Last year at Carlsbad

Most of the creme de la creme who attended this year's Karlovy Vary film festival have never heard of, much less seen, the cinematographic landmark alluded to in our headline above. Marienbad In fact, the masterfulness of Jiří Bartoška, the festival's organizer, is that he has turned the film festival into an altogether other event. It's about pressing flesh, doing deals and being seen, not about Alain Resnais or Morgan Freeman. But Bartoška is now at a crossroads. If politicians quit coming to KV for fear of seeing their names in MF Dnes's headlines, he'll have trouble attracting sponsors. The companies that pledged the Kč 100m needed to pull this event off (including the Kč 10m that is rumored to land in Bartoška's pocket) are looking for value for money. Without politicians, Bartoška will have to find something else to offer them. The latest Hollywood picture or star isn't enough.