The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) will celebrate two key milestones during its 2026 edition, organizers said on Tuesday. The event marks the festival’s 60th edition, as well as the 80th anniversary of the first festival. Classic films from the likes of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, as well as Ken Loach, will be among the ways the festival will mark the double anniversary, along with an exhibition and photo exhibition honoring former president Vaclav Havel.
Additionally, fans can expect a redesign of the iconic festival space. “For this and future editions, the Karlovy Vary Festival is redesigning the area surrounding the entrance to the Grand Hall of the Thermal Hotel with a new architectural design that will allow the audience to intensely experience and share the festival atmosphere during the opening and closing ceremonies of the festival, as well as in the festival performances,” the organizers explained. “Guest access with live commentary will bring the festival events closer to visitors and add interesting behind-the-scenes observations.”
KVIFF also unveiled a celebratory screening of a digitally restored version of Věra Chytilová’s 1989 tragicomedy Polluted horse gamewhich became the Czechoslovakian entry for what was then called Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. In addition, actress Magda Vášáryová will receive the President’s Award at KVIFF 2026, which takes place from July 3 to 11. “the The festival aims not only to express its respect for the performance of one of the greatest Slovak actresses of all time, but also to remember the unique artistic relationship between Czech and Slovak directors who shaped the common cinematic history of our two countries, the festival said.
More programs for the double anniversary year will be revealed in the near future. “The Karlovy Vary Festival is an event where long-standing tradition and the modern film festival format come together in a unique way,” KVIFF Executive Director Christoph Mucha said on Tuesday. “Few local cultural events can boast such a rich and diverse history. This is thanks in part to the distinctive personalities that shaped its identity at different stages of its history. There is much that has shaped its character over its eighty-year history, but it is up to historians to assess the extent to which a country’s cultural policy, the international situation, and various other factors influenced the festival’s organizational and artistic qualities.”
However, he emphasized that “the foundations laid by the first editions of the festival in the post-war years have given rise to an event that has managed to survive despite all internal tensions and external influences, has withstood attempts at ideological control and efforts to abolish it, and has succeeded in transforming itself into an internationally recognized showcase and a place where filmmakers and audiences can come together in a unique atmosphere of harmony. It has become a festival that honors its heritage and manages to reflect the present with confidence.” Shaping the future of cinema.”
Karlovy Vary was one of the oldest film festivals in the world, and was part of the so-called “first wave” of post-war European film festivals. Its first edition was held in 1946 as a non-competitive event featuring 13 events, including international participation, organized by the spa towns of Marianske Lázne and Karlovy Vary during the first half of August. Organizers noted that this occurred “before the inaugural sessions of festivals in both Cannes and Locarno and even before the first post-war edition of the world’s oldest film festival, the Venice Film Festival (founded 1932, renewed 1946)”, making KVIFF the second oldest.
After first presenting awards in 1948, in 1950 the festival moved permanently to Karlovy Vary. The organizers stressed that “the first editions had to deal with political realities that greatly interfered in programming decisions.” “One of the key figures who defined the character of the Festival for several decades was the internationally respected journalist, educator and expert Antonin Martin Brussel (1907-1986). Besides his contribution to the founding of the Festival, he chaired the main jury committees for many years and mainly served as unofficial program director.”
Karel Ochs, Artistic Director of KVIFF, recalls: “Before my predecessor, Artistic Director Eva Zauralova, there was her predecessor, one of the founders of KVIFF, Antonin Martin Brussel. Also thanks to him and the Karlovy Vary Festival, films from Africa, Asia and Latin America are today admired at leading film festivals around the world. As early as 1962, Brussel created a platform for cinemagoers from these same continents within the legendary section “Symposium on Young and New Cinema.”
But wait, why is KVIFF celebrating its 60th edition this year, 80 years after its launch? Yes, there was no edition due to the Corona virus in 2020. But beyond that, the organizers explained that “the disparity between the 60th and the 8th anniversary is the result of several different factors.” “After not being held in 1953 and 1955 by political decree, the festival became held only once every two years. Starting in 1959, the festival, which two years earlier had been recognized as a Category A festival by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations, a category that also included Cannes and Venice, had to share this prestigious tag and alternate years with the newly founded Moscow International Film Festival.”
But “turbulent changes” remain part of the festival’s history, organizers noted on Tuesday. “After spending the 1950s searching for a meaningful identity, the festival really spread its wings in the following decade, when it hosted many representatives of world cinema, but suffered two decades of ‘normalization’ – a period full of restrictions that affected the selection of films and the awarding of prizes. Only with the easing of external pressures in the second half of the 1980s did the most important foreign films and interesting guests gradually return to the festival.”
The first edition of KVIFF after the Velvet Revolution in 1990 welcomed a number of exiled or banned filmmakers and screened previously censored titles. However, uncertainty and deliberations over the purpose of the festival followed, leaving KVIFF on the verge of cancellation. “Thanks to the initiative of director, artist and Ministry of Culture official Igor Shevchik, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Foundation was created in order to take the organization of the festival out of the hands of the state, and the organizing team of the festival headed by Jiri Bartoszka became president” and Zhuralova artistic director, the organizers explained. “It is no exaggeration to say that these changes began an extraordinary period during which the festival turned into an event that met modern and international standards. Among other things, the illogical alternation of the festival years with Moscow ended, and since 1994, the festival has been held annually in Karlovy Vary. The festival also successfully fended off attempts to move it to Prague and, after two years of intense competition from the Prague Golem Festival, reasserted its position as the most important film festival in the country. Event.”
Here’s a look at other KVIFF festivities scheduled for this year.
Gallery: KVIFF 60/80 (1946–2026)
The festival recalls its history through a photographic exhibition focusing in particular on its lesser-known early years, the atmosphere of its sessions before 1989, key moments and guests. For this purpose, 30 outdoor panels, located along the route between two famous KVIFF sites, Grandhotel Pupp and Hotel Thermal, will take visitors on an “emblematic journey” through the festival’s 80-year history.
From the Past – KVIFF 60/80 (1946 – 2026)
The popular “From the Past” section, which highlights classic films, will focus on important titles from the festival’s history. “One of the festival’s most popular permanent programs, which regularly looks back at the history of cinema, will take a celebratory form this year,” Och said. “It will consist of twenty carefully selected films from previous editions of the festival, which are closely linked to its history as key milestones of KVIFF’s identity and reputation.”
Among the films unveiled on Tuesday was the Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger film A matter of life or deathwhich festival visitors were able to see for the first time in August 1947, is Ken Loach’s classic film bagWhich was shown in KVIFF in 1970 and won the first prize at the festival for best film, by Mexican director Emilio Fernandez. Rio EscondidoWho traveled to the festival in 1948 and drama Lacey By Konrad Wolff, “the legend of East German cinema”, which won one of the main awards in 1957. But there is more than that: “For a long time, one of the seminal films in the history of Australian cinema has remained in print, the adventure drama Captain Thunderbolt“It was considered lost – until 2024, when an original, uncut 35mm print was found in the Czech National Film Archive. This year’s festive program will commemorate the premiere of New Zealand director Cecil Holmes’ film in competition at the 7th KVIFF in 1952,” festival organizers said.
A quick preview of the special festival in Marianske Lázne
The Twin City format will return for the first edition of the festival this year with a special premiere of a selected film from this year’s program on July 1 at the historic Municipal Theater in Marianske Lázne.
President Vaclav Havel and the Karlovy Vary Festival
“Over the past 30 years, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has enjoyed the support of many important figures, including director Milos Forman, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and President Vaclav Havel,” the organizers stressed. “As a gesture of thanks for the long-term support and goodwill of the President, playwright and author Havel, the Festival is celebrating its 90th birthday with a photographic exhibition at the Thermal Hotel commemorating his visits to the Festival and his meetings with various representatives of world cinema.”
