This year's Crystal Globe Competition includes two Slovak minority co-productions. The established Slovak director Miro Remo will present the world premiere of his new documentary Better Go Mad in the Wild, which he also co-produced (Arsy-Versy). Miro Remo discusses his motivation for adapting the film from a novel in the interview here.
The drama Broken Voices, co-produced by Ivan Ostrochovský (Punkchart films), will also compete in the festival's main competition section.

In the Proxima Competition, which showcases formally daring works, the director Paula Ďurinová returns after last year's participation with her new documentary Action Item (prod. guča films, featured image). Learn more about the film, which explores the political roots of anxiety and depression, in the interview with the director.

This year's Special Screenings section includes several Slovak titles. Among them is the anticipated premiere of Duchoň (prod. D.N.A.), a biopic about the Slovak pop music icon Karol Duchoň. The behind-the-scenes interview with the producer Rastislav Šesták can be found here.

Katarína Gramatová's successful directorial feature debut Promise, I'll Be Fine (prod. DRYEYE Film), which had its world premiere last fall at the Tokyo International Film Festival, is also included. Learn more about the filming in Slovakia's economically struggling Utekáč village in the interview with the director herself. 

Another highly anticipated film is Caravan (prod. nutprodukcia), which recently had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Insights into the production of this road movie are shared in the interview with the Slovak camerawomen Simona Weisslechner and Denisa Buranová.
The producer Jakub Viktorín from nutprodukcia also co-produced the Slovak minority film Summer School, 2001, a drama which rounds out the selection of Slovak films in this section.

The drama Perla (co-prod. HAILSTONE), which premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, and the animated children's film Tales from the Magic Garden (prod. Artichoke), an equal co-production between the Czechia, Slovakia, Slovenia and France that had its world premiere at this year's Berlinale, were selected for the Horizons section. The interview with the Slovak director Patrik Pašš and the producer Juraj Krasnohorský is available here.

The Imagina section will present the Slovak minority co-production 1+1+1 (co-prod. Virus film), shot on 16mm film by the director Ondřej Vavrečka.

The Pragueshorts at KVIFF includes the audience-favorite animated short Hurikán (co-prod. Artichoke) and I Died in Irpin (co-prod. Artichoke), which won the Award for Best International Animation at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.

Dedicated to the history of cinema, the Out of the Past section will present the re-release of the 1997 film The Time Is Running Out and the Water Is Rising, directed by Dežo Ursiny and Ivo Brachtl.

The festival's industry platform, KVIFF Industry Days, will introduce a new initiative – KVIFF Central Stage. Created in collaboration with film institutes from Central European countries, this platform aims to support co-production partnerships and promote established filmmakers from the region. The Slovak majority project in the selection is the upcoming fiction film Láska by Marko Škop (prod. ARTILERIA), which is currently in the post-production phase.

| Crystal Globe Competition |

Director: Miro Remo

Production: Arsy-Versy (SK), nutprodukce (CZ), Czech Television (CZ)
Slovak co-producer: Miro Remo

Sales: Filmotor, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Screenings:
July 10 | 8.30am | Congress Hall (Press & Industry)
July 10 | 5pm | Grand Hall (premiere)
July 11 | 10.00am | Pupp
July 12 | 8.30am | Congress Hall
July 12 | 5.15pm | Lazne III

CZ – SK | 2025 | 77 min. | documentary

Franta and Ondra, eternal children and inseparable twins, live in a quietly magical world with their beloved animals. They share every moment, every thought, every routine. Outwardly they appear identical, yet inside they are two entirely different souls. Over time, their closeness begins to suffocate. Franta yearns for freedom, for flight, for life beyond the walls they share. Ondra remains rooted, content in the familiar, closed to change. Their bond begins to fray. Can they ever truly separate? How do you escape a world that wears your face? In the end, will love endure or will only death set them apart?

INTERVIEW WITH MIRO REMO

CZ – SK | 2025 | 104 min. | fiction

In the early 1990s 13-year-old Karolína, a gifted novice singer, is given the chance to become a member of a world-famous girls’ choir, taking her place alongside her older sister and her other rivals in the ensemble. Karolína’s exceptional talent has caught the attention of the formidable and much admired choirmaster whose attention is wanted by all the young singers. What will be the price Karolína has to pay to become his favourite?

Action Item

SK – CZ – DE | 2025 | 69 min. | documentary

In management, action items are tasks that must be performed to resolve an issue. But what if the issue is not individual, but systemic? In her second feature documentary, director Paula Ďurinová explores how personal experience of burnout shifts into collective sharing and awakening. Set in Berlin, Action Item transforms anxiety into resistance, reframing struggles through shared memory, found footage, and the politics of care. What if the real task is to unlearn, to pause, to reimagine?

INTERVIEW WITH PAULA ĎURINOVÁ

July 6 | 5.30pm | Cinema A (Press & Industry)
July 7 | 2pm | Grand Hall (premiere)
July 8 | 8pm | Pupp
July 10 | 10pm | Congress Hall
July 12 | 10.00am | Karlovy Vary Theatre