Fresh comes and leaves with a smile
The opening ceremony of this year's Fresh Film Fest will be crowned by the Czech premiere screening of the US independent debut (500) Days of Summer. The closing awards ceremony on the 15th August will also be accompanied with a Czech premiere of a US film: Funny People.
(500) Days of Summer (dir. Mars Webb)
The opening ceremony of this year's Fresh Film Fest, which will take place in the evening on 12th August in the Main Hall of the festival centre Thermal, will be crowned by the Czech premiere screening of the US independent debut (500) Days of Summer. The stylish anti-romantic comedy became an audience favourite at Sundance and as a matter of fact will also be opening the prestigious Locarno IFF a few days before Fresh Film Fest.
The closing awards ceremony on the 15th August will also be accompanied with a Czech premiere of a US film: Funny People, the third film by producer, screenwriter and director Judd Apatow. The author of groundbreaking romantic comedies for men The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up and the producer of Superbad is the man behind the recent shift in style of American comedies. Deservedly he was voted the first of the Top 50 Smartest People in Hollywood by Entertainment Weekly.
(500) Days of Summer (dir. Mars Webb)
(500) Days of Summer
USA 2009, directed by Marc Webb
The film stole the show at Sundance and its authors describe it as an anti-romantic comedy. Its story, told in non-linear fashion, is full of original ideas and covers 500 days in a relationship of Summer (Zooey Deschanel) that does not believe in true love and Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who fatally falls for her. This dynamic post-modern love story, or “story about love,” treats the romantic comedy clichés incredibly playfully. Its music-video-like scenes take us through the ups and downs of the main hero's narration of 500 days in Los Angeles full of promises, uncertainty, magic, distance, tenderness, intimacy, awkwardness, passion, fury, ecstasy and Summer.
FUnny People (dir. Judd Apatow)
USA 2009, directed by Judd Apatow
Funny People is the third project of Judd Apatow, the father of the recent wave of smart romantic comedy for men, and author responsible for today's new generation of American comedies. The film tells a story of a successful stand-up comedian and popular low-brow comedy actor (Adam Sandler) that has only one year left to live because of a rare blood disease. He befriends a struggling stand-up comedian (Seth Rogen) and hires him as his assistant. He also meets an old flame (Leslie Mann) who is happily married to a middle class dimwit (Eric Bana). In this comedy with serious undertones Apatow returns to his own beginnings of stand-up comedian.
