The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) on Tuesday unveiled the lineup of the main competition and other sections for its 59th edition, including a competition movie from Iran whose title and creators will only be shared closer to the fest “for the safety of its makers.”
The fest in the Czech spa town, whose 2025 edition will be running July 4-12, also unveiled its competition jury, including Mexican producer Nicolás Celis (Alfonso Cuarón’s Oscar-winning Roma) and Czech actor and director Jiří Mádl (Waves).
The Crystal Globe competition this year includes Turkish filmmaker Gözde Kural’s Cinema Jazireh, her second feature, about a woman who “radically changes her identity” in “Afghanistan under the brutal rule of the Taliban,” documentary Divia, which reminds us that nature suffers with war, through the lens of Russia’s war against Ukraine, and Norwegian writer-director Nina Knag’s Don’t Call Me Mama, a drama about forbidden love.
The competition program also includes Czech director Ondřej Provazník’s psychological drama Broken Voices, about a 13-year-old female singer who gets the chance to become a member of a world-famous girls’ choir but faces a “clash of innocence and abusive authority, and The Visitor, the feature directorial debut of Lithuanian cinematographer and shorts director Vytautas Katkus about a new father in his mid-30s who leaves his family in Norway and travels to his native Lithuania to sell his parents’ flat. Instead of rushing back to his young family to escape the deafening loneliness, he decides to stay.
The competition further features the international premiere of Max Walker-Silverman’s Rebuilding, which is set in his native Colorado and tells the story of the reticent Dusty (Josh O’Connor), whose ranch has burned down in a devastating wildfire, and Catalan director Pere Vilà Barceló’s When a River Becomes the Sea, “an uncompromising, introspective probe into the soul of a girl who is sexually abused.”
‘Cinema Jazireh’
Courtesy of Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
KVIFF’s Proxima competition program, which aims to put the spotlight on bold works by young filmmakers and renowned auteurs alike, features the likes of Davi Pretto’s Future Future, set in a near future where the development of artificial intelligence has brought with it increasing neurological problems, and Daniel Vidal Toche’s The Anatomy of the Horses, whose plot summary says: “Defeated in combat, Ángel returns home to his village in a remote part of the Peruvian Andes. When he arrives, however, he finds the place has completely changed. What was the 18th century is now the present day. What has become of the ideals of the revolution he fought for?”
The Proxima lineup also includes Paula Ďurinová’s Action Item, an “activist anatomy of burnout, set in Berlin,” and the Armenian crime drama Thus Spoke the Wind by director Maria Rigel, described as a “cryptic, visually and aurally mesmerizing film, viewed through the eyes of a child forced to grow up too soon.”
Ammar al-Beik’s TrepaNation, filmed in a Syrian refugee camp that opened on the outskirts of Berlin in 2014. “Visual artist and filmmaker Ammar al-Beik has a cubicle assigned to him for seven months and, in order to survive here, he has to film, document, and rebel against the conditions of life in exile, and also against the established rules of documentaries and features,” its synopsis reads.
In its special screenings lineup, KVIFF will present the likes of the European premiere of Paul Andrew Williams’ Dragonfly and the world premiere of The Czech Film Project, directed by Marek Novák and Mikuláš Novotný. “At the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, Wim Wenders invited several of his esteemed colleagues to a hotel room, where he filmed their reflections on the future of film,” reads a synopsis for the movie. “This exclusive documentary survey, Room 666, inspired two Czech producers to engage in a similar undertaking in collaboration with the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. During last year’s festival, they thus invited around 30 Czech or Czech-based filmmakers from all generations and asked them ‘what makes Czech film Czech?’”
Also part of the special screenings section are the world premiere of Peter Bebjak’s Duchoň, a portrait of singer Karol Duchoň who became a household name more than four decades ago and created the legacy of the “Czechoslovak Tom Jones,” as well as the European premiere of Cherien Dabis’ Palestinian displacement drama All That’s Left of You, which debuted at Sundance and is about a Palestinian mother recounting the events that led her teenage son to confront Israeli soldiers at a protest.
‘When a River Becomes the Sea’
Courtesy of Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
The official selection “offers an exciting display of the diversity of contemporary arthouse cinema,” said KVIFF artistic director Karel Och. “Answering exclusively to their artistic integrity, the filmmakers who have accepted the invitation to premiere their brand new works in Karlovy Vary fearlessly protect the right to challenge expectations, to disrupt stereotypes, and to win over hearts and minds with equal intensity. Disregarding budgetary constraints, these filmmakers from countries, such as Bangladesh, Lithuania, Norway, and Colombia, push the boundaries while keeping in mind the necessary connection between a film and its audience.”
And he emphasized: “The Karlovy Vary IFF has always addressed political issues through powerful individual stories, fully supporting artists and their freedom of expression. Today, we are announcing 11 titles from the usual dozen films in the Crystal Globe Competition. The remaining one comes from Iran; for the safety of its makers, it has been decided to postpone its announcement until closer to the festival.”
Check out the full lineup for the 59th KVIFF, as well as its jury members below.
CRYSTAL GLOBE COMPETITION
Cinema Jazireh
Director: Gözde Kural
Turkey, Iran, Bulgaria, Romania, 2025, 124 min, world premiere
Divia
Director: Dmytro Hreshko
Poland, Ukraine, Netherlands, USA, 2025, 79 min, world premiere
Les Enfants vont bien / Out of Love
Director: Nathan Ambrosioni
France, 2025, 111 min, world premiere
Jimmy Jaguar
Director: Bence Fliegauf
Hungary, 2025, 112 min, world premiere
Quan un riu esdevé el mar / When a River Becomes the Sea
Director: Pere Vilà Barceló
Spain, 2025, 180 min, world premiere
Raději zešílet v divočině / Better Go Mad in the Wild
Director: Miro Remo
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2025, 77 min, world premiere
Rebuilding
Director: Max Walker-Silverman
USA, 2025, 95 min, international premiere
Sbormistr / Broken Voices
Director: Ondřej Provazník
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2025, 104 min, world premiere
Se meg / Don’t Call Me Mama
Director: Nina Knag
Norway, 2025, 108 min, world premiere
Svečias / The Visitor
Director: Vytautas Katkus
Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, 2025, 111 min, world premiere
A Vida Luminosa / The Luminous Life
Director: João Rosas
Portugal, France, 2025, 99 min, international premiere
PROXIMA COMPETITION
La anatomía de los caballos / The Anatomy of the Horses
Director: Daniel Vidal Toche
Spain, Peru, Colombia, France, 2025, 106 min, world premiere
Avant / Après / Before / After
Director: Manoël Dupont
Belgium, 2025, 80 min, world premiere
Ayspes asatc qamin / Thus Spoke the Wind
Director: Maria Rigel
Armenia, 2025, 92 min, world premiere
Balur Nogorite / Sand City
Director: Mahde Hasan
Bangladesh, 2024, 99 min, world premiere
Forenses / Forensics
Director: Federico Atehortúa Arteaga
Colombia, 2024, 91 min, international premiere
Futuro Futuro / Future Future
Director: Davi Pretto
Brazil, 2025, 86 min, world premiere
Kako je ovde tako zeleno? / How Come It’s All Green Out Here?
Director: Nikola Ležaić
Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, 2025, 114 min, world premiere
Na druhé straně léta / The Other Side of Summer
Director: Vojtěch Strakatý
Czech Republic, Croatia, 2025, 85 min, world premiere
Neplatené voľno / Action Item
Director: Paula Ďurinová
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, Germany, 2025, 69 min, world premiere
Regen fiel auf nichts Neues / Rain Fell On the Nothing New
Director: Steffen Goldkamp
Germany, 2025, 85 min, world premiere
Renovacija / Renovation
Director: Gabrielė Urbonaitė
Lithuania, Latvia, Belgium, 2025, 90 min, world premiere
TrepaNation
Director: Ammar al-Beik
Syria, Germany, France, 2025, 222 min, world premiere
Vgainoun mesa ap ti Margo / They Come Out of Margo
Director: Alexandros Voulgaris
Greece, 2025, 91 min, world premiere
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Dragonfly
Director: Paul Andrew Williams
United Kingdom, 2025, 98 min, European premiere
Duchoň
Director: Peter Bebjak
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, 2025, 99 min, world premiere
Hore je nebo, v doline som ja / Promise, I’ll Be Fine
Director: Katarína Gramatová
Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, 2024, 93 min, European premiere
Illi baqi minnak / All That’s Left of You
Director: Cherien Dabis
Germany, Cyprus, Palestine, Jordan, Greece, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, 2025, 145 min, European premiere
Karavan / Caravan
Director: Zuzana Kirchnerová
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Italy, 2025, 102 min
Letní škola, 2001 / Summer School, 2001
Director: Dužan Duong
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2025, 102 min, world premiere
Projekt český film / The Czech Film Project
Director: Marek Novák, Mikuláš Novotný
Czech Republic, 2025, 83 min, world premiere
A Second Life
Director: Laurent Slama
France, 2024, 74 min, European premiere
Tehran, Kenarat / Tehran Another View
Director: Ali Behrad
Iran, United Kingdom, 2025, 92 min, European premiere
CRYSTAL GLOBE JURY
Nicolás Celis
Mexican producer, his films include the Oscar-winning Roma (Alfonso Cuarón). One of Latin America’s film industry key figures, he has also produced films by Tatiana Huezo, Amat Escalante and Jacques Audiard.
Babak Jalali
Filmmaker, screenwriter and producer whose second feature Radio Dreams won the Tiger Award at Rotterdam IFF in 2016. With Fremont he won Best Director at KVIFF 2023 and the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards.
Jessica Kiang
Film critic, essayist and programmer with bylines in Variety, Sight & Sound, Criterion, Mubi, The New York Times, The LA Times, The Washington Post, Film Comment and Rolling Stone, among other outlets. She is now a member of the selection committee of the Berlinale.
Jiří Mádl
One of the Czech Republic’s most popular actors, now also established as a writer and director. His third directorial effort Waves won the Audience Award at KVIFF 2024 and was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
Tuva Novotny
One of the most prominent and successful actresses in the Nordics today. She has worked with such filmmakers as Lars von Trier, Bent Hamer, Alex Garland and Tobias Lindholm. Her writing/directing debut premiered in San Sebastian IFF’s Official Selection.
PROXIMA JURY
Yulia Evina Bhara
Indonesian producer. Her films regularly appear on the programme of important festivals such as Cannes (Tiger Stripes or Renoir), Venice (Autobiography) and San Sebastian (Last Shadow at First Light).
Noaz Deshe
Romanian filmmaker living in Mexico. His first feature film White Shadow won Best Debut at Venice IFF in 2013. Last year KVIFF screened his Xoftex in the Crystal Globe Competition, where the film earned him a Special Jury Mention.
Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias
Dominican filmmaker. His debut Cocote won the Golden Leopard in the Signs of Life program at the Locarno IFF, while his latest film, Pepe, was selected for last year’s Berlinale Competition, where it won a Silver Bear for best director.
Jakub Felcman
Czech screenwriter, festival organiser, film journalist, creative producer, director, trained plumber. He worked as a script editor on films by Jan Němec, Petr Václav, Radu Jude and Corneliu Porumboiu.
Marissa Frobes
An agent in the Media Finance department at leading entertainment and sports agency CAA, specializing in packaging and sales of independently financed films. She supported packaging or sales of projects including The Brutalist and Rebuilding (Crystal Globe Competition at this year’s KVIFF), among many others.