{"id":2980,"date":"2026-07-03T12:06:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T12:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=2980"},"modified":"2026-07-03T12:06:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T12:06:18","slug":"how-a-czech-director-turned-festival-trailers-into-a-karlovy-vary-institution-one-star-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=2980","title":{"rendered":"How a Czech Director Turned Festival Trailers Into a Karlovy Vary Institution \u2014 One Star at a Time"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Sure, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival audiences come to the Czech spa town for cinematic gems and the best of the past year. But let\u2019s be honest: they also come for the trailers.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=2978\">Venice Classics Line-Up Includes Cassavetes, Bu\u00f1uel, Rossellini and Roger Corman<\/a><\/p>\n<p>KVIFF\u2018s signature pre-show spots have become a festival institution in their own right \u2014 edgy, often outrageous short films starring previous festival guests who are put through some kind of ordeal, frequently involving the Crystal Globe statuette being deployed in, shall we say, creative ways. Past victims include Johnny Depp, Mel Gibson, Javier Bardem, Helen Mirren, Jude Law, Harvey Keitel, Milos Forman, Danny DeVito, Casey Affleck, Andy Garcia and John Malkovich \u2014 many of whom you can watch here.<\/p>\n<p>Shot almost always in black-and-white, the trailers are the work of Ivan Zachari\u00e1\u0161, a Czech commercial and film director who has taken home several Cannes Lions honors. Audiences have been known to debate which trailer might unspool before a given screening before they\u2019ve even taken their seats.<\/p>\n<p>THR caught up with Zachari\u00e1\u0161 to find out how he makes the magic happen, how he landed the gig, and why it\u2019s harder than it looks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>When did you create your first KVIFF trailer, how did you get that job, and which star or director was it with?<\/strong><br \/>\u00a0<br \/>First,\u00a0I shot a\u00a0series\u00a0of\u00a0short\u00a0trailers\u00a0with\u00a0Eddie\u00a0Marsan\u00a0in 2004. But\u00a0it\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0part\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0recent\u00a0series\u00a0yet. It\u00a0started\u00a0in 2008\u00a0when\u00a0Ji\u0159\u00ed Barto\u0161ka\u00a0and\u00a0Kry\u0161tof\u00a0Mucha\u00a0asked\u00a0me\u00a0to\u00a0try\u00a0to\u00a0come\u00a0up\u00a0with\u00a0a\u00a0new\u00a0idea \u2013 to\u00a0make\u00a0the\u00a0trailers\u00a0a bit more\u00a0consistent. I came up with a concept of short B&amp;W films with actors and directors who\u2019ve been awarded by the festival in the past \u2013 always featuring the award in some funny way. <\/p>\n<p>We managed to shoot four little films that year. We\u2019ve been very lucky with getting Milo\u0161 Forman, Harvey Keitel and Danny DeVito \u2013 we shot all three within a few days in New York and Connecticut. Then we added one more day in Prague with [Czech filmmaker] V\u011bra Chytilov\u00e1.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Was there ever a year when you couldn\u2019t create the trailer? If so, how much did you miss it? Or have you always made time for the trailer even when you were super-busy?<br \/><\/strong><br \/>Yes, there were a few years I couldn\u2019t do it, so I passed it on to Martin Krej\u010d\u00ed. It is always a bit stressful, since there is a limited time for the shoot and also nervousness about instant feedback from the audience \u2013 so a few years without this stress were actually quite nice.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How early or late do you usually start thinking about ideas for the new trailer, and how do you choose the star for it?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We always agree on the star pretty early with Kry\u0161tof. But then starts the process of finding a shoot date and obviously coming up with an idea. That\u2019s not so smooth \u2013 I usually have a few missed calls from Kry\u0161tof, when I am struggling with the new idea and don\u2019t want to admit it. But we\u2019ve always somehow made it work so far.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do the stars or the festival usually shape and change the story of the trailer in cooperation with you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=2976\">\u2018A Happy Family\u2019 Is a Hope-Filled, Thriller-Tinged \u201cRoller Coaster\u201d Unlike Other Social Dramas That Shows a Very Different Side of Switzerland<\/a><\/p>\n<p>No. But a\u00a0few\u00a0of\u00a0them\u00a0tried\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Was there a trailer that was particularly difficult to make because of the short time a busy star had in between their other work?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oh yeah! The worst was the shoot with Benicio del Toro. He could give us only two hours. He was in the middle of the <em>The Phoenician Scheme<\/em> shoot with Wes Anderson in Berlin. We had to mark every camera position and lens in advance, and then we literally ran from shot to shot to make it in those two hours. His voiceover was recorded in his hotel room while he was changing wardrobe for his next scene in the film and eating a piece of pizza for lunch\u2026not ideal\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>I assume there have been many funny and wild experiences. But any trailer production experience that is particularly memorable for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, yes. For example, the shoot with Johnny Depp. He arrived about three hours late, but in a good mood. I asked him to bring his guitar case \u2013 as a prop. He did. And inside he had a beautiful vintage Gibson Les Paul Goldtop \u2013 worth of hundreds of thousands. I told him to take it out of the case, since he would be slamming it into the door in one scene. Obviously, he forgot. But the guitar somehow survived\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>The trailers often show the KVIFF statuettes getting treated in funny and unconventional ways. How did that idea start and is this a very Czech thing, this not taking things only super-seriously?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It was the initial idea. I believe it\u2019s good not to take yourself too seriously. And this award is not an Oscar \u2013 but even if it was\u2026 I don\u2019t think it\u2019s necessarily a Czech thing, but I also believe that Czech humor is sometimes very good.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is there anything else that you would like to share about the KVIFF trailers, your work on them and what you want people to feel when they watch them?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I do really enjoy making these trailers despite a bit of stress. And recently I found a treat for myself \u2013 I\u2019ve also composed music for them, and it\u2019s been great fun. I want people to enjoy them \u2013 obviously. And also to make them proud of having such a great film festival, where all these lovely people are willing to act in our trailers in their free time \u2013\u00a0for free.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=2974\">Anime-Inspired Series \u2018Dragon Striker\u2019 Gets Second Season at Disney (Exclusive)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Who makes the funny, irreverent Karlovy Vary Film Festival trailers? Meet director Ivan Zacharias, the man behind the magic trailer with big stars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,945,1212,1213],"class_list":["post-2980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-international","tag-karlovy-vary-international-film-festival","tag-kviff","tag-kviff-2026"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How a Czech Director Turned Festival Trailers Into a Karlovy Vary Institution \u2014 One Star at a Time - US Property Moves<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=2980\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How a Czech Director Turned Festival Trailers Into a Karlovy Vary Institution \u2014 One Star at a Time - US Property Moves\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Who makes the funny, irreverent Karlovy Vary Film Festival trailers? 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