This image by David W Černý of Reuters scored in July, portraying a lone Jiří Bartoška in the Hotel Thermal hall.
Photo: David W Černý / Reuters – Launching the Tady Vary film screenings
“With the Karlovy Vary film festival called off in its traditional form due to the threat of coronavirus and the Tady Vary film screenings organised in its place in hundreds of cinemas across the Czech Republic, a greeting from President of the KVIFF, Jiří Bartoška, was filmed in Hotel Thermal’s main hall on 3 July 2020 for those watching the Tady Vary screenings. This was symbolically filmed on the same day and at the same venue as the opening ceremony would have taken place under normal circumstances. This offered up the opportunity to take a compelling photo of the empty hall and Jiří Bartoška. While waiting to be filmed, he sat down in one of the empty seats and he was probably pondering how the hall could have been full of festival guests and audience members were it not for the coronavirus pandemic,” says David W Černý.
David W Černý has been a professional photographer for over 27 years. His first published photograph came out in 1993 in the Expres newspaper. He worked there for a year as a sports photographer, then joined ČTK where he covered political, cultural and sporting events across Europe for four years. Beginning in 1998, he began creative work as a freelance photographer, in particular documenting fashion, sport, film and entrepreneurs. He also worked as the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival official photographer for twenty years. Since 2003, he has worked for the international Reuters agency.