Karlovy Vary Film Festival Marks 80 Years with Historic Screenings and Special Events

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) will mark its 80th anniversary and 60th edition this July with a series of special programs, screenings, and exhibitions, organizers announced on Tuesday morning.

The festival, held in the spa town of Karlovy Vary—located 80 miles west of Prague in the Czech Republic—will feature redesigned outdoor spaces, historic photograph exhibitions, and screenings of key films from its entire history. Launched in August 1946, KVIFF is the second-oldest film festival in the world, surpassed only by the Venice Film Festival in longevity.

KVIFF has taken place 60 times in 80 years due to a scheduling shift beginning in 1959, when it was held biennially while the Moscow International Film Festival occurred in alternate years.

Commemorative Events and Exhibitions

The twin anniversaries will be celebrated through multiple initiatives, including:

• An exhibition of outdoor panels featuring historic festival photographs;
• A special preview screening in Mariánské Lázně, where the first festival screenings were held;
• An exhibition honoring the late Czech president, playwright, and author Václav Havel’s frequent visits to the festival;
• Redesigned event spaces across the festival grounds.

Classic Film Showcase: 'Out of the Past' Section

The festival’s Out of the Past section, dedicated to classic films, will present 20 landmark titles from KVIFF’s history. Confirmed screenings include:

• A Matter of Life and Death (1946) by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger;
• Rio Escondido (1948) by Emilio Fernandez;
• Captain Thunderbolt (1953) by Cecil Holmes;
• Lissy (1957) by Konrad Wolf;
• Defendant (1965) by Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos;
• Kes (1969) by Ken Loach;
• Birds, Orphans and Fools (1969) by Juraj Jakubisko;
• Additional titles to be announced in early June.

The festival will also premiere a digitally restored copy of Věra Chytilová’s 1988 film Tainted Horseplay as part of its ongoing restoration program for Czech cinema.

Honorees and Awards

The President’s Award will be presented to actress Magda Vášáryová, a Slovak actress best known for her role in the 1967 drama Marketa Lazarová.

Festival Director’s Statement

“The Karlovy Vary festival is an event at which long-term tradition and the format of a modern film festival come together in a unique way. Few domestic cultural events can boast such a rich and varied history. This is thanks in part to the distinctive personalities who have shaped its identity at various points in its history.

There is much that has formed its character over the course of its 80-year history, but it is up to historians to assess the extent to which the state’s cultural policy, the international situation and various other factors have influenced the festival’s organizational and artistic qualities. We should nevertheless remember that the foundations laid by the festival’s first editions in the postwar years have given rise to an event that has managed to survive despite all internal tensions and external influences, that has withstood attempts at ideological control and efforts to abolish it, and that has succeeded in transforming itself into an internationally recognized festival.”

— Kryštof Mucha, KVIFF Executive Director