59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival: 61 publications

Joshua Polanski - 26-10-2025

Drone-shot, technology-infused "silent" film offers an intriguing register of Russian devastation on Ukrainian soil - from the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival [Read More...]

Joshua Polanski - 22-10-2025

Joshua Polanski interviews the director of Karlovy Vary entry Divia, a "hypnotic" doc about Russian aggression; the Ukrainian filmmaker reveals the secrets of filming with a drone, music as "the ghost of nature", Netflix support, and combining military service and creativity [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 14-07-2025

Victor Fraga attends one of the busiest, most diverse and exciting film festivals in the world; he reveals the winners and also his dirty favourites, while also remembering what is it that makes the event so special [Read More...]

H.M. Ryan - 13-07-2025

Unconventional coming-of-age story from Armenia follows a young boy as he navigates the complexities of rural life and external influences - from the Proxima Competition at Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

Lida Bach - 13-07-2025

Iranian filmmaker blends romance and comedy without lapsing into romcom tropes; he captures a city teeming with life and memory - from the 59th edition of Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 13-07-2025

Petty thief holds the family of a beautiful baker hostage inside their own apartment, in John Garfield's very final film role - noir classic shows at Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 12-07-2025

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre becomes a proxy for the nuclear American family and the American Dream, as this superb doc dissects the entrails of the horror genre - from the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 12-07-2025

The ethics of solidarity are put to the most brutal test conceivable, as a Palestinian family resists Israel's 75-year-old occupation - from the 5th Red Sea International Film Festival [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 11-07-2025

Bullied boy reconnects with his young and rebellious mother, in this beautifully shot yet muddled tale of community alienation from Armenia - from the Proxima Competition at Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 11-07-2025

Amnesiac man tries to make sense of his collapsing society, just as a pandemic, a deluge and a meteor hit Southern Brazil - vaguely disjointed yet amusing experimental sci-fi is in the Proxima Competition, at Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

Lida Bach - 11-07-2025

Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid crafts a stark, unsettling portrait of artistic compromise and the quiet violence of complicity - from the 59th edition of Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 10-07-2025

Desperate Afghan mother resorts to extreme measures in order to find her missing son, in this clumsy tale of two crossdressers - from the Crystal Globe Competition, at Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

André Vital Pardue - 10-07-2025

Austrian film conducts a bold exploration of Gen Z ennui and bohemian isolation through the lens of pandemic-inspired slow cinema - from the 59th edition of Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 10-07-2025

Life and death become one, as two twin hermits enjoy each other's company, their animals and their farm - Miro Remo's dazzling new creation is in the Crystal Globe Competition, at Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

Lida Bach - 10-07-2025

Lida Bach interviews Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival; they discuss his new film Two Prosecutors, inspiration in cinema and literature, the painful persistence of dictatorial systems, the War in Ukraine, and much more  [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 09-07-2025

Lesbian singer confronts Iranian censorship with her voice, in a movie that sets out to break (nearly) every conceivable film taboo - from the Tallinn Black Nights [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 09-07-2025

Devoted teacher falls for asylum seeker of her daughter's age and with a very dangerous secret, in this scrumptious blend of refugee drama and psychosexual thriller - from the Crystal Globe Competition in Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 09-07-2025

Just as the Cornish director premieres his new film in Karlovy Vary, DMovies' editor Victor Fraga interrogates him about the Celtic connection, Mark Cavendish, Woolfian pleasures, synesthesia, his blasphemous antipathy for Hitchcock's The Birds, and much more! [Read More...]

Lida Bach - 09-07-2025

Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason explores a family’s break-up with stoical patience, enticing imagery and a quirky sense of humour - from various festivals [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 08-07-2025

Very long, slow and thoughtful Catalonian drama dissects the anatomy of sexual abuse and gender relations - from the Crystal Globe Competition, in Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

Lida Bach - 08-07-2025

Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese rocket past convention with Camp, courage and cosmic chaos - Australia animation shows at the 59th edition of Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 08-07-2025

Josh O'Connor plays a caravan-dwelling father grappling with poverty, grief and separation - subtle American drama is in the Crystal Globe Competition, in Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

André Vital Pardue - 08-07-2025

Paula Ďurinová's essay on burnout and Gen Z in a fast-changing Berlin shows promise yet little substance - from the 59th edition of Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 07-07-2025

Lithuanian migrant in Norway struggles to reconnect with his birth nation as he returns in order to sell his family property, in this quiet and observational drama - from the Baltic Competition of the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 07-07-2025

Sad and sensitive young man seeks an old flame and instead finds darkness, in this charming nostalgia-fest from Portugal - from the 59th Karlovy vary International Film Festival [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 07-07-2025

Obscure demon exerts full control over a motley crew of Hungarian outcasts, in this inventive yet inconsequential horror mockumentary - from the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 06-07-2025

Timid Karolinka struggles to fit into the girls choir, in this slow burn, finely acted and tender Czech-Slovakian drama - from the Crystal Globe Competition of the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 06-07-2025

The Cornish director of Bait and Enys Men returns to the medium of short film with a kaleidoscopic travelogue of the Celtic world - from the BFI London Film Festival [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 06-07-2025

Russian aggression defaces Ukrainian landscape and wildlife, in his non-narrative, sensory and hypnotic doc - from the 29th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

André Vital Pardue - 06-07-2025

Ira Sachs' stripped-back homage to iconic photographer is part of a larger appreciation of the NYC queer mythos, as well as an interrogation of a “normal day" - in cinemas on Friday, January 2nd [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 06-07-2025

A mother inexplicably abandons her two small children with her lonely sister, in this French tale of emotional alienation and anti-natalism (a widespread yet rarely discussed phenomenon) - from the Crystal Globe Competition of the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 05-07-2025

Recovering alkie and and his accidental dentist embark on a wild festive romance - Jay Duplass's heady Christmas romance lightens up the 59th edition of Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 05-07-2025

Iranian documentarist captures her video interactions with young photographer trapped in Gaza, in a historical register that's both heartwarming and harrowing - from various festivals [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 26-06-2025

The director of DMovies interviews the artistic director of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, one of the most prestigious such events in the world; they discuss the breadth and the depth of their selection, the secret to keeping audiences relaxed, the strongest performance indicators, auteur and genre cinema, political films and much more [Read More...]

Lida Bach - 16-06-2025

Empathetic Spanish drama exposes the tensions between deaf ceramist Ángela and her abled partner Héctor after their first child is born - in cinemas on Friday, September 12th [Read More...]

Eoghan Lyng - 22-05-2025

Vicky Krieps gives a brave performance in an otherwise spineless drama about a queer woman fighting for custody of her estranged little son - from Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 22-05-2025

GRAND PRIX WINNER AT CANNES: Seventy-year-old filmmaker is hellbent on finishing his first movie in a decade, as Joachim's Trier comments on the complex relationship between artistry and humanity - in cinemas on Friday, December 26th [Read More...]

Eoghan Lyng - 20-05-2025

A father brings his two boys to Lagos at a time of cultural upheaval, but love still prevails at all times - British-Nigerian dirty gem shows at Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

Eoghan Lyng - 19-05-2025

A homeless man with addiction issues is given a second chance, but life in London threatens to send him plunging down, in Harris Dickinson's impressive directorial debut - in cinemas on Friday, October 3rd [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 18-05-2025

Japanese blend of murder mystery and child imagination allegory is cryptic and bizarre, dogged by elementary cinematography and wooden acting - showing in various festivals [Read More...]

Eoghan Lyng - 16-05-2025

In 1980s' Chile, the child of a queer family wants to discover the cause of the "plague" villagers talk about - dazzling drama shows in various film festivals [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 16-05-2025

European whims are shattered into pieces, in Oliver Laxe's hauntingly beautiful and disturbing allegory of life on the edge - showing at various film festivals [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 15-05-2025

Young and dignified lawyer confronts Stalin's corrupt establishment, in Sergei Loznitsa's profound and sombre new film - from the 29th Tallinn Black Nights [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 14-05-2025

Aesthetically astounding German drama seamlessly blends the visual and the tactile, just as it weaves together three families from different eras - from various festivals [Read More...]

Eoghan Lyng - 11-05-2025

An actor is haunted by their character's ghost, in this metatextual dreamscape and comment on Portuguese history - from IndieLisboa, Karlovy Vary and San Sebastian [Read More...]

Lida Bach - 30-03-2025

Charlie Shackleton turns his failed attempt to make a film about the Zodiac Killer into a witty scrutiny of the true crime genre - in cinemas on Friday, November 28th [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 20-02-2025

Young people forge a sense of normalcy despite the looming war, in this documentary about life in Ukrainian schools - from the 29th edition of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 20-02-2025

Happy-go-lucky boyfriend meets his loving in-laws with unexpected consequences, in Hong Sang-soo’s super informal drama - in cinemas on Friday, July 25th [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 20-02-2025

GOLDEN BEAR WINNER - Norwegian teen falls in love with her teacher and puts her infatuation to paper, but there could be dear consequences for the unsuspecting adult - honest and warm drama is in cinemas on Friday, August 1st [Read More...]

Lida Bach - 20-02-2025

Chinese filmmaker Vivian Qu mixes crime, action, comedy, fantasy and family drama to very messy results - from the Kalocy Vary International Film Festival [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 19-02-2025

While retaining his anti-cinema aesthetic, Radu Jude turns away from the absurd into the sad and profound - political drama about guilt and comfort is in cinemas on Friday, October 31st [Read More...]

Marina Richter - 18-02-2025

Single mother has to confront the abusive father of their children in court, as he seeks to challenge her custody - courtroom drama with a documentary touch shows at Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 17-02-2025

Maternal pressures cause a therapist to have a meltdown worse than any of her patients, in this very dark and engaging American dramedy - from the Red Sea International Film Festival [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 16-02-2025

Clever granny evades old-age "colony" established by Brazil's authoritarian government, in this gently dystopian drama set in a terrifyingly near future - from various festivals [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 15-02-2025

Michel Franco's new creation, about an illegal Mexican immigrant in the US, is less violent, more mature and rounded than New Order - showing at various film festivals [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 14-02-2025

Timid teen grapples with her burgeoning sexuality inside old-fashioned Catholic school - Slovenian coming-of-age drama is now on VoD [Read More...]

Eoghan Lyng - 21-11-2024

Sifting through an archive of past images, Maciej J. Drygas pieces together a work bolstered by scenes of locomotives in action - from the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 05-09-2024

Spectacular piece of slow cinema from Georgia dissects the female body with raw fervour - on VoD on Monday, July 28th. [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 04-09-2024

Sicilian soldier stirs the relative peace of a large Italian family, in this beautiful yet soporific drama set on the mountains of Northern Italy - from Karlovy Vary/ also on VoD [Read More...]

Victor Fraga - 29-08-2024

Junky jockey watches his life crumble after a freak accident takes him off horse racing - wacky Argentinian comedy shows at Karlovy Vary [Read More...]

Eoghan Lyng - 11-08-2024

Director Ben Rivers returns to Scotland to produce a followup to Two Years at Sea, complete with his favourite hermit - on various VoD platforms [Read More...]