Fifty-year-old Murad’s life is shaken to the core when he learns that his younger brother is gay. Murad would like to support his brother, but their traditional Muslim family is against it. As a result, he finds himself subjected to pressures from all sides – from his father, who has close ties to the local imam, and from his brother’s circle of friends as well. He would like to help everyone, but as he slowly falls into a spiral of conflicts and mounting difficulties, he finds that he, too, is in need of help. Another integral part of this family drama is the theme of migration and dialogue – not just between different religions, but within communities themselves. For his fourth feature film, director Nader Saeivar collaborated with Jafar Panahí, who contributed as producer and editor.
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) on Tuesday unveiled the lineup of its main Crystal Globes competition, the Proxima competition section and the Special Screenings program for its 60th edition and 80th anniversary edition, including Hijamat, a competition movie from Iranian director Nader Saeivar (The Witness), which was produced and edited by Cannes Palme d’Or 2025 winner and Oscar nominee Jafar Panahi (It Was Just an Accident), who is set to again face trial in Iran on charges of “propaganda against the regime.”
Across the lineup, cineastes can find stories about gay and lesbian life, the Ukraine war, as well as such topics as suicide and trauma.
The fest in the Czech spa town, whose 2026 edition will be running July 3-11, also unveiled its competition jury, made up of Joachim Trier co-writer and two-time Norwegian Oscar nominee Eskil Vogt (Sentimental Value, The Worst Person in the World), Amanda Nell Eu (Tiger Stripes), a filmmaker based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Justin Chang, film critic at The New Yorker and NPR’s “Fresh Air,” Czech sound designer, producer, composer and educator Pavel Rejholec, producer Nadia Turincev, who recently launched her solo company Sento Films to produce “unrealizable” films.
Meanwhile, the Proxima jury brings together Estrella Araiza, the general director of the Guadalajara International Film Festival and Cineteca UDG, producer Dirk Decker, co-founder of Hamburg-based Tamtam Film, Devika Girish, editor at Film Comment magazine and a talks programmer at the New York Film Festival, Jakub Felcman, “a Czech screenwriter, festival organizer, film critic, creative producer, director, and qualified plumber,” and Lithuanian director and screenwriter Marija Kavtaradze (The Visitor).
‘Hijamat,’ courtesy of KVIFF
This year’s double anniversary allows KVIFF to “look back at the rich past of an event established shortly after the end of World War II, but also to examine how closely the current programming team’s view of world cinema’s evolution resonates with the pioneering work of their predecessors, both past and recent,” said artistic director Karel Och. The nearly 40 titles in the main program “boast extraordinary geographical diversity,” he emphasized. “The exclusive presence of Myanmar and Colombia in the Crystal Globe competition naturally connects across a six-decade arc with the progressive decision of one of the festival’s founders and long-time director of programming, A. M. Brousil, to focus intensively on the then-young and undiscovered non-European cinemas.”
And Och highlighted that the filmmakers presenting their work this year “cross boundaries, both spiritually and physically.” After all, “the countries of production or filming locations of these projects often differ – even continentally – from the filmmakers’ countries of origin,” which is “far more commonplace today than in the past.”
Concluded the artistic director: “One of the defining characteristics of the films in this year’s main program is the directors’ impressive effort to comprehend the diversity and complexity of the world through firsthand confrontation, and through a relentless search for the relationship between the artistic and the political, the intimate and the societal.”
Veterans of world cinema and first-time directors are both featured at KVIFF this year. Indeed, the fest highlighted 15 first-timers across its Crystal Globe Competition, the Proxima Competition and the Special Screenings section.
Competition film Hijamat, starring Kida Khodr Ramadan, Moritz Bleibtreu and Nastassja Kinski, focuses on Murad, 50, whose life is “shaken to the core when he learns that his younger brother is gay,” according to a synopsis. “Murad would like to support his brother, but their traditional Muslim family is against it. As a result, he finds himself subjected to pressures from all sides – from his father, who has close ties to the local imam, and from his brother’s circle of friends as well. He would like to help everyone, but as he slowly falls into a spiral of conflicts and mounting difficulties, he finds that he, too, is in need of help. … For his fourth feature film, director Nader Saeivar collaborated with Jafar Panahí, who contributed as producer and editor.”
Among the Proxima films are the likes of Isabelle Tollenaere’s debut fiction feature Paris Paris, Mein Freund der Pornostar by Austrian director Rosa Friedrich, Italian-U.S. co-production Rain Catcher, set in London, from Michele Fiascaris, and Japanese director Shuntaro Uchida’s Incinerator (Shokyakuro).
‘My Friend the Pornstar,’ courtesy of KVIFF
Meanwhile, the Special Screenings lineup includes the world premiere of The Story of Documentary Film – 1980s, the doc series from director, and KVIFF veteran, Mark Cousins that has debuted other films at other big festivals earlier this year.
British filmmaker Rebekah Fortune’s (Just Charlie) Learning to Breathe Underwater, starring Rory Kinnear and Maria Bakalova, which was presented at Cannes in the BFI’s Great 8 Showcase last year, is also part of the Special Screenings. “Eight-year-old Leo lives with his dad and a giant shark, which crashed through the roof of their home,” reads its synopsis. “Yes, you read that correctly. The shark is Leo’s best friend, to whom he can confide all his secrets. He can’t really talk to his dad; he must be missing mum, who’s been gone five years now. Then Anya, the au pair, bursts into their lives, and their world suddenly changes.”
Also unspooling in the Special Screenings program will be Robert Richardson: The White Devil from director Jana Hojdová about the famous cinematographer (Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2, Inglourious Basterds) and Quentin Tarantino collaborator. “What started as a student exercise and master’s degree project soon evolved into a creative partnership and personal friendship,” explains a synopsis. “The more improbable the film’s premise seems, the more fascinated we become by its portrait of a distinctive and uncompromising artist, three-time Academy Award winner, and acclaimed collaborator of such directors as Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.”
‘Robert Richardson: The White Devil,’ courtesy of KVIFF
Check out the full KVIFF 2026 lineup unveiled on Tuesday below.
CRYSTAL GLOBE COMPETITION 3 nedelje posle / 3 Weeks After Director: Miroslav Terzić Serbia, Bulgaria, 2026, 94 min, World premiere
Cherni pari za beli noshti / Black Money for White Director: Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov Bulgaria, Greece, 2025, 94 min, World premiere
Chica Checa Director: Šimon Holý Czech Republic, France, Slovak Republic, 2026, 96 min, World premiere
Cinco años, cuatro meses / Five Years, Four Months Director: Esteban Hoyos García, Juan Miguel Gelacio Ramírez Colombia, USA, 2025, 83 min, World premiere
Detrás de la lluvia / Behind the Rain Director: Valeria Sarmiento Chile, 2026, 97 min, World premiere
Gæsten / The Guest Director: Mads Mengel Denmark, 2026, 99 min, World premiere
A Happy Family Director: Jan-Eric Mack Switzerland, 2026, 120 min, World premiere
Hijamat Director: Nader Saeivar Germany, 2026, 103 min, World premiere
The Lion at My Back Director: Tonia Mishiali Cyprus, Luxembourg, Greece, 2026, 106 min, World premiere
Pipes Director: Karim Kassem Lebanon, 2025, 112 min, World premiere
Prameň / Only Beautiful Things to Look At Director: Ivan Ostrochovský Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, Hungary, 2026, 90 min, World premiere
Thit-thee Khu / Fruit Gathering Director: Aung Phyoe Myanmar, France, Czech Republic, 2026, 97 min, World premiere PROXIMA COMPETITION 33 krokov / 33 Steps Director: Anna Domček, Šimon Domček Slovak Republic, Czech Republic, 2026, 71 min, World premiere
Camionero / Truck Driver Director: Francisco Marise Spain, Argentina, 2026, 84 min, World premiere
Contra la Naturaleza / Against Nature Director: Axel Bertha Mexico, 2026, 86 min, World premiere
Enas olokliros anthropos schedon / A Whole Person Almost Director: Efthimis Kosemund-Sanidis Greece, Bulgaria, Germany, Cyprus, Romania, 2025, 111 min, World premiere
Homo Sive Natura Director: Giovanni C. Lorusso Italy, 2026, 115 min, World premiere
The Ink-Stained Hand and the Missing Thumb Director: Yashasvi Juyal India, 2026, 120 min, World premiere
Mein Freund der Pornostar / My Friend the Porn Star Director: Rosa Friedrich Austria, 2026, 94 min, World premiere
Milovník, nie bojovník / Lover, Not a Fighter Director: Martina Buchelová Slovak Republic, 2026, 108 min, World premiere
Paris Paris Director: Isabelle Tollenaere Belgium, 2026, 78 min, World premiere
Rain Catcher Director: Michele Fiascaris Italy, United Kingdom, 2026, 109 min, World premiere
Shokyakuro / Incinerator Director: Shuntaro Uchida Japan, 2026, 97 min, World premiere
Sitni lopovi / Petty Thieves Director: Mate Ugrin Croatia, Germany, France, 2026, 106 min, World premiere SPECIAL SCREENINGS Bára Basiková / Bára – Diary of a Rockstar Director: Helena Třeštíková Czech Republic, 2026, 97 min, World premiere
Dvě deci tuše / A Pint of Ink Director: Ester Geislerová Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2026, 83 min, World premiere
Kdyby se holubi proměnili ve zlato / If Pigeons Turned to Gold Director: Pepa Lubojacki Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2026, 110 min
Khaneh doost injast / The Friend’s House Is Here Director: Maryam Ataei, Hossein Keshavarz Iran, USA, 2025, 96 min, International premiere
Learning to Breathe Underwater Director: Rebekah Fortune United Kingdom, Netherlands, Ireland, 2026, 95 min, World premiere
Město otců / City of Fathers Director: Zdeněk Tyc Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Poland, 2026, 100 min, World premiere
Mistryně / Everything As It Should Be Director: Bohdan Karásek Czech Republic, 2026, 101 min, World premiere Morten Director: Ivan Pavljutskov Estonia, Lithuania, 2026, 101 min, World premiere
Robert Richardson: The White Devil Director: Jana Hojdová Czech Republic, USA, 2026, 105 min, World premiere
The Story of Documentary Film – 1980s Director: Mark Cousins United Kingdom, 2026, 120 min, World premiere
To Die to Live Director: Yuliia Hontaruk Ukraine, Latvia, Slovak Republic, 2026, 116 min, World premiere
Vyvolený / Gregorius, the Chosen One Director: Tomasz Mielnik
Zpráva pro Minervu 2 / A Report for Minerva 2 Director: Miroslav Krobot, Lubomír Smékal Czech Republic, 2026, 69 min, World premiere
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