{"id":1172,"date":"2026-06-02T09:06:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T09:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1172"},"modified":"2026-06-02T09:06:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T09:06:03","slug":"karlovy-vary-film-festival-artistic-director-karel-och-unveils-lineup-for-60th-edition-the-program-boasts-extraordinary-geographical-diversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1172","title":{"rendered":"Karlovy Vary Film Festival Artistic Director Karel Och Unveils Lineup for 60th Edition: \u2018The Program Boasts Extraordinary Geographical Diversity\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tKarel Och, artistic director of Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival, has unveiled a lineup of almost 40 titles in the main program, premiering at the 60th edition of the event in the Czech spa town at the beginning of July.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1170\">\u2018Backrooms\u2019 Smashes A24 Record With Dominant Debut at U.K. and Ireland Box Office<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tOch said, \u201cOne of the defining characteristics of the films in this year\u2019s main program is the directors\u2019 impressive effort to comprehend the diversity and complexity of the world through firsthand confrontation, and through a relentless search for the relationship between the artistic and the political, the intimate and the societal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n<strong>CRYSTAL GLOBE COMPETITION<br \/><\/strong>\u201c3 nedelje posle\u201d (3 Weeks After)<br \/>Director: Miroslav Terzi\u0107<br \/>Serbia, Bulgaria, 2026, 94 min, world premiere<br \/>A group of high school students set off for a class trip to Bulgaria. When their bus breaks down, they find themselves stranded in an old hotel near the mountains. The atmosphere grows tense when the quiet and withdrawn Zoza decides to talk about his best friend\u2019s recent suicide. Why did Andrij choose to end his life? And wouldn\u2019t it have been better if Zoza hadn\u2019t brought it up? Like his previous outings, Serbian director Miroslav Terzi\u0107\u2019s third film is characterized by an overwhelming, meticulously crafted sense of tension. \u201c3 Weeks After\u201d takes us into the vulnerable world of adolescents, where innocence is mixed with cruelty. It also exposes the mechanisms of bullying in a society that closes its eyes at decisive moments when looking away is the last thing we should do.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cCherni pari za beli noshti\u201d (Black Money for White)<br \/>Director: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov<br \/>Bulgaria, Greece, 2025, 94 min, world premiere<br \/>After years of saving money from the small bribes they collect, 60-year-old Marina and her husband Gosha from Bulgaria are preparing for their dream trip to St. Petersburg to witness the White Nights. But when Russia invades Ukraine and the travel agency vanishes with all their savings, the couple\u2019s dream collapses along with their illusion of control over their moral principles and the relationship they have with each other. Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, recipients of the 2019 Crystal Globe, return to Karlovy Vary with a tragicomic portrait of a generation forced to reassess its values as they question everything that is considered black and white in post-Soviet society.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cChica Checa\u201d<br \/>Director: \u0160imon Hol\u00fd<br \/>Czech Republic, France, Slovak Republic, 2026, 96 min, world premiere<br \/>Following a trilogy of low-budget films, two of which (\u201cMirrors in the Dark\u201d and \u201cAnd Then There Was Love\u2026\u201d) were screened in Karlovy Vary, \u0160imon Hol\u00fd returns with the international co-production \u201cChica Checa.\u201d Once again, the story revolves around a female protagonist: here, the widowed village mail carrier Zdena (Pavla Tomicov\u00e1), who tries to fulfill the last wish of her ailing mother. A series of unexpected events brings her closer to her son Luk\u00e1\u0161 (Jan Cina) and awakens in her a longing for a different life. Hol\u00fd once again confirms his talent for observation and his ability to create a vibrant portrait of his characters\u2019 inner conflicts, all while giving Tomicov\u00e1 ample space to fully express her acting abilities.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cCinco a\u00f1os, cuatro meses\u201d (Five Years, Four Months)<br \/>Director: Esteban Hoyos Garc\u00eda, Juan Miguel Gelacio Ram\u00edrez<br \/>Colombia, U.S., 2025, 83 min, world premiere<br \/>Not only did Martha lose her oldest son, but to this day she doesn\u2019t know what happened to him or his remains. After years of searching in vain, she meets Sandra, who offers her one more possibility, perhaps her last hope: to set out for a remote place where the line between the living and the dead is blurred. The directorial duo of Juan Miguel Gelacio and Esteban Hoyos Garc\u00eda gives voice to Colombian women who, after their children\u2019s disappearance, took the search into their own hands. The film\u2019s subdued, focused narrative calls attention to one of the most painful consequences of the country\u2019s long-lasting armed conflict while portraying the search for peace and reconciliation in a place that has never witnessed a farewell.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cDetr\u00e1s de la Lluvia\u201d (Behind the Rain)<br \/>Director: Valeria Sarmiento<br \/>Chile, 2026, 97 min, world premiere<br \/>In all her films, director and editor Valeria Sarmiento has questioned the relationship between memory and the unconscious. Is it better to remain silent, hiding secrets so that things do not change (as in \u201cSecretos,\u201d 2008), or to seek true access to the most painful memories (as in \u201cHuellas,\u201d 2023)? In \u201cBehind the Rain,\u201d Sarmiento reflects on the very concept of repression. Sof\u00eda has just finished her psychology studies in Valpara\u00edso (the city where Sarmiento was born) and returns to her hometown, Valdivia. Her return coincides with the discovery of a young girl\u2019s body, which awakens in her memories of childhood sexual abuse. Like a scratched film that looks like rain, Sof\u00eda must decide whether to stop the memory from resurfacing or to look beyond the rain, beyond the buried fears of an entire country.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cG\u00e6sten\u201d (The Guest)<br \/>Director: Mads Mengel<br \/>Denmark, 2026, 99 min, world premiere<br \/>Fresh parents Karl and Emilie are looking forward to a weekend at a seaside hotel, where they plan to announce their child\u2019s name and thus officially welcome him to the world. A day before the celebration, however, Karl\u2019s mother Vibeke shows up, with whom he hasn\u2019t spoken in several years. Building on the tradition of contemporary Nordic cinema, debut filmmaker Mads Mengel tells the intimate story of a family that threatens to fall apart when old wounds are opened up. What begins as a close-knit celebration turns into an uncomfortable confrontation with an unresolved past that won\u2019t let the film\u2019s protagonists forget who they really are \u2013 or where they come from.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cA Happy Family\u201d<br \/>Director: Jan-Eric Mack<br \/>Switzerland, 2026, 120 min, world premiere<br \/>Niki works two jobs, but the little money she earns is barely enough to cover the living expenses for her and her two young children. One day, when the children are left unsupervised, they accidentally set the kitchen on fire, and so the Swiss authorities place them with a foster family on the other side of the country. Though forbidden from contacting her children, Niki decides to track them down. Based on a true story, the first Swiss film to be screened in Karlovy Vary\u2019s Crystal Globe competition draws its strength from a determined yet ambivalent protagonist whose actions shed light on a rigid social system while reflecting the conflict between parental instinct and personal responsibility. Adding to the film\u2019s strong dramatic arc is an exceptionally compelling performance by Anna Schinz.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cHijamat\u201d<br \/>Director: Nader Saeivar<br \/>Germany, 2026, 103 min, world premiere<br \/>Fifty-year-old Murad\u2019s life is shaken to the core when he learns that his younger brother is gay. Murad would like to support his brother, but their traditional Muslim family is against it. As a result, he finds himself subjected to pressures from all sides \u2013 from his father, who has close ties to the local imam, and from his brother\u2019s circle of friends as well. He would like to help everyone, but as he slowly falls into a spiral of conflicts and mounting difficulties, he finds that he, too, is in need of help. Another integral part of this family drama is the theme of migration and dialogue \u2013 not just between different religions, but within communities themselves. For his fourth feature film, director Nader Saeivar collaborated with Jafar Panah\u00ed, who contributed as producer and editor.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cThe Lion at My Back\u201d<br \/>Director: Tonia Mishiali<br \/>Cyprus, Luxembourg, Greece, 2026, 106 min, world premiere<br \/>Mariama, an asylum-seeker from Senegal, has just turned 18. Stella, at first glance a withdrawn woman in her 40s, has recently decided to break free from the clutches of addiction and to give her life a fresh start. In their attempt at finding their place in a world where nothing comes for free, the two women meet and form an unexpectedly strong bond. Following her 2018 debut \u201cPause,\u201d Cyprian producer and director Tonia Mishiali returns to Karlovy Vary with a vivid, heartwarming and hopeful story about how family bonds and motherly love can be found in the most unlikely places.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cPipes\u201d<br \/>Director: Karim Kassem<br \/>Lebanon, 2025, 112 min, world premiere<br \/>Although Hassan has retired from his job at the water authority, his neighbors are used to him always helping them out. This time, the situation is serious: The entire town is without water, and tensions are rising among the population with every passing day. Hassan would like to help them all, but he also needs time to mourn a friend who recently died under unclear circumstances. Lebanese director Karim Kassem skillfully works with various cinematic genres to create an elegant double portrait of an aging man and the town of which he has been a part all his life. He does so with a sense of nostalgia, subtle humor, and an almost meditative melancholy, mixed with a touch of detective work.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cPrame\u0148\u201d (Only Beautiful Things to Look At)<br \/>Director: Ivan Ostrochovsk\u00fd<br \/>Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, Hungary, 2026, 90 min, world premiere<br \/>The film is set in the mid-1980s, when the state used its laws to continually influence the most intimate facets of its citizens\u2019 lives. Ingrid (A\u0148a Geislerov\u00e1) is an ambitious doctor, whose mission is to bring children into the world, to terminate unwanted pregnancies, and to participate in the sterilization of Romany women. The melancholy woman has greater misgivings about her private situation than she does about her professional life, that is, until she is caught \u201coff guard\u201d by a new friendship with a charismatic Romany orderly. Spontaneous Ag\u00e1ta presents to Ingrid the human contours of a national minority reduced by the communists to a demographic problem. Ostrochovsk\u00fd\u2019s beguiling drama returns to a hitherto unresolved issue of Czechoslovak history, where the option of having children was determined by the state.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cThit-thee Khu\u201d (Fruit Gathering)<br \/>Director: Aung Phyoe<br \/>Myanmar, France, Czech Republic, 2026, 97 min, world premiere<br \/>Seen through the eyes of two young women, life in contemporary Myanmar can look quite oppressive. Working at a textile factory in industrial Yangon, they face exhausting work, social repression and economic uncertainty. Although the grueling pace of everyday life stifles opportunities for human connection, both women continue to dream of intimacy and escape. When they grow closer, they set in motion the previously silenced fibers of their own emotions. Aung Phyoe\u2019s long-anticipated directorial debut unfolds in shades of silence, subtle gestures and unspoken wishes. In a captivating rhythm that oscillates between tenderness and harshness, the film explores how women\u2019s desires survive in a country where intimacy and love between women remain socially unacceptable.<\/p>\n<p>\n<strong>PROXIMA COMPETITION<br \/><\/strong>\u201c33 krokov\u201d (33 Steps)<br \/>Director: Anna Dom\u010dek, \u0160imon Dom\u010dek<br \/>Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, 2026, 71 min, world premiere<br \/>Thirteen years after Milan Daniel suffered a serious head injury in a racially motivated attack, his assailant is set to be released. What feelings does this moment awaken in a traumatized man who, though he survived, will forever suffer the consequences of that fateful day? Straddling the line between fiction and documentary, the feature debut by Slovak directors \u0160imon and Anna Dom\u010dek is a mosaic of fragmentary pieces of everyday life, memories, dreams and subjective perceptions. Besides exploring the experience of someone seeking to escape the shadows of the past \u2013 shadows that weigh heavily on future generations as well \u2013 the film also takes an unusual approach to the subject of racial intolerance.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cCamionero\u201d (Truck Driver)<br \/>Director: Francisco Marise<br \/>Spain, Argentina, 2026, 84 min, world premiere<br \/>One would think that every road movie needs its central setting: the road. But Francisco Marise\u2019s hybrid film senses that every trip, road or journey requires us to stop every now and then. It is just such moments, when the film\u2019s Argentinian truck driver protagonists turn off their engines and stop driving, that form this film\u2019s starting point. Interweaving intimate observations with subtle glimpses of transcendence, \u201cTruck Driver\u201d paints a collective portrait of people who share a strange dimension of time within the silence of the asphalt wilderness \u2013 at motels, on the side of the road, and in tire shops, savoring the pure joy of the present moment while longing for loved ones far away.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cContra la Naturaleza\u201d (Against Nature)<br \/>Director: Axel Bertha<br \/>Mexico, 2026, 86 min, world premiere<br \/>After many years away, Jon\u00e1s returns to the countryside to start work as a stonemason. In a place marked by the harshness of life, he opens himself up to something intangible \u2013 a force that permeates the landscape, bodies and time itself. An evocatively told story of a silent man whose enigmatic nature stems from the dark side of humanity and from his contact with the sacred, the film moves along the boundary between the physical and the spiritual. Thanks to compelling sound design, a hypnotic visual style, and a rejection of traditional storytelling, Axel Bertha delivers an absorbing cinematic experience that explores human cruelty as part of a cycle of destruction from which humanity has yet to find a way out.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cEnas olokliros anthropos schedon\u201d (A Whole Person Almost)<br \/>Director: Efthimis Kosemund-Sanidis<br \/>Greece, Bulgaria, Germany, Cyprus, Romania, 2025, 111 min, world premiere<br \/>Ilias arrives on a remote island to claim his late father\u2019s inheritance. But the longer he is forced to stay on the island, the more his initial indifference begins to fade. As he interacts with the local community, he uncovers his father\u2019s past and, with it, a portrait of a man which differs significantly from his own memories. His gradually awakening emotions are intensified by his encounter with the local girl Kalliopi, by sudden spasms in his body, and by mysterious power outages that affect the entire island. This feature-length debut paints a tender picture of a world that is both real and mystical \u2013 a place where, despite distant echoes foreboding the possible end of the world, we encounter love, reconciliation and unexpected understanding.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cHomo Sive Natura\u201d<br \/>Director: Giovanni C. Lorusso<br \/>Italy, 2026, 115 min, world premiere<br \/>In the remote forests of eastern Cambodia lives a community of indigenous inhabitants. An unnamed 40-year-old businessman arrives with seemingly selfless intentions: he claims he is merely a tourist seeking to discover the life of his \u201cbrothers.\u201d In truth, however, he is gathering information for the possible expropriation of their land. Italian globetrotter Giovanni C. Lorusso lives up to his reputation as a filmmaker balancing on the line between fiction and documentary. Through unique locations, mesmerizing camera work and immersive sound design, he captures the slow inner transformation of his protagonist along with the rich cultural and spiritual life of a community facing a modern form of colonialism.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cThe Ink-Stained Hand and the Missing Thumb\u201d<br \/>Director: Yashasvi Juyal<br \/>India, 2026, 120 min, world premiere<br \/>If the world had an edge, it might look something like the remote corner of northern India where Santosh and Rajji live, collecting highway tolls in dilapidated booths. Work and endless waiting are blurred together. Bound by the power of love, but also by the need to constantly move around in search of work, they dream of the happiness that awaits them in a new place\u2026 until one day, a sudden tragedy turns their lives upside down. As melancholic as it is tender, \u201cThe Ink-Stained Hand and the Missing Thumb\u201d is the story of everyone who has suffered an unexpected loss. It is a heartfelt romance bordering on magical realism, a fleeting memory of a loved one who has vanished into the past, never to return.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1169\">Longtime Disney Exec Jim Kapenstein, Who Helped Oversee Some Of Its Biggest Acquisitions, Joins Starz as Chief Legal and Strategy Officer<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cMein Freund der Pornostar\u201d (My Friend the Porn Star)<br \/>Director: Rosa Friedrich<br \/>Austria, 2026, 94 min, world premiere<br \/>Rosa \u2013 the director Rosa Friedrich herself \u2013 was never that interested in porn, until her friend Timo expresses a wish to star in an erotic film. So Rosa agrees to help him get his project off the ground. However, the closer it gets to the shooting date, the more Timo feels embarrassed and doubtful about having involved himself in the first place. His face is ultimately replaced with the help of AI, and Rosa, together with a dominatrix, three trans women, a food-porn creator, a sex coach and other protagonists, continues with the film. A playful look at the kind of porn that can be worlds apart from the depersonalized, omnipresent industry, the kind which gives rise to emotions, misgivings and the uniqueness of each, individual body and experience.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cMilovn\u00edk, nie bojovn\u00edk\u201d (Lover, Not a Fighter)<br \/>Director: Martina Buchelov\u00e1<br \/>Slovak Republic, 2026, 108 min, world premiere<br \/>Andrej wants to stop causing trouble and start behaving himself. To spend the summer helping his grandmother, and mainly not to drink alcohol \u2013 because when he drinks, he does things like climb a tree from which he can\u2019t get down anymore. But his plan doesn\u2019t count on him meeting and falling in love with M\u00ed\u0161a. And sometimes love is worth fighting for, even if it\u2019s alongside your boring cousin Peter. A summer full of challenges can begin. This debut by Slovak director Martina Buchelov\u00e1 is a celebration of cinematic freedom that is humorous and inventive in terms of both style and narrative.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cParis Paris\u201d<br \/>Director: Isabelle Tollenaere<br \/>Belgium, 2026, 78 min, world premiere<br \/>An allegory of searching, loss, displacement and the discovery of new meanings and commonalities. Three men \u2013 Yi-En from China, Junior from Congo and Hamzah from Palestine \u2013 share a spartan apartment in a seemingly abandoned building in Paris. Besides this joint living arrangement, the group is bound together by their shared experience of life in exile and the fleeting nature of their possessions, relationships, and sense of home. Director Isabelle Tollenaere\u2019s fiction film debut is set in one of Europe\u2019s great cities and in a replica of Paris built in China \u2013 a metaphor for the immigrants\u2019 old dream of life in a new home and its gradual transformation into a new dream about their old home.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cRain Catcher\u201d<br \/>Director: Michele Fiascaris<br \/>Italy, United Kingdom, 2026, 109 min, world premiere<br \/>On dark and rainy nights, Miles creeps the streets of London, photographing the city\u2019s hidden corners and the people that populate them. The products of these voyeuristic forays, published under the pseudonym Rain Catcher, earn him great renown on social networks and among high culture. With time, however, he starts to notice the same mysterious woman in his photographs \u2013 a woman who follows his every move and slowly begins to threaten all his work and his very existence. Michele Fiascaris\u2019s suggestive feature-film debut uses his film\u2019s gloomy atmosphere to explore the city\u2019s underbelly \u2013 and the disquieting human mind. The audience is invited to immerse themselves in Miles\u2019s paranoia as he uncovers reality one step at a time.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cShokyakuro\u201d (Incinerator)<br \/>Director: Shuntaro Uchida<br \/>Japan, 2026, 97 min, world premiere<br \/>Ten-year-old Kozue, who definitely is not one of the popular kids at school, secretly spends her time tossing various objects into the school\u2019s incinerator. When university student Jinta comes to her classroom and invites the children to a shadow play performance, something awakens inside Kozue, and her path toward adulthood begins. In this poetic tale based on a short story by Japanese author Kaori Ekuni (nicknamed the \u201cfemale Murakami\u201d), sunny summer days mix languidly with scenes of everyday life to reveal a silent yet unsettling confrontation with a world that often seems impenetrable to children\u2019s eyes. Understanding family relationships, mortality, and one\u2019s own emotions is significantly more complicated than turning things into ash.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cSitni lopovi\u201d (Petty Thieves)<br \/>Director: Mate Ugrin<br \/>Croatia, Germany, France, 2026, 106 min, world premiere<br \/>It\u2019s summer, and the tourist season on the Adriatic is in full swing. Loner Rio earns extra money as a kitchen help at a local hotel, but he also commits minor thefts at the expense of foreign visitors. When the young Serbian worker Andrea learns about his thieving, the two come to an unusual agreement: they will steal together and share the profits. But this pragmatic alliance grows into an unexpected closeness. Croatian filmmaker Mate Ugrin\u2019s feature debut follows on from several distinctive Balkan films from recent years. Through clever metaphors, subtly elliptical editing, and an evocative use of atmosphere, \u201cPetty Thieves\u201d paints a portrait of solidarity among people who never stop dreaming of a better future in the face of a tourism industry that pushes them to the margins.<\/p>\n<p>\n<strong>SPECIAL SCREENINGS<br \/><\/strong>\u201cB\u00e1ra Basikov\u00e1\u201d (B\u00e1ra \u2013 Diary of a Rockstar)<br \/>Director: Helena T\u0159e\u0161t\u00edkov\u00e1<br \/>Czech Republic, 2026, 97 min, world premiere<br \/>B\u00e1ra Basikov\u00e1 is an icon of Czech rock and other music genres. To what extent can her public, media-distorted image differ from the person she really is? The answer comes in the form of the latest long-term documentary study from Helena T\u0159e\u0161t\u00edkov\u00e1, whose empathy, coupled with self-reflection and openness on the part of the protagonist, gives rise to a fascinating film portrait: over the course of 50 years we follow a woman who demonstrates remarkable strength as she faces the challenges of both her professional and private lives.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cDv\u011b deci tu\u0161e\u201d (A Pint of Ink)<br \/>Director: Ester Geislerov\u00e1<br \/>Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2026, 83 min, world premiere<br \/>If the quality of a biographical documentary is measured by its ability to instill in viewers previously unfamiliar with the subject the desire to get to know that person, then \u201cA Pint of Ink\u201d is a successful film. Another reason is that Ester Geislerov\u00e1, daughter of the Japanologist, translator, journalist, educator and calligrapher Petr Geisler (1949\u20132009), has managed to capture her father\u2019s exceptional status in late-20th-century Czech culture without losing sight of the intimate, familial, joyful and painful dimensions. Through photographs, home videos, letters and personal recollections, she composes a portrait of a charismatic charmer who remained mysteriously elusive even to his closest family.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cKdyby se holubi prom\u011bnili ve zlato\u201d (If Pigeons Turned to Gold)<br \/>Director: Pepa Lubojacki<br \/>Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2026, 110 min<br \/>Have you ever mourned someone who is still alive? Shooting on her iPhone, director Pepa Lubojacki tries to understand why her beloved older brother and two cousins live unhoused while struggling with addiction. Avoiding sentimentality and shot in a DIY aesthetic enriched by the creative use of stylized remembrances, graphic interventions and artificial intelligence, this disarmingly personal film explores family history, the causes and consequences of addiction, and the limits of personal integrity. What is the right expression of love \u2013 to save, or to let go? Winner of the Best Documentary Award at this year\u2019s Berlinale.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cKhaneh doost injast\u201d (The Friend\u2019s House Is Here)<br \/>Director: Maryam Ataei, Hossein Keshavarz<br \/>Iran, U.S., 2025, 96 min, international premiere<br \/>Pari and Hanna, roommates and friends, live in modern-day Tehran. Pari is a curator and director of an independent theater group; Hanna is a dancer, who wants to get out of Iran as soon as possible. The situation of both women becomes more complicated, but their friendship is strong in the face of political oppression. \u201cThe Friend\u2019s House Is Here\u201d conveys a sense of freedom and hope, even though it originated under the exact opposite conditions. Just a few days after the June War in Iran, the crew, headed by directing duo Hossein Keshavarz and Maryam Ataei, took to the streets of Tehran to make a film about a generation that no longer wants to live according to imposed rules and is striving to achieve one of the fundamental human rights: the right to freedom of artistic expression.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cLearning to Breathe Underwater\u201d<br \/>Director: Rebekah Fortune<br \/>United Kingdom, Netherlands, Ireland, 2026, 95 min, world premiere<br \/>Eight-year-old Leo lives with his dad and a giant shark, which crashed through the roof of their home. Yes, you read that correctly. The shark is Leo\u2019s best friend, to whom he can confide all his secrets. He can\u2019t really talk to his dad; he must be missing mum, who\u2019s been gone five years now. Then Anya the au pair bursts into their lives, and their world suddenly changes. It\u2019s more cheerful and Leo discovers that the metal shark doesn\u2019t have to be his only friend. An enchanting film for parents and children about how to talk together and how to grieve together. About how the world of adults is sometimes hard to understand, and how children\u2019s opinions really should be taken seriously.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cM\u011bsto otc\u016f\u201d (City of Fathers)<br \/>Director: Zden\u011bk Tyc<br \/>Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Poland, 2026, 100 min, world premiere<br \/>Distinctive filmmaker Zden\u011bk Tyc offers up a story about a father and son, who have nothing in common except their first name, Richard, and an apartment on a housing estate. The burly, good-natured, 30-something factory worker listens to heavy metal and occasionally lets his girlfriend into his life. The frail, retired teacher, who raised the boy after his mother\u2019s departure, is the embodiment of care and understanding. However, their tranquil, shared reality, which embraces both the hardcore band Na\u0161rot and Bergman\u2019s \u201cCries and Whispers,\u201d is disrupted by the sudden death of the mother. Young Richard sets out on a peculiar initiation journey with bizarre encounters and moments of unexpected enlightenment. Tyc plunges headfirst into existential themes with the dependable support of a stellar cast headed by Tom\u00e1\u0161 Vravn\u00edk and Vladim\u00edr Javorsk\u00fd.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cMistryn\u011b\u201d (Everything as It Should Be)<br \/>Director: Bohdan Kar\u00e1sek<br \/>Czech Republic, 2026, 101 min, world premiere<br \/>Monika, a doctor, is happy in her relationship and is expecting a child. She still gets along well with her former husband Petr, and so she decides to tell him about her pregnancy in person. The two of them had had difficulties conceiving. Their afternoon meeting for coffee extends into evening, so they have plenty of time to talk \u2013 about what might have been, and also about what might be. Director, screenwriter and editor Bohdan Kar\u00e1sek pays homage to mumblecore, a genre founded on conversations. The conversation between the two main characters, portrayed by Marie \u0160vestkov\u00e1 and Ji\u0159\u00ed Havelka, opens numerous questions faced by more than a few men and women in middle age.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cMorten\u201d<br \/>Director: Ivan Pavljutskov<br \/>Estonia, Lithuania, 2026, 101 min, world premiere<br \/>Youthful fragility and self-discovery are frequent motifs of the contemporary coming-of-age genre, but few filmmakers also address social issues \u2013 and do so in a poetic manner or with a spiritual dimension. Estonian director Ivan Pavljutskov is definitely among the latter group. In his feature debut, 15-year-old photographer Morten finds himself caught between two worlds \u2013 between two girls, between nature and civilization, between everyday reality and the mystical, between what is right and what others want. As it explores the depths of the Baltic forests and of a young boy\u2019s soul, \u201cMorten\u201d will charm viewers of all ages with its warmth and understanding for all its characters.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cRobert Richardson: The White Devil\u201d<br \/>Director: Jana Hojdov\u00e1<br \/>Czech Republic, U.S., 2026, 105 min, world premiere<br \/>Jana Hojdov\u00e1, a former cinematography student at Prague\u2019s FAMU, sent an email in order to get a contact for Robert Richardson, one of the most distinguished cinematographers on the scene today. What started as a student exercise and master\u2019s degree project soon evolved into a creative partnership and personal friendship. The more improbable the film\u2019s premise seems, the more fascinated we become by its portrait of a distinctive and uncompromising artist, three-time Academy Award winner, and acclaimed collaborator of such directors as Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cThe Story of Documentary Film \u2013 1980s\u201d<br \/>Director: Mark Cousins<br \/>United Kingdom, 2026, 120 min, world premiere<br \/>After Mark Cousins\u2019 series \u201cThe Story of Film: An Odyssey\u201d and \u201cWomen Make Film,\u201d the storyteller brings us another saga, this time devoted to documentary film. Of his 16 hour-long chapters embracing the entire history of documentary, Cousins selected for Karlovy Vary the part that centers on the 1980s, an era that was fundamental for the region from a socio-political perspective.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cTo Die to Live\u201d<br \/>Director: Yuliia Hontaruk<br \/>Ukraine, Latvia, Slovak Republic, 2026, 116 min, world premiere<br \/>In 2014, Shakhta, Dancer, and Potter volunteered for the army in order to fight in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict in eastern Ukraine. Although the horrible things they experienced during two years on the front accompany them for every second of their existence, they try to return to civilian life. But the Russian invasion in 2022 forces them to again confront the war. Filmed over the course of 12 years, this documentary uses a fragmentary cinematic language to evoke the trauma experienced by its protagonists, and thus to help us imagine the unimaginable: how to accept that some live while others die, and that \u2013 faced with one\u2019s own death \u2013 what remains above all is the desire to live.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cVyvolen\u00fd\u201d (Gregorius, the Chosen One)<br \/>Director: Tomasz Mielnik<br \/>Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, 2026, 90 min, world premiere<br \/>\u201cPuppeteer, tell us a story we don\u2019t know yet!\u201d the audience calls out to a traveling thespian. And so he starts to recount a story about a boy born of the forbidden love between brother and sister, who had many adventures, who spent 17 years tied to a rock, and who perhaps was also\u2026 a hedgehog? But that\u2019s not as important as how, after overcoming all these obstacles, he ended up becoming the Pope. Young Gregorius (portrayed by Jan Franti\u0161ek Uher) is a charming mix of naivete and determination, and it is a pure joy to watch his wanderings through mythical lands. Director Tomasz Mielnik\u2019s wild, absurd comedy is based on the final novel by Thomas Mann.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cZpr\u00e1va pro Minervu 2\u201d (A Report for Minerva 2)<br \/>Director: Miroslav Krobot, Lubom\u00edr Sm\u00e9kal<br \/>Czech Republic, 2026, 69 min, world premiere<br \/>The lives of a mismatched group of guests and employees become entangled in a run-down hotel. Some have come in search of peace and a brief escape from their daily routine, while others long for change \u2013 or even love. A lonely clarinetist crosses paths with a young man looking for a romantic adventure, an unhappily married couple, an idiosyncratic hotel staff member, and also an alien sent from the planet Minerva 2 in order to report on the state of Earth. A mosaic of 14 interwoven stories emerges through fleeting situations, awkward moments, interior monologues, and quiet observations. This experimental film by Miroslav Krobot and Lubom\u00edr Sm\u00e9kal is loosely based on the stage production of the same name by the S 23 Theatre Company, whose non-professional actors put together stage performances based on the dialogical acting method.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1167\">The Academy Launches Global Award Recognizing Exceptional Movie Theaters Worldwide \u2013 Film News in Brief<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Karel Och, artistic director of Karlovy Vary Intl. 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