The 59th Karlovy Fluctuate Worldwide Movie Competition (July 4-12) boasts not one however two competitions, the Crystal Globe and Proxima, curated by inventive director Karel Och and govt director Kryštof Mucha. The competition is the principle summer season occasion within the nation, which attracts many sponsors and patrons who need to attend, and faces not one of the monetary hardships of such festivals as Berlin, Toronto, and Sundance.
Final yr, 130 movies had been proven and 140,000 tickets offered. There isn’t any room for development, given the restricted venues, from the various screening rooms on the competition hub, the Resort Thermal, the place jurors hang around between screenings, to the colourful arthouse Kino Drahomira, named after a revered Czech girl director.
The Central European competition falls between Cannes and Venice, and applications many movies in its Crystal Globe Competitors that didn’t make the minimize at Cannes, in addition to movies that weren’t but completed. Profitable a high prize at KVIFF additionally provides luster to a movie’s launch trajectory. And visiting celebrities get pleasure from their time on the competition, from gala dinners on the Resort Pupp and Resort Promenada, to after-hours hanging on the basement Becher’s Bar on the Pupp, which impressed Wes Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Resort.”
This yr’s competition tributes are Stellan Skarsgård, recipient of a Crystal Globe award for Excellent Creative Contribution to World Cinema, and Vicky Krieps, Dakota Johnson, and Peter Sarsgaard, who will every settle for KVIFF President’s Awards.
Stellan Skarsgård will personally current the Cannes Grand Prix winner “Sentimental Worth” (Mubi), the sixth movie directed by Joachim Trier, which earned raves and is predicted to compete for a number of Oscars. Skarsgård was a visitor of the competition in 2002, when he introduced director István Szabó’s movie “Taking Sides.”
Throughout his lengthy profession, Skarsgård has displayed a spread uncommon amongst actors, alternating between Hollywood blockbusters and arthouse fare: his title helps indie movies to get made. He made his worldwide breakthrough because the lead in Lars von Trier’s “Breaking the Waves” (1996), which gained the Grand Prix on the Cannes Movie Competition. He additionally starred within the director’s “Dancer within the Darkish” (2000), “Dogville” (2003), “Melancholia “(2011), each components of “Nymphomaniac” (2013), and the tv collection “The Kingdom.”
Together with current roles in “Mamma Mia!” and its sequel and within the MCU, Skarsgård scored an Emmy nomination for his position in HBO’s miniseries “Chernobyl” (2019) and performed memorable villain Baron Harkonnen in Denis Villeneuve’s two-part “Dune” saga. He’s additionally been acclaimed for his position on TV’s “Andor.”
On the opening ceremony, the KVIFF President’s Award might be introduced to Luxembourg-born Vicky Krieps, winner of a European Movie Award for Finest Actress for the biopic “Corsage,” a efficiency for which she additionally gained Finest Actress in Cannes’ Un Sure Regard. She broke out internationally in 2017, when she appeared reverse Daniel Day-Lewis in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Phantom Thread.” She appeared at Karlovy Fluctuate final yr in Viggo Mortensen’s western “The Useless Don’t Harm” (2023). This yr’s Un Sure Regard titles on the Cannes Movie Competition included “Love Me Tender” (2025; dir. Anna Cazenave Cambet), which may even display screen at Karlovy Fluctuate. Later this yr, she is ready to look alongside Cate Blanchett and Adam Driver in Jim Jarmusch’s Venice entry “Father, Mom, Sister, Brother.”
American actress Dakota Johnson may even obtain the KVIFF President’s Award and current her two newest movies, Celine Track’s “Materialists” and Michael Covino’s Cannes choice “Splitsville.”
Peter Sarsgaard just lately starred in director Tim Fehlbaum’s “September 5,” which was nominated for Finest Movement Image Drama on the 2025 Golden Globes. Sarsgaard additionally gained the Volpi Cup at Venice 2023 for Michel Franco’s “Reminiscence,” reverse Jessica Chastain. He additionally starred as Tommy Molto within the 2024 collection “Presumed Harmless” (Apple TV+) reverse Jake Gyllenhaal, Renate Reinsve and Ruth Negga.
In 2021, he starred within the Oscar-nominated “The Misplaced Daughter,” written and directed by his spouse Maggie Gyllenhaal, primarily based on the novel of the identical title by Elena Ferrante. The movie garnered Oscar Nominations for each Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley in addition to a nomination for Finest Authentic Screenplay. Sarsgaard just lately wrapped manufacturing on Warner Bros.’ “The Bride!,” which is ready to launch later this yr. Directed by his spouse, Maggie Gyllenhaal, the movie takes place in Thirties Chicago and places a spin on the basic Frankenstein story. Peter will star reverse Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley.
In early June, the Karlovy Fluctuate Worldwide Movie Competition introduced 11 movies that might be vying for the principle prize within the competition’s Crystal Globe Competitors. The twelfth movie, Iran’s independently produced “Bidad,” remained secret to guard the security of the movie’s delegation. At Karlovy Fluctuate, director Soheil Beiraghi will current the world premiere of his story of the younger singer Seti, who refuses to simply accept the truth that ladies in Iran will not be allowed to carry out in public. Per the competition, “In defiance of her nation’s non secular legal guidelines, she decides to sing on the street. Her performances rapidly achieve in reputation, and Seti turns into a star for a younger technology that now not desires to be oppressed by the regime.”
As authorities investigated Beiraghi throughout filming, it was essential to withhold announcement of the movie’s inclusion within the competition’s program till he and his crew members may safely journey out of Iran.
Extra on Karlovy Fluctuate’s 2025 lineup right here.