Ethan Hawke, Oscar-nominated star of Training Day, Boyhood, and Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise trilogy, will attend this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, to be held at the Czech city from August 20-28.
Hawke will be presented with the Festival President’s Award, an honor given to film professionals who have contributed to the development of world cinema. Other recent KVIFF Festival President’s Award winners include Julianne Moore, Casey Affleck, and Jean Reno.
“We are thrilled to welcome to Karlovy Vary an artist we’ve been admiring for a long time,” Karlovy Vary International Film Festival artistic director Karl Och and executive director Krystof Mucha stated in a press release.
“In 2018, KVIFF paid tribute to the Austin Film Society and it is exciting to extend our appreciation of this renowned organization’s work by honoring an actor and director who is so closely connected to the Texas independent film scene.“
At this year’s film festival in Karlovy Vary, Hawke will present a screening of Paul Schrader’s excellent 2017 drama First Reformed, in which he stars as a Protestant reverend struggling with his faith after the loss of his son.
At the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, which just began yesterday, the Hawke-starring drama Zeros and Ones from director Abel Ferrera will have its world premiere. The Karlovy Vary fest has yet to announce its full schedule, but it’s possible Hawke could also present the Ferrera film at this year’s fest.
Hawke also stars in the new Antoine Fuqua thriller The Guilty, which is scheduled to have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September before bowing on Netflix later this year. The thriller is a remake of a Danish movie, also titled The Guilty, which played at the 2018 edition of the Karlovy Vary fest.
Hawke has been nominated for a total of four Academy Awards, twice for Best Supporting Actor (Training Day and Boyhood) and twice for his Adapted Screenplay for his writing on Before Sunset and Before Midnight, co-written with co-star Julie Delpy and director Richard Linklater.
In addition to his acclaimed acting work, Hawke is also a writer. A Bright Ray of Darkness, published earlier this year, is his first novel in 20 years; a new graphic novel, Meadowlark: A Coming of Age Story, is due for release on August 10.
With its premiere just two weeks away, more information on this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, including the recipient of the festival’s prestigious Crystal Globe, should be revealed in the coming days.
Lead photo: Hawke at the 2018 Montclair Film Festival via Wikimedia / Neil Grabowsky / Montclair Film
