By Madelyn Most
Madelyn Most rounds up some of the highlights from the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival which took place from 4-12 July.
Karlovy Vary or Karlsbad is a fairytale-like picturesque spa town tucked in the densely forested mountains of western Bohemia, in what is today the Czech Republic. The town was founded around 1350 by Charles IV, who accidentally discovered the thermal springs when one of his lost hunting dogs was found yelping in a river gushing with hot foaming water. The King declared these waters a natural cure for metabolic ailments, and Karlovy Vary was put on the map, soon becoming a hub for aristocrats and the intellectual, artistic, literary, and financial elites from all over Europe. Emperor Franz Joseph, Czar Peter the Great, Otto von Bismark, Goethe, Karl Marx, Beethoven, Brahms, Kafka, Mark Twain, Ludwig van Beethoven, Sebastian Bach, Friedrich Schiller, Richard Strauss, Frederyk Chopin, Niccolo Paganini…In his mid-70s, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe fell in love with a 19-year-old but when rejected, this last heartbreak yielded a beautiful poem, “the Marienbad Elegy” and when I discovered this history, I couldn’t wait for the festival to end so I could dive into the museums and bookstores.
The wealthiest built their own mansions or stayed in the ultra-fashionable Grand Hotel Pupp (1894), with architecture ranging from Baroque to Classic to Rococo to Art Nouveau and today the Pupp hosts a festival screening room in one of its majestic ballrooms. The first film projection in the modern-day Czech Republic didn’t happen in Prague, but in Marianske Lazne along the river, and in Karlovy Vary. Today the tourist brochures boast of 16 thermal curative springs and spas with temperatures ranging from 14-73 degrees Celsius or 57-163 degrees Farenheit, that line the streets along the river Tepla. In the heart of the posh shopping district, you can see steam and sulphuric vapours shooting up in the atmosphere, not far from Mozart’s pub.
Founded in 1946 in the former Czechoslovakia, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is today the largest film festival in the Czech Republic and the most prestigious festival in Central and Eastern Europe. Most activities take place within Hotel Thermal, the gigantic high-rise concrete structure (resembling London’s ugly Centre Point) to the east of the historic part of the town. Hotel Thermal is densely surrounded by pop-up bars with concerts and disco music booming all night long, and there are wine, beer, and absinthe tasting tents and pavilions offering fast food, but especially drink. KVIFF is one of the oldest A-list film festivals with a competition section for feature-length fiction films, just like Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Locarno, San Sebastian, Montreal, Shanghai, and Tokyo, and among filmmakers, buyers, distributors, sales agents, and journalists, KVIFF is considered the most important event in all of Central and Eastern Europe.
The 59th KVIFF 2025 was attended by almost ten thousand accredited visitors: among them, 411 were filmmakers, 1055 film professionals, 557 journalists, and 7,926 held Festival Passes. Of the 175 films screened, 108 were feature fiction films, 23 were feature documentaries, and 44 were short films. 36 films received their world premiere, 5 had their international premiere, and 5 had their European premiere. Of the 1055 professionals -producers/ buyers/ sellers/ distributors, 494 came from abroad.
The KVIFF’s second competition section, called Proxima, presented 1 international and 12 world premieres. These films are considered less ‘mainstream’ and more diverse, innovative, and young, to counterbalance the Crystal Globe competition.
KVIFF Eastern Promises is the festival’s industry section that looks for promising upcoming talent in filmmakers coming from Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and North Africa, and then connects them with distributors, sales agents, producers and festival programmers attending the festival.
Most film festivals get their prestige and publicity not from their film slate but from the celebrities they attract, which draws in the crowds, so bestowing honorary awards has become a strategy to entice them to come. Karel Ochs, Artistic Director of KVIFF since the turn of the century, runs a tight ship and successfully manages to combine the two.
Probably the most ‘famous’ guest this year was Michael Douglas. In 1998, Douglas visited Karlovy Vary when he and Saul Zaentz were honoured with the Crystal Globe for their contribution to world cinema. Returning after 27 years, Douglas presented with a new restored version of (the former Czechoslovakia’s most famous director), Milos Forman’s 1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Accompanied by fellow producer Paul Zaentz, nephew of Saul Zaentz, they introduced the screening with members of Milos Forman’s family attending. The special screening event celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 5 Oscar-winning film and was part of the “Out of the Past” section that honours classic cinema. Douglas admits that his father, who owned the rights for the Ken Kesey book, passed them on to his young son after Saul Zaentz was reluctant, or refused to cast Kirk Douglas in the principal role.
Another American ‘star’ on the red carpet was Dakota Johnson, daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, granddaughter of Tippi Hendren, who received the President’s Award, (we don’t know why), and presented her latest film “Materialists” by South Korean born, Canadian director Celine Song as a follow up to her hugely successful film called “Past Lives”.
Sweden’s Stellan Skarsgård received the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema. Filming recently with director Joachim Trier on ‘A Different Man’, his past work with Lars von Trier (Breaking the Waves, Melancholia, Nymphomaniac), Denis Villeneuve (Dune), David Fincher (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Miloš Forman (The People vs. Larry Flynt), Mamma Mia! and Marvel blockbusters established him as an “international commodity”. Skarsgård did not hold back about his antipathy for fellow countryman, Ingmar Bergman, whom he called “a control freak who controlled the entire Swedish film industry and wasn’t a very nice man.”
American actor Peter Sarsgaard, known for his work in Shattered Glass, Kinsey, Jarhead, Love & Other Drugs, and The Batman, received the KVIFF President’s Award, as did Vicky Krieps from Luxembourg/Germany, who gained recognition from The Phantom Thread.
Master Editor Jiri Brozek received the KVIFF President’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Czech Cinema. Brozek made his mark on more than 100 Czech films and was awarded 9 Czech Lions for editing that broke all records.
Promoting film in regions in and beyond Eastern Europe (Croatia, Romania, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, the Russian Federation), is one of the festival’s raisons d’être, and this year saw the introduction of a new audiovisual law called the Czech Audiovisual Fund, which is an initiative from the Czech Film Commission to encourage investment in film production. In recent years, the Czech Republic has hosted several high-profile international productions like “All Quiet on the Western Front”, JoJo Rabbit, Nosferatu, Ballerina, Blade Runner 2099, AMC Network’s “Interview with the Vampire”, the Netflix period drama “The Empress”, and Apple TV’s “Foundation”. After a brief slump due to the Hollywood strike and the Covid pandemic, fresh optimism comes from this new initiative that has increased the country’s production incentive from 20- 25% for live-action productions and raised to 35%, the incentive for digital production and animation. The maximum amount that can be claimed per project tripled to nearly $20.5 million. The fund also offers support to film infrastructure: distribution, promotion, and festivals, and will be financed through a 2 % levy on cinema ticket revenues, broadcast advertising revenues, and cable/satellite broadcast revenues, and a 3.5% assessment on revenues from all streaming platforms in the Czech Republic. Those amounts will be matched by contributions from the state budget and will now come in line with Hungary and Poland, which offer 30% incentives.
This Czech Audiovisual Fund supports a broader range of productions, including films, video games, animation, and series. While most of this production is based at Prague’s historic Barrandov Studios, which soon will celebrate its centennial anniversary, Prague Studios hosted Apple TV’s Foundation, Netflix series Haunted, and Prime Video’s Carnival Row. Currently filming at Barrendov is the American independent film The Face of Horror with director Anna Biller, produced by a UK company called Good Chaos with Mike Goodridge as producer and Czech production company Sirena Film’s producer Pavel Muller. Many more American productions are rumoured to be starting up soon.
LEAVING AN IMPRESSION
My Takeaway from the Festival…films that made an impression,
I was a bit wary about watching films in Czech and other Slavic languages I don’t understand, and I don’t like how they translate films anymore. I dislike reading subtitles because you don’t watch the acting while you’re following illegible words on the screen. Then I thought, How relevant is this festival anyway? especially to sophisticated Anglo-American audiences who mostly have a diet of “la crème de la crème”, when it comes to movies. I did, however, see some amazing pieces that provoked deep emotions.
Although I didn’t see any of the Czech Republic’s famous animation, I was really blown away by “Comment ca va” (How are you?) from France. I adored the strange quirkiness of this exquisite existential experimental hybrid animation film by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel that probes the mysteries of human behavior and psychology through animals, and questions the meaning of life, if there is any.
“Bidad” is a wonderful film that takes you to the streets of Tehran where a woman longs to sing, but in contemporary Iran, it is forbidden and carries serious consequences.
“All That’s Left of You” by Cherian Dabis- (Germany, Cyprus, Palestine, Jordan, Greece, Qatar, Saudi Arabia) delves into the story of seven decades of life in one uprooted Palestinian family starting in 1948.
Cinema Jazireh (main picture)b y Gozde Kural (Turkey, Iran, Bulgaria, Romania) is a haunting story that follows a mother disguised as a man searching for her son in Afghanistan under the brutal Taliban rule.
Partition from Anthropologist and director Diana Allan (Lebanon, Palestine, Canada) was powerful in its use of archival black and white newsreels of Palestine under British colonial rule over a soundtrack of testimonies and comments by currently displaced Palestinian exiles living in Lebanon.
Divia by Dmytro Hreshko (Poland, Ukraine, Netherlands, USA) explores the disastrous ecological impact on nature and land in Ukraine from Russian bombs and explosives.
The most powerful documentary was the Sundance Directing Award winner by Mstyslav Chernov (Ukraine, USA), which is a harrowing 2-kilometre nightmarish march through a forest by Ukrainian volunteer fighters to reclaim land that seems endless, largely filmed on their helmet cameras.
My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow (USA) by Julia Loktev. This 344-minute documentary by Soviet born American filmmaker exposes the dangers to independent media in Russia’s escalating totalitarianism.
“Put Your Soul on your Hand and Walk” by Sepideh Farsi (Iran) – the renowned Iranian director films over months via a Zoom like video link, her communication with a young Palestinian photographer in the Gaza Strip who cheerfully takes her through her daily routine of survival until it all ends with an Israeli raid.
Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident (Iran, France, Luxembourg) is a lesson that can be watched over and over again. The Palme d’Or winner at Cannes depicts a former torturer from an Iranian jail who meets his fate when captured by his victims who never forget.
AND THE WINNERS WERE:
The Crystal Globe at the 59th edition of KVIFF was awarded to the Czech-Slovak documentary “Better Go Mad in the Wild” by acclaimed Slovak filmmaker Miro Remo. It was the first time in eight years that a domestic film won the top prize.
The Special Jury Prize went to Bidad, by Iranian director Soheil Beiraghi.
The Best Director Award was shared by two filmmakers: French director Nathan Ambrosioni for his moving drama “Les Enfants vont bien” (Out of Love) and Lithuanian director Vytautas Katkus for his feature debut, The Visitor.
The KVIFF Festival President’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Czech cinema went to Master Editor Jiri Brozek, who “made his mark on more than 100 Czech films” and has received 9 Czech Lion Awards for editing.
The Best Actress Award went to Norwegian actress Pia Tjelta for her role in “Don’t Call Me Mama”, directed by Nina Knag.
The Best Actor Award was given to Àlex Brendemühl for his performance in the Spanish film “Quan un riues devé el mar“ (When a River Becomes the Sea) directed by Pere Vilà Barceló.
Actress Kateřina Falbrová received a Special Mention from the jury for her role in “Broken Voices”, directed by Ondřej Provazník of the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic.
The Právo Audience Award went to the festival’s opening documentary entitled “We’ve Got to Frame It !” directed by Milan Kuchynka and Jakub Jurásek . It is the filmed conversation in 2021 with festival director Jiri Bartoska, President of the Karlovy Vary film festival, who died suddenly in May 2025. In many ways, this overshadowed this year’s festival.
The Proxima Grand Prix went to “Sand City”, directed by Mahde Hasan of Bangladesh.
The Proxima Special Jury Prize was awarded to “Forensics” (Forenses) directed by Colombian director Federico Atehortúa Arteaga.
The jury awarded Special Mentions to: “Before/After” (Avant / Après) directed by Manoël Dupont, Belgium, and to: Film Editor Romain Waterlot, and to: Film Director Manoel Dupont, and to: Director of Photography Thibaut Egler.
NON STATUTORY AWARDS – THE ECUMENICAL JURY AWARD
If you are wondering what the Ecumenical Jury is, (as I do), it is a jury that awards films “that display high artistic quality while questioning social, political, ethical, and spiritual values while promoting directors who emphasize the search for truth, justice, and hope IN ACCORDANCE WITH CHRISTIAN GOSPELS” I have No Comment on that, except I do question why one specific religion can have such a strong footprint and award films at prominent festivals to promote its ideology.
The Grand Prize of the Ecumenical Jury was given to “Rebuilding” directed by Max Walker-Silverman of the USA.
Commendation of the Ecumenical Jury went to “Cinema Jazireh” directed by Gözde Kural , and was a co-production between Turkey, Iran, Bulgaria, and Romania.
The Europa Cinemas Label Award went to “Broken Voices”, or Sbormistr directed by Ondřej Provazník from the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.
The Fipresci Award for the best film in the Crystal Globe Competition went to “Les Enfants vont bien” (Out of Love) directed by Nathan Ambrosioni of France.
The FIPRESCI award for the best film in the Proxima Competition went to “Avant / Après” (Before/After) directed by Manoël Dupont of Belgium.
There were very many other awards- the KVIFF Eastern Promises Winners, KVIFF Central Stage, Works in Development, Feature Launch, Focus Queer, and KVIFF Talents awards, and the KVIFF & Midpoint Development Award….too many to mention here.
EURIMAGES had Co-Production Development Awards, there was the Connecting Cottbus Award, the Rotterdam Lab Award, the Marche du Film Producers Network Award, the Works in Development, and the KVIFF TALENTS Award, which offered one guest project from a Hungarian program in affiliation with the Budapest International Film Festival. These awards come with small financial stipends and are part of the many initiatives to stimulate growth, develop, nurture, and promote filmmaking in this expanding region of Central and Eastern Europe.
www.kviff.com is the link where you can visit the festival and event
