Karlovy Vary Film Festival to Honor Russell Crowe – And Let Him Play Some Rock ‘n’ Roll, Too

The Czech festival has also enlisted Johnny Depp to star in its new trailer

Russell Crowe
Courtesy of Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

The Czech festival has also enlisted Johnny Depp to star in its new trailer

Russell Crowe will receive the Crystal Globe Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema at the 2023 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, KVIFF organizers announced on Friday. And unlike past recipients of the Crystal Globe like Michael Caine, Julianne Moore, Mel Gibson, Judi Dench and Robert De Niro, Crowe will also perform on the festival’s opening night with his rock band, Indoor Garden Party.

The festival, which takes place in a spa town outside Prague in the Czech Republic, will present Crowe with the award on its opening night, June 30. It will also celebrate Crowe’s career with a 20th anniversary screening of Peter Weir’s 2003 epic “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.”

KVIFF also announced that Johnny Depp, who was a special guest at the festival two years ago, has starred in the festival’s new trailer, which will premiere on its opening night. Depp, who stars in “Jeanne du Barry,” the film that will open this year’s Cannes Film Festival, was a controversial choice for the festival two years ago, but he will become the 18th person to star in a Karlovy Vary trailer.

The trailers, made by directors Ivan Zachariáš and Martin Krejčí, are typically humorous vignettes that make use of the festival’s Crystal Globe trophy. Jude Law, John Malkovich, Harvey Keitel and Helen Mirren are among the actors who have starred in previous trailers.

Previously, Karlovy Vary announced that this year’s festival will include a celebration of Iranian cinema focusing on films from the last four years, a tribute to Japanese filmmaker Yasuzo Masumura, a restoration of Evald Schorm’s 1964 classic of the Czechsolvak New Wave, “Courage for Every Day,” and a tribute to Czech actress Daniela Kolářová.  

The festival will run from June 30 through July 8.

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