Oscar-winning Swedish actress Alicia Vikander and Scottish actor, director and producer Ewan McGregor will receive the President’s Award and present their latest films at the 57th Karlovy Vary Festival.
The festival will open with the British historical drama Firebrand, in which Alicia Vikander stars alongside Jude Law, as Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII. Ewan McGregor will present the film You Sing Loud, I Sing Louder in which he stars alongside his daughter, actress and producer Clara McGregor.
Firebrand is directed by Karim Aïnouz from a screenplay by Henrietta Ashworth and Jessica Ashworth, based on the novel Queen’s Gambit by Elizabeth Fremantle.
In blood-soaked Tudor England, Katherine Parr, the sixth and last wife of King Henry VIII, is named Regent while tyrant Henry is fighting overseas. Katherine has done everything she can to push for a new future based on her radical Protestant beliefs. When an increasingly ailing and paranoid King returns, he turns his fury on the radicals, charging Katherine’s childhood friend with treason and burning her at the stake. Horrified and grieving, but forced to deny it, Katherine finds herself fighting for her own survival. Conspiracy reverberates through the palace. Everyone holds their breath – for the queen to slip up, for Henry to take her head like wives before. With the hope for a future free of tyranny at risk, will Katherine submit to the inevitable for the sake of King and country?
Firebrand premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, where it was selected to compete for Palme d’Or.
In the road movie You Sing Loud, I Sing Louder, directed by Emma Westenberg, which McGregor will present at the 57th KVIFF, a father and daughter (Ewan McGregor and his real-life daughter Clara McGregor) set out on a journey filled with unexpected encounters during which they find a way back to each other after a period of alienation. Clara McGregor is credited as a producer, as well as with the story alongside scriptwriter Ruby Caster and producer/actress Vera Bulder. Ewan McGregor is the film’s executive producer.