Karlovy Vary Film Festival Highlights Diverse Cinema and Awards

The 60th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic showcased a broad mix of restored classics, documentaries and new films. Highlights included a 4K upgrade of Trainspotting, the documentary The Match revisiting the 1986 England‑Argentina World Cup game, and a Cantona career film. The competition awarded Best Actress to Anna Schinz for A Happy Family, Best Director to Mads Mengel for The Guest, and the Crystal Globe to Fruit Gathering, a Myanmar‑set drama about queer longing in garment‑factory workers.

Juliette Binoche received the festival’s Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution, delivered a talk on artistic risk, and presented her directorial debut In‑I in Motion. The festival’s central hub, the Hotel Thermal, buzzed with industry guests, live music and the world premiere of Fruit Gathering, which explores class, gender and sexuality in contemporary Myanmar.

The event coincided with the FIFA World Cup, drawing thousands of visitors and reinforcing Karlovy Vary’s role as a key meeting point for Central and Eastern European cinema.