Continue to Variety SKIP AD You will be redirected back to your article in seconds Jun 2, 2026 2:00am PT Karlovy Vary Film Festival Artistic Director Karel Och Unveils Lineup for 60th Edition: ‘The Program Boasts Extraordinary Geographical Diversity’
Karel 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.
Och said, “One of the defining characteristics of the films in this year’s main program is the directors’ 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.”
CRYSTAL GLOBE COMPETITION“3 nedelje posle” (3 Weeks After)Director: Miroslav TerzićSerbia, Bulgaria, 2026, 94 min, world premiereA 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 The atmosphere grows tense when the quiet and withdrawn Zoza decides to talk about his best friend’s recent suicide. Why did Andrij choose to end his life? And wouldn’t it have been better if Zoza hadn’t brought it up? Like his previous outings, Serbian director Miroslav Terzić’s third film is characterized by an overwhelming, meticulously crafted sense of tension. “3 Weeks After” 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.
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“Cherni pari za beli noshti” (Black Money for White)Director: Kristina Grozeva, Petar ValchanovBulgaria, Greece, 2025, 94 min, world premiereAfter 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’s 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.
“Chica Checa”Director: Šimon HolýCzech Republic, France, Slovak Republic, 2026, 96 min, world premiereFollowing a trilogy of low-budget films, two of which (“Mirrors in the Dark” and “And Then There Was Love…”) were screened in Karlovy Vary, Šimon Holý returns with the international co-production “Chica Checa.” Once again, the story revolves around a female protagonist: here, the widowed village mail carrier Zdena (Pavla Tomicová), who tries to fulfill the last wish of her ailing mother. A series of unexpected events brings her closer to her son Lukáš (Jan Cina) and awakens in her a longing for a different life. Holý once again confirms his talent for observation and his ability to create a vibrant portrait of his characters’ inner conflicts, all while giving Tomicová ample space to fully express her acting abilities.
“Cinco años, cuatro meses” (Five Years, Four Months)Director: Esteban Hoyos García, Juan Miguel Gelacio RamírezColombia, U.S., 2025, 83 min, world premiereNot only did Martha lose her oldest son, but to this day she doesn’t 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 García gives voice to Colombian women who, after their children’s disappearance, took the search into their own hands. The film’s subdued, focused narrative calls attention to one of the most painful consequences of the country’s long-lasting armed conflict while portraying the search for peace and reconciliation in a place that has never witnessed a farewell.
“Detrás de la Lluvia” (Behind the Rain)Director: Valeria SarmientoChile, 2026, 97 min, world premiereIn 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 “Secretos,” 2008), or to seek true access to the most painful memories (as in “Huellas,” 2023)? In “Behind the Rain,” Sarmiento reflects on the very concept of repression. Sofía has just finished her psychology studies in Valparaíso (the city where Sarmiento was born) and returns to her hometown, Valdivia. Her return coincides with the discovery of a young girl’s body, which awakens in her memories of childhood sexual abuse. Like a scratched film that looks like rain, Sofía must decide whether to stop the memory from resurfacing or to look beyond the rain, beyond the buried fears of an entire country.
“Gæsten” (The Guest)Director: Mads MengelDenmark, 2026, 99 min, world premiereFresh parents Karl and Emilie are looking forward to a weekend at a seaside hotel, where they plan to announce their child’s name and thus officially welcome him to the world. A day before the celebration, however, Karl’s mother Vibeke shows up, with whom he hasn’t 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’t let the film’s protagonists forget who they really are – or where they come from.
“A Happy Family”Director: Jan-Eric MackSwitzerland, 2026, 120 min, world premiereNiki 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. The first Swiss film to be screened in Karlovy Vary’s 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’s strong dramatic arc is a compelling performance by Anna Schinz.
“Hijamat”Director: Nader SaeivarGermany, 2026, 103 min, world premiereFifty-year-old Murad’s 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 – from his father, who has close ties to the local imam, and from his brother’s 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 – not just between different religions, but within communities themselves. For his fourth feature film, director Nader Saeivar collaborated with Jafar Panahí, who contributed as producer and editor.
“The Lion at My Back”Director: Tonia MishialiCyprus, Luxembourg, Greece, 2026, 106 min, world premiereMariama, 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 “Pause,” 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.
“Pipes”Director: Karim KassemLebanon, 2025, 112 min, world premiereAlthough 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.
“Prameň” (Only Beautiful Things to Look At)Director: Ivan OstrochovskýSlovak Republic, Czech Republic, Hungary, 2026, 90 min, world premiereThe film is set in the mid-1980s, when the state used its laws to continually influence the most intimate facets of its citizens’ lives. Ingrid (Aňa Geislerová) 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 “off guard” by a new friendship with a charismatic Romany orderly. Spontaneous Agáta presents to Ingrid the human contours of a national minority reduced by the communists to a demographic problem. Ostrochovský’s beguiling drama returns to a hitherto unresolved issue of Czechoslovak history, where the option of having children was determined by the state.
“Thit-thee Khu” (Fruit Gathering)Director: Aung PhyoeMyanmar, France, Czech Republic, 2026, 97 min, world premiereSeen 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’s 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’s desires survive in a country where intimacy and love between women remain socially unacceptable.
PROXIMA COMPETITION“33 krokov” (33 Steps)Director: Anna Domček, Šimon DomčekSlovak Republic, Czech Republic, 2026, 71 min, world premiereThirteen 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 Šimon and Anna Domček 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 – shadows that weigh heavily on future generations as well – the film also takes an unusual approach to the subject of racial intolerance.
“Camionero” (Truck Driver)Director: Francisco MariseSpain, Argentina, 2026, 84 min, world premiereOne would think that every road movie needs its central setting: the road. But Francisco Marise’s 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’s Argentinian truck driver protagonists turn off their engines and stop driving, that form this film’s starting point. Interweaving intimate observations with subtle glimpses of transcendence, “Truck Driver” paints a collective portrait of people who share a strange dimension of time within the silence of the asphalt wilderness – 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.
“Contra la Naturaleza” (Against Nature)Director: Axel BerthaMexico, 2026, 86 min, world premiereAfter many years away, Jonás 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 – 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.
“Enas olokliros anthropos schedon” (A Whole Person Almost)Director: Efthimis Kosemund-SanidisGreece, Bulgaria, Germany, Cyprus, Romania, 2025, 111 min, world premiereIlias arrives on a remote island to claim his late father’s 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’s 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 – a place where, despite distant echoes foreboding the possible end of the world, we encounter love, reconciliation and unexpected understanding.
“Homo Sive Natura”Director: Giovanni C. LorussoItaly, 2026, 115 min, world premiereIn 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 “brothers.” 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.
Source: variety.com