British documentary wins top prize at Czech festival

A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things by Northern Irish director Mark Cousins won the top Crystal Globe award at the Karlovy Vary film festival on Saturday, organisers said.

Cousins’s documentary “explores themes of gender, neurodiversity, climate change, and the mysteries of creativity from youth to old age” through the eyes of Scottish painter Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912-2004), its authors said.

The 58th edition of the festival in the western Czech spa city of Karlovy Vary started on June 28.

US actor Viggo Mortensen, known for playing Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings films, received the Festival President’s Award at the opening ceremony.

Other guests at Karlovy Vary included Closer and Sin City star Clive Owen and Erin Brockovich and Traffic director Steven Soderbergh.

Both Owen and Soderbergh also received the Festival President’s Award, as did German actor and director Daniel Bruehl, known for roles in “Inglourious Basterds” and “Rush”.

Oscar-winning British actor Geoffrey Rush, known for Shine, The King’s Speech and Pirates of the Caribbean, was a member of the festival jury.