S Viswanath

Renowned American actor and filmmaker the octogenarian star Dustin Hoffman, gracing the opening ceremony of the 60th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival this July 3, will be honoured with the festival’s Crystal Globe Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World cinema.

Doffing the hat to the seven-time Oscar nominee and two-time winner, who has left an indelible mark on world cinema with a rich chequered career spanning over more than six decades. With his filmography that has seen him perform with aplomb incredible repertoire of characters and has fetched him a bushel of awards through his indelible career was awarded the Cecil B DeMille Award at the Golden Globes in 1997 for his lifetime contribution to world cinema. In 2012, he received the prestigious Kennedy Centre Honors for his lifetime contribution to American culture through the performing arts.

Some of his much remembered and notable roles include Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Rain Man 1988). The Graduate (1967), Midnight Cowboy (1969), Tootsie (1982), Papillon 1973), Marathon Man (1976), and All The President’s Men (1976) among a host of others.

The Karlovy Vary Festival, while felicitating the actor, will be presenting his breakthrough film The Graduate, that redefined American cinema and directed by Mike Nichols, based on the novel of the same name by Charles Webb. Incidentally, Director Nichols won the Academy Award for Best Director with the film also bagging five Golden Globes and five BAFTAs to its credit.

Likewise, legendary Oscar winning French actress Juliette Binoche, and President of European Film Academy, who too will be in attendance at the gala film festival will also receive the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema.

Some of the actress’ notable films include Rendezvous (1985), The English Patient (1996), Chocolat (2000), Clouds of Sils Maria (2014), High Life (2018), The Taste of Things (2023), and The Return (2024).Celebrating her outstanding achievement and saluting the actress’ extraordinary successful career the film festival will also screen three of the films she has played a prominent role.

These are Polish film director and screenwriter Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colours: Blue, for which Binoche won the Volpi Cup in Venice, celebrated Iranian auteur Abbas Kiarostami’s film A Faithful Copy, which won her an award at Cannes, and a documentary essay on the creative process In Us, which she has directed.

Further, the festival will also toast the actress’ unceasing power of her acting which will be documented in the KVIFF programme by the new In Unknown Waters.

Similarly, the festival’s Crystal Globe for Extraordinary Artistic Contribution to World Cinema will be bestowed on celebrated cinematographer Robert Richardson who has won the Oscar thrice for cinematography.

He is best known for his work collaboration with Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino, with whom, he explored a variety of visual styles, both with film and digital cameras.The famous cinematographer will present the documentary Robert Richardson: The White Devil, which was made about him by Czech cinematographer Jana Hojdova.

Joining the rank of awardees includes American actor Jeffrey Wright who will receive the KVIFF President’s Award. Incidentally, Jeffrey Wright received an honorary Crystal Globe at the 39th KVIFF for his acting in films Smoke, Pulp Fiction and The Piano.

Besides honouring him with the President’s Award the film festival will also present the screening of one of his key films the 1973 New York gangster movie Dirty Street, directed by Martin Scorsese.Among the films he is famous for include Lady In The Water (2006), The Ides Of March (2011), The French Dispatch (2021), Asteroid City (2023) and The Phoenician Scheme (2025), Shaft (2000), Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), and No Time To Die (2021). He received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in American Fiction (2023).