Movie about African migrants wins 2021 Karlovy Vary Film Festival

As Far as I Can Walk (Strahinja Banović), a film about African migrants directed by Stefan Arsenijević, was presented with the Crystal Globe for Best Film at the 55th annual Karlovy Vary International Film Festival during the closing ceremony at Hotel Thermal on Saturday night.

The main award, which also carries a cash prize of $25,000 (about 550,000 crowns), was presented by festival president Jiří Bartoška and given to the director and producer of the film.

As Far as I Can Walk is a co-production between Serbia, France, Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Lithuania. It connects themes from a medieval Serbian legend about a nobleman looking for his lost wife with contemporary issues of migration.

The main characters in the film, Ghanian refugees Strahinja and his wife Ababuo, have ended up in Serbia after being deported. While Strahinja starts building up his career, his wife finds no opportunities in the new country and her frustration rises. When she disappears one day, Strahinja sets out on a journey to search for her.

The Karlovy Vary jury also gave the Best Actor Award to Ibrahim Koma for his lead role in As Far as I Can Walk, and the film's director of photography Jelena Stanković won the jury's special mention. Additionally, the film received two prizes from non-statutory juries, the Ecumenical Jury and Europa Cinemas Label awards.

A special award in the main competition went to the Czech documentary film Every Single Minute (Každá minuta života) by Erika Hnikova.

The Best Director Award was given to Dietrich Bruggemann for directing the German film No!

Eleonore Loiselle won the Best Actress award for her lead role in the Canadian movie Wars (Guerres).

The main competition jury presented three special mentions this year. They went to director of photography Stanković, the Croatian film The Staffroom (Zbornica) and actress Vinette Robinson for her performance in the British film Boiling Point.

U.S. actor and director Ethan Hawke, who has four Oscar nominations, and Oscar-winning Czech director Jan Svěrák received awards from the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival's President at the beginning of the closing ceremony on Saturday.