Organizers of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival announced yesterday that American actor Casey Affleck will be honored with its prestigious Festival President’s Award this year.
The Festival President’s Award is a special honor given to actors, directors, and producers who have contributed in a fundamental way to the development of contemporary world cinema.
The Oscar winner for Manchester by the Sea (2016) will present his latest film, A Ghost Story, starring Rooney Mara and written and directed by David Lowery, which premiered this January at the Sundance Film Festival. Lowery and producers Toby Halbrooks and James M. Johnston will also attend.
“We are very glad that Casey Affleck is accepting Karlovy Vary IFF President’s Award at our 52nd annual edition. We regard Casey Affleck as one of the most intriguing actors in contemporary American film and are honored to welcome the filmmakers during the presentation of A Ghost Story,” said Jiří Bartoška, president of the festival.
Affleck began his carreer in in director Gus Van Sant’s To Die For (1995). He went on to star in Good Will Hunting (1997), Gone Baby Gone (2007), The Killer Inside Me (2010), and Interstellar (2014).
In 2008 he earned his first Oscar nomination and Golden Globe for his performance in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), starring alongside Brad Pitt.
High-profile festival guests in years past include Susan Sarandon, John Malkovich, Robert DeNiro, Richard Gere, Jude Law, Willem Dafoe, and Jamie Dornan.