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."

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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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Bence Fliegauf
scheda film], Locarno Filmmakers of the Present Golden Leopard winner for Milky Way), who explores mythic vengeance in the haunting Jimmy Jaguar, and France’s Nathan Ambrosioni (Paper Flags [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]), who returns with Out of Love, a subdued yet affecting portrait of reluctant motherhood. Catalonian director Pere Vilà Barceló (La Lapidation de Saint Étienne [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]), whose Better Go Mad in the Wild follows reclusive Slovak twins in a reflection on non-conformity, and Ondřej Provazník, whose Broken Voices (see the news) 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?, a subtle meditation on familial estrangement in post-Yugoslavia by Nikola Ležaić (selected at Locarno and a winner at Sarajevo with Tilva Ros [+leggi anche:
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This year’s Special Screenings section captures a wide stylistic range from Paul Andrew Williams’ Dragonfly [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], set during Paris’s Olympic fever and also world-premiered at Tribeca, to Duchoň (see the industry report), Peter Bebjak’s vibrant biopic of the Slovakian pop icon. Meanwhile, the recent Cannes entry Caravan [+leggi anche:
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Here is the full competition line-up:

Crystal Globe Competition

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

Proxima Competition

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

Special Screenings

Duchoň – Peter Bebjak (Slovakia/Czech Republic)
Tehran, Another View – Ali Behrad (Iran/UK)
All That’s Left of You [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Cherien Dabis
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Summer School, 2001 – Dužan Duong (Czech Republic/Slovakia)
Promise, I’ll Be Fine – Katarína Gramatová (Slovakia/Czech Republic)
Caravan [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Zuzana Kirchnerová
scheda film] – Zuzana Kirchnerová (Czech Republic/Slovakia/Italy)
The Czech Film Project – Marek Novák, Mikuláš Novotný (Czech Republic)
A Second Life [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] – Laurent Slama (France)
Dragonfly [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] – Paul Andrew Williams (UK)