16/06/2023 - The largest Czech gathering will prolong the Croisette fever, celebrating masters and new discoveries alike while honouring Alicia Vikander, Russell Crowe and Ewan McGregor

The 57th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (30 June-8 July) has unveiled its full line-up, featuring 140 fiction and documentary titles. Besides the previously announced competition sections (see the news), the festival will showcase a retrospective of contemporary Iranian cinema, works by post-war Japanese director Yasuzo Masumura, critically acclaimed Cannes titles, current experimental cinema, and the latest efforts by celebrated veteran directors.

Prolonging the Croisette fever, the picturesque Czech spa town will screen Justine Triet's Palme d'Or-winning drama, Anatomy of a Fall [+see also:
film review
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interview: Justine Triet
film profile], alongside Jessica Hausner's unsettling drama about an eating disorder, Club Zero [+see also:
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interview: Jessica Hausner
film profile], and Aki Kaurismäki's latest work, Fallen Leaves [+see also:
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film profile]. Other offerings include Marco Bellocchio's Kidnapped [+see also:
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film profile], Rodrigo Moreno's unorthodox heist film The Delinquents [+see also:
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interview: Rodrigo Moreno
film profile], and Cannes heavy hitters such as Tran Anh Hung's The Pot au Feu [+see also:
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film profile] and Alice Rohrwacher's La Chimera [+see also:
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film profile]. The festival's schedule also includes promising discoveries from Cannes, like Baloji's Omen [+see also:
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interview: Baloji
film profile], which explores the collision between traditional superstition and secular rationalism, and which won the New Voice Prize in Un Certain Regard. Festival-goers should also note the presence of titles such as Elene Naveriani's Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry [+see also:
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interview: Elene Naveriani
film profile].

The gathering's experimental cinema section, Imagina, will feature domestic works, including Daria Kashcheeva's eagerly anticipated Elektra, which premiered in Cannes' La Cinef. Kashcheeva's film reimagines the Greek mythological figure of Electra in a modern context, depicting the protagonist's journey of self-discovery, sexuality and complex familial relationships through a blend of pixilation animation and live-action scenes. Imagina will also showcase Helena Wittmann's daring sea odyssey Human Flowers of Flesh [+see also:
film review
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interview: Helena Wittmann
film profile], Ana Vaz's unconventional documentary It Is Night in America [+see also:
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film profile], Enrico Ghezzi and Alessandro Gagliardo's 193-minute-long The Last Days of Humanity [+see also:
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interview: Bas Devos
film profile], this year's winner of the Berlinale's Encounters Award for Best Film.

Marking the Walt Disney Company's 100th anniversary, the festival's Out of the Past section, dedicated to restored classics, will screen the company's first-ever feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), along with newly restored movies, including Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt (1963), Jean Eustache's The Mother and the Whore (1973), and Leida Laius's A Stolen Meeting (1988). Slovak director Eduard Grečner will present his most famous work, Dragon's Return (1967), as well as the world premiere of the documentary The Truth Is All There Is, in which he serves as the protagonist.

This year's festival will honour Russell Crowe with the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema, while Ewan McGregor will receive the Festival President's Award. Actress-producer Alicia Vikander will be handed the KVIFF President’s Award.

The full programme of the 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is available here.