The 60th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (July 3-11) boasts not one but two competitions, the Crystal Globe and Proxima, presided over by artistic director Karel Och and chairman of the board Kryštof Mucha. The festival is the country’s main summer event, attracting many sponsors, patrons, and attendees, and has faced none of the recent financial challenges faced by festivals in Berlin, Toronto, and Sundance. Forty films are in the main program.
The Eastern European festival falls between Cannes and Venice, and programs some films in its Crystal Globe Competition that did not make the cut at Cannes, as well as films that weren’t yet finished. Winning a top prize at KVIFF adds luster to a film’s release trajectory.
Fifteen first-time directors are featured alongside veterans across the Crystal Globe Competition, the Proxima Competition, and the Special Screenings section. Programs listed below.
Crystal Globe Competition
“3 nedelje posle” / “3 Weeks After”
Director: Miroslav Terzić
Serbia, Bulgaria, 2026, 94 min, World premiere
“Cherni pari za beli noshti “/ “Black Money for White Nights”
Director: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov
Bulgaria, Greece, 2025, 94 min, World premiere
“Chica Checa”
Director: Šimon Holý
Czech Republic, France, Slovak Republic, 2026, 96 min, World premiere
“Cinco años, cuatro meses” / “Five Years, Four Months”
Director: Esteban Hoyos García, Juan Miguel Gelacio Ramírez
Colombia, USA, 2025, 83 min, World premiere
“Detrás de la lluvia” / “Behind the Rain”
Director: Valeria Sarmiento
Chile, 2026, 97 min, World premiere
“Gæsten” / “The Guest”
Director: Mads Mengel
Denmark, 2026, 99 min, World premiere
“A Happy Family”
Director: Jan-Eric Mack
Switzerland, 2026, 120 min, World premiere
“Hijamat”
Director: Nader Saeivar
Germany, 2026, 103 min, World premiere
“The Lion at My Back”
Director: Tonia Mishiali
Cyprus, Luxembourg, Greece, 2026, 106 min, World premiere
“Pipes”
Director: Karim Kassem
Lebanon, 2025, 112 min, World premiere
“Prameň” / “Only Beautiful Things to Look At”
Director: Ivan Ostrochovský
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, Hungary, 2026, 90 min, World premiere
“Thit-thee Khu” / “Fruit Gathering”
Director: Aung Phyoe
Myanmar, France, Czech Republic, 2026, 97 min, World premiere
Proxima Competition
“33 krokov” / “33 Steps”
Director: Anna Domček, Šimon Domček
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, 2026, 71 min, World premiere
“Camionero” / “Truck Driver”
Director: Francisco Marise
Spain, Argentina, 2026, 84 min, World premiere
“Contra la Naturaleza” / “Against Nature”
Director: Axel Bertha
Mexico, 2026, 86 min, World premiere
“Enas olokliros anthropos schedon” / “A Whole Person Almost”
Director: Efthimis Kosemund-Sanidis
Greece, Bulgaria, Germany, Cyprus, Romania, 2025, 111 min, World premiere
“Homo Sive Natura”
Director: Giovanni C. Lorusso
Italy, 2026, 115 min, World premiere
“The Ink-Stained Hand and the Missing Thumb”
Director: Yashasvi Juyal
India, 2026, 120 min, World premiere
“Mein Freund der Pornostar” / “My Friend the Porn Star”
Director: Rosa Friedrich
Austria, 2026, 94 min, World premiere
“Milovník, nie bojovník” / “Lover, Not a Fighter”
Director: Martina Buchelová
Slovak Republic, 2026, 108 min, World premiere
“Paris Paris”
Director: Isabelle Tollenaere
Belgium, 2026, 78 min, World premiere
“Rain Catcher”
Director: Michele Fiascaris
Italy, United Kingdom, 2026, 109 min, World premiere
“Shokyakuro” / “Incinerator”
Director: Shuntaro Uchida
Japan, 2026, 97 min, World premiere
“Sitni lopovi”/ “Petty Thieves”
Director: Mate Ugrin
Croatia, Germany, France, 2026, 106 min, World premiere
Special Screenings
“Bára Basiková” / “Bára – Diary of a Rockstar”
Director: Helena Třeštíková
Czech Republic, 2026, 97 min, World premiere
“Dvě deci tuše” / “A Pint of Ink”
Director: Ester Geislerová
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2026, 83 min, World premiere
“Kdyby se holubi proměnili ve zlato” / “If Pigeons Turned to Gold”
Director: Pepa Lubojacki
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2026, 110 min
“Khaneh doost injast” / “The Friend’s House Is Here”
Director: Maryam Ataei, Hossein Keshavarz
Iran, USA, 2025, 96 min, International premiere
“Learning to Breathe Underwater”
Director: Rebekah Fortune
United Kingdom, Netherlands, Ireland, 2026, 95 min, World premiere
“Město otců”/ “City of Fathers”
Director: Zdeněk Tyc
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Poland, 2026, 100 min, World premiere
“Mistryně” / “Everything As It Should Be”
Director: Bohdan Karásek
Czech Republic, 2026, 101 min, World premiere
“Morten”
Director: Ivan Pavljutskov
Estonia, Lithuania, 2026, 101 min, World premiere
“Robert Richardson: The White Devil”
Director: Jana Hojdová
Czech Republic, USA, 2026, 105 min, World premiere
“The Story of Documentary Film – 1980s”
Director: Mark Cousins
United Kingdom, 2026, 120 min, World premiere
“To Die to Live”
Director: Yuliia Hontaruk
Ukraine, Latvia, Slovak Republic, 2026, 116 min, World premiere
“Vyvolený”/ “Gregorius, the Chosen One”
Director: Tomasz Mielnik
Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, 2026, 90 min, World premiere
Director: Miroslav Krobot, Lubomír Smékal
Czech Republic, 2026, 69 min, World premiere
Crystal Globe Jury
Critic Justin Chang (The New Yorker); Kuala Lumpur filmmaker Amanda Nell Eu (“Tiger Stripes”); Czech sound designer, producer, composer, and educator Pavel Rejholec (Zátopek”); producer Nadia Turincev (Rouge International, Easy Riders Films, Sento Films); and two-time Oscar-nominated screenwriter Eskil Vogt (“Sentimental Value”).
Proxima Jury
Estrella Araiza, the General Director of the Guadalajara International Film Festival (FICG) and Cineteca UDG; German producer Dirk Decker (Tamtam Film); Czech Jakub Felcman, a screenwriter, festival organizer, film critic, creative producer, and director; Film Comment editor Devika Girish; and Lithuanian director and screenwriter Marija Kavtaradze.
