The 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) has come to a close after hosting 465 screenings of 175 films, including 108 feature-length fiction titles, 23 documentaries and 44 shorts. Among them, 36 movies celebrated their world premieres, while five had international premieres and five debuted in Europe. This year’s edition also welcomed 1,055 accredited industry professionals, including producers, buyers, sellers, distributors, festival programmers and representatives from film institutions around the globe.

This year’s top honour, the Grand Prix – Crystal Globe, was awarded to Slovak documentarian Miro Remo for his tender portrayal of eccentric Czech twin brothers living an unorthodox life in rural isolation in Better Go Mad in the Wild [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film]. The Czech-Slovak co-production impressed the jury with its “raucously loving brotherhood” and “filmmaking risks”, described as “a gulp of fresh, woody air” in the jury’s celebratory citation. The Special Jury Prize went to Iranian director Soheil Beiraghi for Bidad, a genre-blending lovers-on-the-run tale that navigates shifting tones and Tehran’s social landscape with punk energy. The Best Director Award was presented ex aequo to Nathan Ambrosioni for Out of Love [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Nathan Ambrosioni
scheda film], a tender and polished French family drama, and Vytautas Katkus for his The Visitor [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Vytautas Katkus
scheda film], which displays “an uncompromised, idiosyncratic vision that is both dazzlingly precise in its detail and dreamily peculiar as whole”. Out of Love also netted the FIPRESCI Award, with the jury commending its sensitive portrayal of family bonds and the emotional precision of the ensemble cast. Norwegian thesp Pia Tjelta earned the Best Actress Award for her role as a middle-aged married woman in a love affair with an 18-year-old immigrant in Don’t Call Me Mama [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] by Nina Knag.

The Best Actor Award went to Àlex Brendemühl for When a River Becomes the Sea [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film]; his performance was praised for its quiet strength and emotional depth as he portrayed a father supporting his traumatised daughter. Young Czech newcomer Kateřina Falbrová, in her screen debut, received a Special Jury Mention for her role in Ondřej Provazník’s Broken Voices [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film], a chilling depiction of abuse within a 1990s girls’ choir. The film also took home the Europa Cinemas Label Award, with the jury applauding its layered storytelling and the director’s skill in slowly revealing a sinister undercurrent beneath nostalgic visuals. Meanwhile, the Právo Audience Award went to We’ve Got to Frame It! by Milan Kuchynka and Jakub Jurásek, a nostalgic and celebratory conversation with late festival president Jiří Bartoška, who died two months before the festival and whose life has been commemorated throughout this year’s edition.

In the Proxima Competition, the Grand Prix went to Mahde Hasan’s Sand City, an impressionistic and hauntingly poetic film from Bangladesh. The jury praised its “trembling map of the strange” and its ability to transform space and silence into cinema. Colombian filmmaker Federico Atehortúa Arteaga received the Special Jury Prize for Forensics, a poetic act of resistance against the commodification of Latin American violence, described as “cinema that resists – with truth, with ethics and, above all, with poetry”. A Special Mention was given to Before / After [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Manoël Dupont
scheda film] by Manoël Dupont, a Belgian hybrid road movie that adopts a heartfelt approach. The film also garnered the FIPRESCI Award for Best Film in the Proxima Competition, praised for its hybrid, self-reflexive exploration of a fractured homoerotic relationship, and the blurred lines between fiction and reality.

Actor Stellan Skarsgård was awarded the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema, while Vicky Krieps, Dakota Johnson and Peter Sarsgaard each received the Festival President’s Award. Czech editor Jiří Brožek was recognised for his contribution to Czech cinematography.

The 60th KVIFF is scheduled for 3-11 July 2026. The winners of the industry awards within KVIFF Eastern Promises can be found here.

Here is the full list of award winners:

Crystal Globe Competition

Grand Prix – Crystal Globe
Better Go Mad in the Wild [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] – Miro Remo (Czech Republic/Slovak Republic)

Special Jury Prize
Bidad – Soheil Beiraghi (Iran)

Best Director (ex aequo)
Vytautas Katkus – The Visitor [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Vytautas Katkus
scheda film] (Lithuania/Norway/Sweden)
Nathan Ambrosioni – Out of Love [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Nathan Ambrosioni
scheda film] (France)

Best Actress
Pia Tjelta – Don’t Call Me Mama [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] (Norway)

Best Actor
Àlex Brendemühl – When a River Becomes the Sea [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] (Spain)

Special Jury Mention
Kateřina Falbrová - Broken Voices [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] (Czech Republic/Slovak Republic)

Proxima Competition

Grand Prix
Sand City – Mahde Hasan (Bangladesh)

Special Jury Prize
Forensics – Federico Atehortúa Arteaga (Colombia)
Special Mention
Before / After [+leggi anche:
recensione
intervista: Manoël Dupont
scheda film] – Manoël Dupont (Belgium)

Non-statutory awards

Právo Audience Award
We’ve Got to Frame It! – Milan Kuchynka, Jakub Jurásek (Czech Republic)

Grand Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
Rebuilding – Max Walker-Silverman (USA)

Ecumenical Jury Commendation
Cinema Jazireh [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Gözde Kural
scheda film] – Gözde Kural (Turkey/Iran/Bulgaria/Romania)

Europa Cinemas Label Award
Broken Voices – Ondřej Provazník

FIPRESCI Award (Crystal Globe)
Out of Love – Nathan Ambrosioni

FIPRESCI Award (Proxima)
Before / After – Manoël Dupont

Honorary awards

Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema
Stellan Skarsgård
Festival President’s Award for Contribution to Czech Cinematography
Jiří Brožek
Festival President’s Award
Vicky Krieps, Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard