Karlovy Vary Film Festival to Celebrate 80th Anniversary With Art, Historic Films

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will celebrate its 80th anniversary and its 60th festival this July with an array of special programs and screenings, KVIFF organizers announced on Tuesday morning.

The festival, which takes place in a spa town 80 miles west of Prague in the Czech Republic, will rework outdoor spaces, exhibit historic photographs and screen key films from the entire history of the festival, which launched in August 1946 and is second only to the Venice Film Festival in longevity.

(KVIFF has taken place only 60 times in 80 years because of a stretch beginning in 1959 in which it was held every other year, with the Moscow International Film Festival taking place in alternate years.)

The twin anniversaries will be commemorated in a number of different ways, including an exhibition of outdoor panels showing photographs from the festival’s history; a special preview screening in the city of Mariánské Lázně, where the first festival also held screenings; an exhibition commemorating Czech president, playwright and author Václav Havel’s many visits to the festival; and redesigned event spaces.

The Out of the Past section of the KVIFF lineup, which is always devoted to classic films, will this year showcase 20 important films from the entire history of the festival.  

Those 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 and “Birds, Orphans and Fools” (1969) by Juraj Jakubisko, with the rest of the titles scheduled to be announced in early June.

The festival will also present the premiere of a digitally restored copy of Věra Chytilová’s 1988 film “Tainted Horseplay,” part of its extensive restoration program for Czech cinema.

In addition, the President’s Award will go to actress Magda Vášáryová, a Slovak actress best known for the 1967 drama “Marketa Lazarová.”

In a statement, festival executive director Kryštof Mucha described KVIFF this way: “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 showcase and a venue where filmmakers and audiences can meet in a unique atmosphere of harmony.

“It has become a festival that honors its legacy and that manages to reflect the present while confidently shaping the future of cinema.”

The 60th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will begin on July 3 and run through July 12.

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