Karlovy Vary is rolling out the red carpet for Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Lost Daughter, Secretary, The Honourable Woman) and Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, A Real Pain, When You Finish Saving the World) this year.
At its 60th anniversary edition next month, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will present its President’s Award to the “two distinctive personalities who have significantly shaped contemporary world cinema,” organizers said on Monday. “In their work, director, screenwriter and actress Maggie Gyllenhaal and the multifaceted actor, director, screenwriter and author Jesse Eisenberg transition smoothly between charismatic performances and bold auteur filmmaking.”
Said KVIFF executive director Kryštof Mucha: “We at the festival are glad to be able to welcome two creative individuals whose work as actors, screenwriters, and directors is representative of contemporary trends in cinema and whose films are an intense experience for audiences.”
Jesse Eisenberg
Courtesy of KVIFF
Gyllenhaal will receive her honor during the opening ceremony of the 60th edition of KVIFF on Friday, July 3. At the fest, she will also present her film The Bride!, which she wrote, directed and produced. The “imaginative continuation of the classic Frankenstein story, influenced by both the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein and Mary Shelley’s original masterpiece,” the movie stars Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Annette Bening, Penélope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard and Jake Gyllenhaal.
Also receiving KVIFF’s President’s Award will be Eisenberg, whose upcoming film as a writer and director, The Debut, stars Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti. Eisenberg also co-stars in and wrote the music and lyrics for the film’s musical-within-the-movie. The movie will be released in the fall by A24. In his honor, the Czech festival will screen The Double, directed by Richard Ayoade, in which Eisenberg plays the lead role.
“Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jesse Eisenberg are distinguished by a certain ‘trans-Atlantic’ sensitivity,” said KVIFF artistic director Karel Och. “Their work as actors and directors has the ability to connect the New World and Europe while drawing on the most essential elements of both traditions. The humor of New York intellectuals is combined with wisdom, talent, and an original way of seeing the world.”