Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2023

View other Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Films by strand: Another Birth. Iranian Cinema Here and Now., Horizons, Imagina, Midnight Screenings, Proxima Competition, Special Screenings, Tribute to Yasuzo Masumura

Blaga's Lessons Blaga's Lessons
Blaga's Lessons and Fremont
Blaga's Lessons (Urotcite na Blaga) (Country: Bulgaria, Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Stephan Komandarev; Writer: Simeon Ventsislavov, Stephan Komandarev; Stars: Eli Skorcheva, Gerasim Georgiev, Rozalia Abgarian, Ivan Barnev, Stefan Denolyubov, Ivaylo Hristov)
A woman's moral compass starts to slip after she is conned out of her savings by a phone scammer.
World premiere
Citizen Saint (Mokalake Tsmindani) (Country: Georgia, France, Bulgaria; Year: 2023; Director: Tinatin Kajrishvili; Writer: Tinatin Kajrishvili, Basa Janikashvili; Stars: Levan Berikashvili, George Babluani, Mari Kitia, Gia Burjanadze)
Satirical parable centring on a statue of a saint.
World premiere
Dancing On The Edge Of A Volcano (Country: Lebanon, Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Cyril Aris; Writer: Cyril Aris)
A catastrophic explosion in the Port of Beirut on August 4, 2020, in its wake a film crew face the choice of whether to continue with their dream project.
World premiere
Empty Nets (Leere Netze) (Country: Germany, Iran; Year: 2023; Director: Behrooz Karamizade; Writer: Behrooz Karamizade; Stars: Hamid Reza Abbasi, Sadaf Asgari)
A man and a woman from two different social classes keep their relationship a secret as the man struggles to raise a dowry.
International premiere
Fremont (Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Babak Jalali; Writer: Babak Jalali; Stars: Anaita Wali Zada, Jeremy Allen White, Gregg Turkington)
Donya works for a Chinese fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. Formerly a translator for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, she struggles to put her life back in order. In a moment of sudden revelation, she decides to send out a special message in a cookie.
International premiere
Empty Nets Empty Nets
Empty Nets and Red Rooms
The Girls Are Alright (Las chicas están bien) (Year: 2023; Director: Itsaso Arana; Writer: Itsaso Arana; Stars: Bárbara Lennie, Irene Escolar, Itziar Manero, Helena Ezquerro, Itsaso Arana)
It’s summer and a group of young women head off for a week to a house in the country in order to rehearse a play.
World premiere
Hypnosis (Country: Sweden, Norway, France; Year: 2023; Director: Ernst De Geer; Writer: Mads Stegger, Ernst De Geer; Stars: Herbert Nordrum, Asta Kamma August)
When a woman has hypnotherapy to help her stop smoking, she experiences the unexpected side effect of starting to lose her social inhibitions.
World premiere
Red Rooms (Les chambres rouges) (Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Pascal Plante; Writer: Pascal Plante; Stars: Juliette Gariépy, Laurie Babin, Elisabeth Locas, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos)
A woman becomes obsessed with the trial of a murderer.
World premiere
A Sensitive Person (Citlivý člověk) (Country: Czech Republic, Slovak Republic; Year: 2023; Director: Tomáš Klein; Writer: Tomáš Klein, Lucie Vaňková, Kateřina Traburová based on the novel by Jáchym Topol; Stars: David Prachař, Jaroslav Cuhra, Tatiana Dyková, Jiří Lábus, Milan Mikulčík, Jiří Schmitzer, Vladimír Javorský, Ján Jackuliak, Alexandra Borbély)
“A comical and brutal report from the flipside of life”.
World premiere
We Have Never Been Modern (Úsvit) (Country: Czech Republic, Slovak Republic; Year: 2023; Director: Matěj Chlupáček; Writer: Miro Šifra; Stars: Eliška Křenková, Miloslav König, Milan Ondrík, Richard Langdon, Martha Issová, Luboš Veselý, Ladislav Hampl, Marián Mitaš)
A pregnant doctor turns detective after the discovery of a dead newborn.
World premiere
Where The Wind Blows (Il vento soffia dove vuole) (Country: Italy; Year: 2023; Director: Marco Righi; Writer: Marco Righi; Stars: Jacopo Olmo Antinori, Fiorenzo Mattu, Yile Yara Vianello)
A man decides to teach another a heretical version of Christianity.
World premiere
News

59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground

More news and features

Playing Now

Eye For Film continues to support festivals both locally and across the world. At the moment, we're covering:

Sands Film Festival
Weekend film event in St Andrews

Queer East

Visions du Réel
Swiss documentary showcase

Overlook Film Festival

New Directors/New Films
New York's celebration of new voices

In the Archive


Archive of festival coverage.

Daily diary and reviews from 2005-2018.

Coverage of the lynchpin German festival.