The 57th Karlovy Vary Film Festival has revealed the lineup for its 57th edition, which takes place from June 30 to July 8 in the rural Czech spa town.
Among the highlights of this year’s competition Fremontfrom Iranian-born, London-based director Babak Jalali, a drama based on Donya, a former Afghan translator for US troops who now works in a fortune cookie factory in Fremont, USA. Empty netsby Iranian filmmaker Behrooz Karamizade, a love story set in a small fishing village in modern-day Iran, is also up for the festival’s Crystal Globe award for best competition film.
Outside of the competition, Karlovy Vary has this year focused on independent Iranian cinema, with a selection of recent work by directors who worked outside the Tehran regime.
Other highlights of the 2023 contest include Red roomsa Canadian darknet thriller from director Pascal Plante, Itsaso Arana’s Spanish drama The girls are fine (Las chicas is bien) and the Scandinavian satire The hypnosis by director Ernst De Geer, about a power couple trying to launch a reproductive health app for women.
Eastern European cinema is always well represented in Karlovy Vary, and this year’s Crystal Globe lineup also includes A sensitive person from Tomáš Klein, a dark Czech-Slovak drama about a traveling actor and his family as they make a grim and sometimes crazy journey home; the Matěj Chlupáčeks We’ve never been modern, a detective drama set in the Tatra Mountains; and two Bulgarian features: Tinatin Kajrishvili’s satirical parable Citizen saintand the drama of Stephan Komandarev Blaga’s lessonsa recently widowed retired teacher who falls prey to phone scammers.
This year’s Proxima sidebar from Karlovy Vary features highlights like Albert Hospodářský’s environmental sci-fi drama Brutal heatCamila Rodríguez Triana’s Latin American drama The song of the Auricanturiwhich explores family relationships in the aftermath of war trauma, and Saurav Rai’s Indian feature film Guras which follows a nine-year-old girl searching for her missing dog as her family struggles to survive during the cardamom harvest.
Special screenings include Robert Hloz’s sci-fi drama Restore point is set in a world where humanity has attained the ability to cheat death; Jean-Gabriel Périot Facing darkness, an account of the four-year siege of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1996; And Hose GasCzech/Slovak drama by David Jařab, inspired by that of Joseph Conrad Heart of Darknessabout a man’s search for his missing brother.
Oscar-nominated actor Patricia Clarkson (Pieces of April, Far from heaven) and Irish actor Barry Ward (The end of the goddamn world) will serve on the Karlovy Vary 2023 jury, which will judge this year’s Crystal Globe winners, along with Tunisian film producer Dora Bouchoucha (Buried secrets, Foreign entity), Slovenian director Olmo Omerzu (Family movie, Winter flies) and Sundance festival programmer John Nein.
In addition, Dutch film critic and writer Dana Linssen will lead the jury for the festival’s Proxima sidebar Memory producer Meng Xie, Czech director Šimon Šafránek (King Skate), Lithuanian film producer Marija Razgutė (Slowly), and author and Eastern European film expert Barbara Wurm.
