Vytautas Katkus received the Best Director award ex-aequo for the majority Lithuanian coproduction The Visitor / Svečias, also in the Crystal Globe Competition.

But the death of festival President and Czech acting legend Jiří Bartoška, aged 78, less than two months before the opening of the festival was always going to dominate this year’s event. As a tribute to the Czech acting legend the opening film was We’ve Got to Frame It! , a conversation with Jiří Bartoška shot in July 2021, directed by Milan Kuchynka and Jakub Jurásek.

Jiří Bartoška became President of the festival in 1994 and together with Artistic Director Eva Zaoralová, who passed away in 2022, they transformed the event into one of Europe’s top film festivals. Tributes to Bartoška continued at the closing ceremony on 12 July as well. 

There was no shortage of star power with Michale Douglas, Stellan Skarsgård, Vicky Krieps, Dakota Johnson and Peter Sarsgaard all turning up to collect special awards. Czech actor Bolek Polívka appeared in a new festival trailer that made its debut at the opening ceremony.

This year the KVIFF Industry Days 2025, which took place from 6 to 9 July, found a new home in the Kasierbad next to the Hotel Pupp for the first time. The programme included presentations of the projects Works in Development KVIFF Talents, Works in Development,  Feature Launch and Focus Queer, KVIFF Central Stage and Pop Up Series Incubator.

FNE Critics Ratings of the films in the Crystal Globe and Proxima Competitions took place in cooperation with FIPRESCI for the tenth time at the festival. You can see the final results HERE.

The 59th KVIFF 2025, was attended by 9,949 accredited visitors, and had a total of 465 film screenings of 175 films. A total of 40 films and projects in development or production across five platforms were showcased to a total of 103 buyers and distributors and 115 film festival programmers.

The 60th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will be held 3 – 11 July 2026.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS:

CRYSTAL GLOBE COMPETITION:

Grand Prix - Crystal Globe:
Better Go Mad in the Wild / Raději zešílet v divočině (Slovakia, Czech Republic)
Directed by Miro Remo
Produced by Arsy-Versy
Coproduced by nutprodukce
Supported by the Slovak Audiovisual Fund and Czech Audiovisual Fund

Special Jury Prize:
Bidad (Iran)
Directed by Soheil Beiraghi

Best Director Award (ex-aequo):

Vytautas Katkus for The Visitor / Svečias (Lithuania, Norway, Sweden)
Produced by M-Films
Coproduced by Staer, Garagefilm International
Supported by the Lithuanian Film Centre, Creative Europe MEDIA, the Lithuanian National Radio and Television, Film Fond Nord, the Swedish Film Institute

Nathan Ambrosioni for Out of Love / Les Enfants vont bien (France)

Best Actress Award:
Pia Tjelta in Don’t Call Me Mama / Se meg (Norway)
Directed by Nina Knag

Best Actor Award:
Àlex Brendemühl in When a River Becomes the Sea / Quan un riu esdevé el mar (Spain)
Directed by Pere Vilà Barceló

Special Jury Mention:
Kateřina Falbrová for the role in Broken Voices / Sbormistr (Czech Republic, Slovakia)
Directed by Ondřej Provazník
Produced by endorfilm
Coproduced by Punkchart films, Czech Television, Innogy, Barrandov Studio
Supported by the Czech Audiovisual Fund and Slovak Audiovisual Fund

Právo Audience Award:
We've Got to Frame It! (a conversation with Jiří Bartoška in July 2021) / Musíme to zarámovat!(rozhovor s Jiřím Bartoškou v červenci 2021) (Czech Republic
Directed by Milan Kuchynka, Jakub Jurásek
Produced by 38 Film
Coproduced by KVIFF Events

PROXIMA COMPETITION:

Proxima Grand Prix:
Sand City / Balur Nogorite (Bangladesh)
Directed by Mahde Hasan

Proxima Jury Prize:
Forensics / Forenses (Colombia)
Directed by Federico Atehortúa Arteaga

Special Mention:
Before / After  /  Avant / Après (Belgium)
Directed by Manoël Dupont

Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema:
Stellan Skarsgård (Sweden)

Festival President’s Award for Contribution to Czech Cinematography:
Jiří Brožek (Czech Republic)

Festival President’s Awards:
Vicky Krieps (Luxembourg, Germany)
Dakota Johnson (USA)
Peter Sarsgaard (USA)

NON-STATUTORY AWARDS:

The Ecumenical Jury Award:

Grand Prize of the Ecumenical Jury:
i(USA)
Directed by Max Walker-Silverman

Commendation of the Ecumenical Jury:
Cinema Jazireh (Turkey, Iran, Bulgaria, Romania)
Directed by Gözde Kural
Produced by Toz Film Production, Seven Springs Pictures, Kos Kos Films
Coproduced by Front Film, Avva Mixx Studios, Orion, Soberworks

Europa Cinemas Label Award:
Broken Voices / Sbormistr (Czech Republic, Slovakia)
Directed by Ondřej Provazník
Produced by endorfilm
Coproduced by Punkchart films, Czech Television, Innogy, Barrandov Studio
Supported by the Czech Audiovisual Fund, the Slovak Audiovisual Fund

FIPRESCI AWARD:

The FIPRESCI Award for the Best Film in the Crystal Globe Competition:
Out of Love / Les Enfants vont bien (France)
Directed by Nathan Ambrosioni

The FIPRESCI Award for the Best Film in the Proxima Competition:
Before / After  /  Avant / Après (Belgium)
Directed by Manoël Dupont