Eryk Lubos wins Best Actor award at Karlovy Vary

Eryk Lubos in To Kill a Beaver: image - Polish Film Institute

Lubos picked up the award for his role in To Kill a Beaver, by established director Jan Jakub Kolski.

The film, which received its world premiere last week in the former Habsburg spa town, sees Lubos cast as Eryk, an ex-soldier who has gone out to the sticks to prepare for a mysterious job.

The highly-strung veteran takes out his frustration on the local beaver population, before finding himself drawn into an unexpected relationship with troubled teenager Bezi (Agnieszka Pawelkiewicz).

UK film media outlet Screen Daily praised “the astonishing acting” of the lead pair, predicting that “there’ll be more than a few international distributors tempted to give this twisted but compelling film a try.”

The movie, which was scripted by Kolski, is the director's first full-length outing since 2010's Venice, which followed the fate of a Polish landowning family during the Second World War.

Lubos shares the Best Actor award with Norwegian Henrik Rafaelson, who played in Martin Lund's The Almost Man. Lund's film, about a 35-year-old man who's not desperately keen to grow up, also won the Crystal Globe for Best Film. (nh)