UPDATE (26 June 2025): The festival has announced the addition of a 12th film in competition, Bidad, an independent Iranian production by director Soheil Beiraghi, and the story of a young singer who refuses to accept the fact that women in Iran are not allowed to perform in public. As per the festival's press release, "It was necessary to withhold the announcement of the film’s inclusion in the festival’s programme until he and the members of his crew could safely travel out of Iran." The festival has also announced the addition of two new Special Screenings (read news).

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The 59th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF, 4-12 July) – the largest film gathering in the Czech Republic – has unveiled its competition selections in addition to the previously revealed John Garfield retrospective (see the news). Karel Och, KVIFF's artistic director, praised the selected filmmakers for “fearlessly protect[ing] the right to challenge expectations, disrupt stereotypes, and win over hearts and minds”, noting that despite budget constraints, they “push the boundaries while keeping in mind the necessary connection between a film and its audience”. He added that KVIFF “has always addressed political issues through powerful individual stories” and revealed that one Iranian film will be announced closer to the festival for safety reasons.

The Crystal Globe Competition features Hungary’s Bence Fliegauf (Berlinale Grand Jury Prize winner for Just the Wind [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Bence Fliegauf
fiche film], Locarno Filmmakers of the Present Golden Leopard winner for Milky Way), who explores mythic vengeance in the haunting Jimmy Jaguar [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film], and France’s Nathan Ambrosioni (Paper Flags [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film], Toni [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film]), who returns with Out of Love [+lire aussi :
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interview : Nathan Ambrosioni
fiche film], a subdued yet affecting portrait of reluctant motherhood. Catalonian director Pere Vilà Barceló (La Lapidation de Saint Étienne [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film]) delivers When a River Becomes the Sea [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : PERE VILÀ BARCELÓ
fiche film], a three-hour meditation on trauma and recovery, and Lithuania’s Vytautas Katkus offers The Visitor [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Vytautas Katkus
interview : Vytautas Katkus
fiche film], a study in loneliness and dislocation that received the Cannes Critics' Week Next Step Award and prizes at Les Arcs and the TFL Meeting Event during its project phase. Nina Knag’s Don’t Call Me Mama [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Nina Knag
fiche film] is a provocative Norwegian drama of desire and morality; João Rosas’ The Luminous Life [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film] is a Lisbon-set ode to youthful inertia and unfulfilled promises; Dmytro Hreshko’s Divia [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Dmytro Hreshko
fiche film] captures war-torn Ukrainian landscapes, and Gözde Kural’s Cinema Jazireh [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Gözde Kural
fiche film] offers a harrowing tale of survival under Taliban rule. Regional talents are represented by Miro Remo (At Full Throttle [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Miro Remo
fiche film]), whose Better Go Mad in the Wild [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
interview : Miro Remo
fiche film] follows reclusive Slovak twins in a reflection on non-conformity, and Ondřej Provazník, whose Broken Voices [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
interview : Ondřej Provazník
fiche film] examines abuse and power within a girls’ choir. Rounding off the competition is the US title Rebuilding, directed by Max Walker-Silverman, and starring Josh O’Connor, Meghann Fahy and Kali Reis, already seen in Sundance's Premieres section.

The Proxima Competition continues to spotlight bold formal and thematic innovation. Among the selected titles are the Eastern European entries How Come It’s All Green Out Here? [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], a subtle meditation on familial estrangement in post-Yugoslavia by Nikola Ležaić (selected at Locarno and a winner at Sarajevo with Tilva Ros [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film]) and The Other Side of Summer [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Vojtěch Strakatý
fiche film], a lyrical coming-of-age tale by Vojtěch Strakatý (whose first feature, After Party [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Vojtěch Strakatý
fiche film], screened last year in Venice's Orizzonti Extra). Alexandros Voulgaris (Winona [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film]) presents They Come Out of Margo [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], a haunting, genre-blurring portrait of artistic isolation and emotional reckoning; Paula Ďurinová (Lapilli [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Paula Ďurinová
fiche film]) examines burnout in Berlin in Action Item [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Paula Ďurinová
fiche film]; Steffen Goldkamp's Rain Fell on the Nothing New [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] follows a young man's attempts to restart his life after having served his time in juvenile detention; and Gabrielė Urbonaitė's Renovation [+lire aussi :
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interview : Gabrielė Urbonaitė
fiche film] is a portrayal of Baltic millennials, who on the one hand are exposed to Western Europe's constant pressure to perform, and on the other still carry the traumas of previous generations brought up in the Soviet Union. Belgium's Manoël Dupont delivers Before / After [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Manoël Dupont
fiche film], a tender, humorous take on hair transplants and queer intimacy, and Daniel Vidal Toche presents The Anatomy of the Horses [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film], a genre-defying historical allegory from the Peruvian Andes. Rounding off the selection, Maria Rigel’s Thus Spoke the Wind [+lire aussi :
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interview : Maria Rigel
fiche film] offers a cryptic, Tarkovskian vision of childhood and maternal return, while Federico Atehortúa Arteaga’s Forensics blends personal and political memory in post-conflict Colombia, and Brazil’s Davi Pretto employs AI to explore class and identity in the dystopian Future Future.

This year’s Special Screenings section captures a wide stylistic range from Paul Andrew Williams’ Dragonfly [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film], an intimate British drama starring Brenda Blethyn and Andrea Riseborough, world-premiered at Tribeca, and Laurent Slama’s near-documentary A Second Life [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], set during Paris’s Olympic fever and also world-premiered at Tribeca, to Duchoň [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] (see the industry report), Peter Bebjak’s vibrant biopic of the Slovakian pop icon. Meanwhile, the recent Cannes entry Caravan [+lire aussi :
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interview : Zuzana Kirchnerová
fiche film] by Zuzana Kirchnerová follows a single mother’s spontaneous road trip towards selfhood, while the section also includes the Czech-Vietnamese dramedy Summer School, 2001 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Dužan Duong
fiche film] by Dužan Duong and the documentary The Czech Film Project [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film].

Here is the full competition line-up:

Crystal Globe Competition

Out of Love [+lire aussi :
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interview : Nathan Ambrosioni
fiche film] – Nathan Ambrosioni (France)
Bidad - Soheil Beiraghi (Iran)
Jimmy Jaguar [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] – Bence Fliegauf (Hungary)
Divia [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Dmytro Hreshko
fiche film] – Dmytro Hreshko (Poland/Ukraine/Netherlands/USA)
The Visitor [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Vytautas Katkus
interview : Vytautas Katkus
fiche film] – Vytautas Katkus (Lithuania/Norway/Sweden)
Don’t Call Me Mama [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Nina Knag
fiche film] – Nina Knag (Norway)
Cinema Jazireh [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Gözde Kural
fiche film] – Gözde Kural (Turkey/Iran/Bulgaria/Romania)
Broken Voices [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Ondřej Provazník
fiche film] – Ondřej Provazník (Czech Republic/Slovakia)
Better Go Mad in the Wild [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Miro Remo
fiche film] – Miro Remo (Czech Republic/Slovakia)
The Luminous Life [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] – João Rosas (Portugal/France)
When a River Becomes the Sea [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : PERE VILÀ BARCELÓ
fiche film] – Pere Vilà Barceló (Spain)
Rebuilding – Max Walker-Silverman (USA)

Proxima Competition

TrepaNation [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] – Ammar al-Beik (Syria/Germany/France)
Forensics – Federico Atehortúa Arteaga (Colombia)
Before / After [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Manoël Dupont
fiche film] – Manoël Dupont (Belgium)
Action Item [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Paula Ďurinová
fiche film] – Paula Ďurinová (Slovak Republic/Czech Republic/Germany)
Rain Fell on the Nothing New [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] – Steffen Goldkamp (Germany)
Sand City – Mahde Hasan (Bangladesh)
How Come It’s All Green Out Here? [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] – Nikola Ležaić (Serbia/Croatia/Bulgaria)
Future Future – Davi Pretto (Brazil)
Thus Spoke the Wind [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Maria Rigel
fiche film] – Maria Rigel (Armenia)
The Other Side of Summer [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Vojtěch Strakatý
fiche film] – Vojtěch Strakatý (Czech Republic/Croatia)
Renovation [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Gabrielė Urbonaitė
fiche film] – Gabrielė Urbonaitė (Lithuania/Latvia/Belgium)
The Anatomy of the Horses [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] – Daniel Vidal Toche (Spain/Peru/Colombia/France)
They Come Out of Margo [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] – Alexandros Voulgaris (Greece)

Special Screenings

Duchoň [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] – Peter Bebjak (Slovakia/Czech Republic)
Tehran, Another View – Ali Behrad (Iran/UK)
All That’s Left of You [+lire aussi :
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interview : Cherien Dabis
fiche film] – Cherien Dabis (Germany/Cyprus/Palestine/Jordan/Greece/Qatar/Saudi Arabia)
Summer School, 2001 [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Dužan Duong
fiche film] – Dužan Duong (Czech Republic/Slovakia)
Absolute 100 [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche série] - Srdan Golubović, Stefan Ivančić, Katarina Mutić, Nikola Stojanović (Serbia) (series)
Promise, I’ll Be Fine [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] – Katarína Gramatová (Slovakia/Czech Republic)
Caravan [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Zuzana Kirchnerová
fiche film] – Zuzana Kirchnerová (Czech Republic/Slovakia/Italy)
The Czech Film Project [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] – Marek Novák, Mikuláš Novotný (Czech Republic)
A Second Life [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] – Laurent Slama (France)
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Cinematic Cut - Daniel Vávra, Petr Pekař (Czech Republic)
Dragonfly [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] – Paul Andrew Williams (UK)