“The White Devil” got the red carpet treatment at the 60th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) on Sunday. Legendary cinematographer and three-time Oscar winner Robert Richardson received the Czech festival’s highest honor, the Crystal Globe for outstanding artistic contributions to world cinema, in its 80th year. And handing him the award was none other than Hollywood legend Harvey Keitel.
Nicknamed “The White Devil” for his long white hair and relentless pursuit of cinematic perfection, Richardson arrived on the stage of the Grand Hall of Karlovy Vary’s Hotel Thermal to a big ovation.
“I’m not an actor,” the cinematographer started off saying. He then lauded the love for the art of film he has experienced in town. “I look out into the streets here, and I see so many people and so many here within this hall, and there are so many young people. What I think this particular award represents is a singular future, the future that we all need and want. I love that this festival opens the opportunity for seeing films that we rarely see, and holding films as [an] art [form].”
He shared this vision of the future where more smaller films can travel around the world, including from such places as the Czech Republic: “What I’m hoping for one day in the future is that more countries can be reached through streaming or whatever at no cost for everyone to be able to see what we cannot see and to see all the work that many of you are going to do.”
