety.
“We are trying to achieve our own national language of cinema. We are very behind, and for most of the things we don’t have support; it’s very difficult to make films in this country,” he admitted.
“We also have to be very careful that political things have to be very subtle. For me personally, I try to achieve the rhythm in the film, which will hopefully resonate with my own lived experience.”
Jurors Justin Chang, Amanda Nell Eu, Pavel Rejholec, Nadia Turincev and Eskil Vogt also awarded Trine Dyrholm-starrer “The Guest,” calling it “a squirmingly funny yet precisely modulated drama that subtly raises questions about motherhood, filial duty and mental illness.”
It received the Special Jury Prize and $15,000 – as well as the best director award for Mads Mengel.
“We made a film about a family, so I want to thank my family and my sister, who has always been there. Even when times were a bit rough. I also want to thank my fiancée, who told me: ‘If you win, don’t forget to thank your hot wife.’ So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you my hot wife,” he said, picking up his second trophy.
“What fascinated me wasn’t telling my own story, but exploring something many people can recognize: how our understanding of our parents changes as we grow older, especially when we start our own families. I was interested in that moment when certainty begins to crack. When the people we’ve spent years judging slowly become more complicated and human,” noted Mengel.
“Life rarely gives us perfect endings, but it does occasionally give us the chance to begin again.”
The best actress award went to Anna Schinz for “A Happy Family” by Jan-Eric Mack and her “gripping, hauntingly restrained performance as a mother driven to desperate extremes.” Ghassan Saad was named best actor for “Pipes,” directed by Karim Kassem.
In the Proxima Competition, Martina Buchelová’s “Lover, Not a Fighter” walked away with the Grand Prix and $15,000.
“The jury was refreshed by the film’s extraordinary lightness [and by] how it refuses to take itself too seriously while also portraying essential themes: the absurdity of family, the delirium of young love, the apprehensions of aging – all with luminous sincerity,” it was stated.
Their Jury Prize was given to “Incinerator” by Shuntaro Uchida – “a film of deceptive simplicity” – while Efthimis Kosemund-Sanidis was named best director for “A Whole Person Almost.”
Finally, the Special Mention went to “33 Steps.”
“Instead of reducing those who bear the brunt of racism to mere symbols, it goes deep into their inner lives and confronts hard truths: about the nonlinearity of trauma, the nature of inherited fear and the difficulty of closure in a broken society,” argued the jurors.
During the ceremony, Juliette Binoche picked up the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema.
“I have to thank all the directors I’ve worked with. I don’t do that very often. I was very lucky in my life and my career. I have two patient children and wonderful nannies who were taking care of them when I wasn’t around,” she said.
Binoche also talked about countries, and artists, who “cannot express themselves.”
“I’m thinking about Palestine, Lebanon, Ukraine. We need artists to tell stories, to tell the truth. Passion is really the heart of what we do. Life goes by very quickly, so let’s give ourselves as much as possible. We need to unite.”
Jeffrey Wright – who earlier this week surprised the audience by remembering Karlovy Vary’s late president Jiří Bartoška and saying “he taught him how to laugh” when promoting “Basquiat” – was given the Festival President’s Award.
“There are forces in this world, right now, that insist on disconnecting us. But our stories, our films, our history insists otherwise,” said Wright, also recalling his meeting with “Amadeus” director Miloš Forman. At one point, they wanted to make a film about Alexander Pushkin “to celebrate their commonality.”
“I heard a rumor he had a script about a story that interested me greatly. It was a story of a young artist who lived a life on fire and died young – story not unlike the story of Jean-Michel Basquiat, which first brought me here,” he said. Quincy Jones wanted to produce.
Pushkin might have been described as a “quintessential Russian,” but his great-grandfather was African.
“We didn’t make it, but there’s still time. Miloš won’t direct again, Quincy won’t produce again, but maybe I’ll return with that story. I will take this [award] as an incentive to continue to create in an effort to bring us together. As an American, I think this is our greatest power. It’s not what we destroy – it’s what we create.”
You can find the full list of awards here:
Crystal Globe Competition
Grand Prix – Crystal Globe ($25,000)
“Fruit Gathering”
Myanmar, Czech Republic, France
Directed by Aung Phyoe
Special Jury Prize ($15,000)
“The Guest”
Denmark
Directed by Mads Mengel
Best Director Award
Mads Mengel for “The Guest”
Best Actress Award
Anna Schinz for “A Happy Family”
Switzerland
Directed by Jan-Eric Mack
Best Actor Award
Ghassan Saad for “Pipes”
Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia
Directed by Karim Kassem
Právo Audience Award
“Bára – Diary of a Rockstar”
Czech Republic
Directed by Helena Třeštíková
Proxima Competition
Proxima Grand Prix ($15,000)
“Lover, Not a Fighter”
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic
Directed by Martina Buchelová
Proxima Special Jury Prize ($10,000)
“Incinerator”
Japan
Directed by Shuntaro Uchida
Proxima Best Director Award
Efthimis Kosemund-Sanidis for “A Whole Person Almost”
Greece, Bulgaria, Germany, Cyprus, Romania
Proxima Special Mention
“33 Steps”
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic
Directed by Anna Domček, Šimon Domček
Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema
Juliette Binoche, France
Dustin Hoffman, U.S.
Robert Richardson, U.S.
Festival President’s Award
Jesse Eisenberg, U.S.
Maggie Gyllenhaal, U.S.
Magda Vášáryová, Slovak Republic
Jeffrey Wright, United States of America
Grand Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
“The Lion at My Back”
Cyprus, Luxembourg, Greece
Directed by Tonia Mishiali
Europa Cinemas Label Award
“3 Weeks After”
Serbia, Bulgaria, Italy, Croatia, Luxembourg
Directed by Miroslav Terzić
The FIPRESCI award for the best film in the Crystal Globe Competition
“Only Beautiful Things to Look At”
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, Hungary
Directed by Ivan Ostrochovský
The FIPRESCI award for the best film in the Proxima Competition
“Petty Thieves”
Croatia, France, Germany, Serbia
Directed by Mate Ugrin
KVIFF Promises Winners
Midpoint & KVIFF Development Award (10,000 EUR)
“They Bloom at Dawn”
North Macedonia
Director: Angela Dimeska
Eurimages Co-Production Development Award (20,000 EUR)
“Selamlik”
Sweden, Denmark
Director: Jerry Carlsson
Eurimages Special Co-Production Development Award (20,000 EUR)
“Reminiscence”
Ukraine
Director: Anastasia Tykha
Connecting Cottbus Award
“Reminiscence”
Rotterdam Lab Award
Monika Matuszewska, producer of the film “Confirmation”
Poland
Marché Du Film Producers Network Award
Tomáš Hrubý, producer of “Cowgirl,” Czech Republic
Eva Váchová, producer of “A Few Branches Off,” Czech Republic
Feature Pool (120,000 CZK for further development):
“Exposed”
Czech Republic
Director: Klára Tasovská
“Until We Leave”
Czech Republic
Scriptwriter: Lucia Čižinská
“Nera”
Czech Republic, Slovenia
Director: Ivana Vogrinc Vidali
Creative Pool (50,000 CZK for further development):
“Inhalatorium”
Czech Republic
Director: Bára Anna Stejskalová
“Burning Witches”
Czech Republic
Scriptwriter: Martina Babišová and Věra Starečková
“K-Dream”
Czech Republic
Director: Adam Sedlák
Set in contemporary Myanmar, it follows the friendship and connection that forms between two young women working at a textile factory.
The film “begins as a lush and meditative portrait of work and friendship before morphing, unexpectedly and organically, into a harrowing drama of obsession and queer desire,” the jury said.
“My producers have gone through many difficulties to make this film – and they had to deal with me, too. I don’t know why they believed in me. I don’t believe in myself,” said Phyoe, during the ceremony, also thanking his mother: “She has been the mother of a long-suffering artist for many, many years.”
“I wanted to make a film that was very atmospheric, maybe, and also very restrained because it was a world I knew,” he told Variety.
“We are trying to achieve our own national language of cinema. We are very behind, and for most of the things we don’t have support; it’s very difficult to make films in this country,” he admitted.
“We also have to be very careful that political things have to be very subtle. For me personally, I try to achieve the rhythm in the film, which will hopefully resonate with my own lived experience.”
Jurors Justin Chang, Amanda Nell Eu, Pavel Rejholec, Nadia Turincev and Eskil Vogt also awarded Trine Dyrholm-starrer “The Guest,” calling it “a squirmingly funny yet precisely modulated drama that subtly raises questions about motherhood, filial duty and mental illness.”
It received the Special Jury Prize and $15,000 – as well as the best director award for Mads Mengel.
“We made a film about a family, so I want to thank my family and my sister, who has always been there. Even when times were a bit rough. I also want to thank my fiancée, who told me: ‘If you win, don’t forget to thank your hot wife.’ So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you my hot wife,” he said, picking up his second trophy.
“What fascinated me wasn’t telling my own story, but exploring something many people can recognize: how our understanding of our parents changes as we grow older, especially when we start our own families. I was interested in that moment when certainty begins to crack. When the people we’ve spent years judging slowly become more complicated and human,” noted Mengel.
“Life rarely gives us perfect endings, but it does occasionally give us the chance to begin again.”
The best actress award went to Anna Schinz for “A Happy Family” by Jan-Eric Mack and her “gripping, hauntingly restrained performance as a mother driven to desperate extremes.” Ghassan Saad was named best actor for “Pipes,” directed by Karim Kassem.
In the Proxima Competition, Martina Buchelová’s “Lover, Not a Fighter” walked away with the Grand Prix and $15,000.
“The jury was refreshed by the film’s extraordinary lightness [and by] how it refuses to take itself too seriously while also portraying essential themes: the absurdity of family, the delirium of young love, the apprehensions of aging – all with luminous sincerity,” it was stated.
Their Jury Prize was given to “Incinerator” by Shuntaro Uchida – “a film of deceptive simplicity” – while Efthimis Kosemund-Sanidis was named best director for “A Whole Person Almost.”
Finally, the Special Mention went to “33 Steps.”
“Instead of reducing those who bear the brunt of racism to mere symbols, it goes deep into their inner lives and confronts hard truths: about the nonlinearity of trauma, the nature of inherited fear and the difficulty of closure in a broken society,” argued the jurors.
During the ceremony, Juliette Binoche picked up the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema.
“I have to thank all the directors I’ve worked with. I don’t do that very often. I was very lucky in my life and my career. I have two patient children and wonderful nannies who were taking care of them when I wasn’t around,” she said.
Binoche also talked about countries, and artists, who “cannot express themselves.”
“I’m thinking about Palestine, Lebanon, Ukraine. We need artists to tell stories, to tell the truth. Passion is really the heart of what we do. Life goes by very quickly, so let’s give ourselves as much as possible. We need to unite.”
Jeffrey Wright – who earlier this week surprised the audience by remembering Karlovy Vary’s late president Jiří Bartoška and saying “he taught him how to laugh” when promoting “Basquiat” – was given the Festival President’s Award.
“There are forces in this world, right now, that insist on disconnecting us. But our stories, our films, our history insists otherwise,” said Wright, also recalling his meeting with “Amadeus” director Miloš Forman. At one point, they wanted to make a film about Alexander Pushkin “to celebrate their commonality.”
“I heard a rumor he had a script about a story that interested me greatly. It was a story of a young artist who lived a life on fire and died young – story not unlike the story of Jean-Michel Basquiat, which first brought me here,” he said. Quincy Jones wanted to produce.
Pushkin might have been described as a “quintessential Russian,” but his great-grandfather was African.
“We didn’t make it, but there’s still time. Miloš won’t direct again, Quincy won’t produce again, but maybe I’ll return with that story. I will take this [award] as an incentive to continue to create in an effort to bring us together. As an American, I think this is our greatest power. It’s not what we destroy – it’s what we create.”
You can find the full list of awards here:
Crystal Globe Competition
Grand Prix – Crystal Globe ($25,000)
“Fruit Gathering”
Myanmar, Czech Republic, France
Directed by Aung Phyoe
Special Jury Prize ($15,000)
“The Guest”
Denmark
Directed by Mads Mengel
Best Director Award
Mads Mengel for “The Guest”
Best Actress Award
Anna Schinz for “A Happy Family”
Switzerland
Directed by Jan-Eric Mack
Best Actor Award
Ghassan Saad for “Pipes”
Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia
Directed by Karim Kassem
Právo Audience Award
“Bára – Diary of a Rockstar”
Czech Republic
Directed by Helena Třeštíková
Proxima Competition
Proxima Grand Prix ($15,000)
“Lover, Not a Fighter”
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic
Directed by Martina Buchelová
Proxima Special Jury Prize ($10,000)
“Incinerator”
Japan
Directed by Shuntaro Uchida
Proxima Best Director Award
Efthimis Kosemund-Sanidis for “A Whole Person Almost”
Greece, Bulgaria, Germany, Cyprus, Romania
Proxima Special Mention
“33 Steps”
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic
Directed by Anna Domček, Šimon Domček
Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema
Juliette Binoche, France
Dustin Hoffman, U.S.
Robert Richardson, U.S.
Festival President’s Award
Jesse Eisenberg, U.S.
Maggie Gyllenhaal, U.S.
Magda Vášáryová, Slovak Republic
Jeffrey Wright, United States of America
Grand Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
“The Lion at My Back”
Cyprus, Luxembourg, Greece
Directed by Tonia Mishiali
Europa Cinemas Label Award
“3 Weeks After”
Serbia, Bulgaria, Italy, Croatia, Luxembourg
Directed by Miroslav Terzić
The FIPRESCI award for the best film in the Crystal Globe Competition
“Only Beautiful Things to Look At”
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, Hungary
Directed by Ivan Ostrochovský
The FIPRESCI award for the best film in the Proxima Competition
“Petty Thieves”
Croatia, France, Germany, Serbia
Directed by Mate Ugrin
KVIFF Promises Winners
Midpoint & KVIFF Development Award (10,000 EUR)
“They Bloom at Dawn”
North Macedonia
Director: Angela Dimeska
Eurimages Co-Production Development Award (20,000 EUR)
“Selamlik”
Sweden, Denmark
Director: Jerry Carlsson
Eurimages Special Co-Production Development Award (20,000 EUR)
“Reminiscence”
Ukraine
Director: Anastasia Tykha
Connecting Cottbus Award
“Reminiscence”
Rotterdam Lab Award
Monika Matuszewska, producer of the film “Confirmation”
Poland
Marché Du Film Producers Network Award
Tomáš Hrubý, producer of “Cowgirl,” Czech Republic
Eva Váchová, producer of “A Few Branches Off,” Czech Republic
Feature Pool (120,000 CZK for further development):
“Exposed”
Czech Republic
Director: Klára Tasovská
“Until We Leave”
Czech Republic
Scriptwriter: Lucia Čižinská
“Nera”
Czech Republic, Slovenia
Director: Ivana Vogrinc Vidali
Creative Pool (50,000 CZK for further development):
“Inhalatorium”
Czech Republic
Director: Bára Anna Stejskalová
“Burning Witches”
Czech Republic
Scriptwriter: Martina Babišová and Věra Starečková
“K-Dream”
Czech Republic
Director: Adam Sedlák