The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF, 4-12 July) has unveiled the full line-up for its 59th edition, building on the previously announced competition sections (see the news). This year, the festival is curating a retrospective dedicated to John Garfield (see the news), while the Out of the Past section will screen Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, Man Bites Dog by Rémy Belvaux and Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah. The festival has added several titles to the Special Screenings section, including the world premiere of the Serbian miniseries Absolute 100 [+leggi anche:
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scheda series], created by Srdan Golubović in collaboration with his former students Stefan Ivančić, Katarina Mutić and Nikola Stojanović. This marks the KVIFF’s return to the episodic format after a four-year absence from showcasing work for the small screen. The miniseries centres on a teenage shooting champion who, after killing the son of a powerful politician to protect her brother, finds herself drawn into an escalating cycle of violence that threatens to engulf her family.

Other additions to the section include the cinematic debut of a Czech video game, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II Cinematic Cut, specially created for the festival. Commenting on the inclusion, the festival’s artistic director, Karel Och, stated: “We are honoured to be working together with world leaders in their field on this unique project, which represents an exceptionally original contribution to our long-standing goal of presenting powerful and gripping stories captured in a unique manner.”

The Horizons strand offers a rich cross-section of European cinema interrogating evolving social structures and institutional failures. Italy stands out with a diverse trio: Paolo Genovese’s surreal rom-com Madly [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], a genre-bending immigrant noir set in Rome. Meanwhile, Gianluca Matarrese’s documentary The Good Doctor [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Gianluca Matarrese
scheda film] offers a quietly moving tribute to inclusive healthcare. From France and Belgium, Charlotte Devillers and Arnaud Dufeys’ We Believe You [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Arnaud Dufeys e Charlotte …
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intervista: Alexe Poukine
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intervista: Dag Johan Haugerud
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intervista: Piotr Winiewicz
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Women’s perspectives resonate across the section, from Eva Libertad’s Deaf [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Eva Libertad
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intervista: Hlynur Pálmason
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intervista: Brendan Canty
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scheda film], while Alexandra Makarová’s Perla [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Alexandra Makarová
scheda film] is about a single mother who fled communist Czechoslovakia and who has to return to her homeland in order to pay an old debt. The section will also screen the recent Palme d’Or winner It Was Just an Accident [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Jafar Panahi along with Nadav Lapid’s Yes [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], which delivers a searing critique of cultural identity post-7 October. Ukraine is represented by two entries: Kateryna Gornostai’s Timestamp [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Kateryna Gornostai
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The Imagina section, dedicated to experimental cinema, will screen Ben Rivers’ documentary Bogencloch [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ben Rivers
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intervista: Iva Radivojević
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scheda film]. The revamped Midnight Screenings sidebar, now called Afterhours, will offer a selection of the latest horror and action flicks, including Michael Middelkoop’s Dutch horror-comedy Straight Outta Space.

The full line-up is available to peruse here.