Slovak-Czech co-production Let There Be Light, produced by Negativ on the Czech side, has been selected for the Official Selection - Competition. The film by Marko Škop tells a story about a peaceful life of a Slovak family which is disturbed by the suspicion that their son, a member of a paramilitary youth organization, might be involved in a harrowing event that stunned the local community. Out of Competition will premiere Old-Timers, directed by Martin Dušek and Ondřej Provazník, and produced by endorfilm. A comedy-drama focuses on Vlasta and Tonda in their late years, who try to find and execute the communist prosecutor who sent them to prison in the 1950s.

In the prestigious East of the West Competition, Czech Republic has two representatives. While Michal Hogenauer’s debut A Certain Kind of Silence (produced by Negativ) follows a struggle of a young au pair who discovers that her new family has very strict household rules, in Slovak-Czech Silent Days, co-produced by školfilm on the Czech side, Pavol Pekarčík uses a documentary technique to tell four stories about hearing-impaired children from Roma settlements who inhabit an environment they cannot completely understand and dream their own world.

In the Documentary Films Competition, Martin Mareček will be competing along with 10 foreign authors. Over the Hills, produced by Negativ, is an unconventional road movie about the distance between two Slavic countries, the difficulties of fatherhood and puberty, and the alienation between people who should, in theory, be the closest of all. The other two Czech documentaries will be screened in non-competitive Special Events. A story of the most successful Czech director Forman vs. Forman (Negativ, Czech Television) by Helena Třeštíková and Jakub Hejna premiered in May at Cannes IFF, Olga Sommerová’s film (Cineart TV Prague) about a “renaissance artist” Jiří Suchý – Tackling Life with Ease will have its world premiere at the festival.

Special Events will also introduce The Sleepers by Ivan Zachariáš, the story of professional violinist Marie who once escaped to England from communist Czechoslovakia under difficult circumstances, when her husband Viktor faced possible imprisonment, is produced by HBO Europe. For the third time, festival presents the People Next Door section in which will be screened an animated short Mimi & Lisa by Iva Šebestová and Katarina Kerekesová (also the producer of the film), and Franck Dubosc’s French-Belgian comedy Rolling To You that was partly shot in the Czech Republic with the help of production incentives scheme.

Moreover, successful Czech films of the 2019 festival season are attending Karlovy Vary. Daughter and The Kite, both animated shorts, honored at Annecy earlier this month, will be screened as part of non-competitive section Czech Films 2018-2019 along with Off Sides which premiered at Visions du Réel. In this section, the festival also gives floor to Czech films from the past year, including Robert Sedláček’s Jan Palach, Zdeněk Viktora’s Miss Hanoi or Radim Špaček’s Golden Sting. The full list is available HERE.

Future Frames - Generation NEXT of European Cinema highlights outstanding, emerging directing talents by presenting 10 film students and graduates and their often award-winning work which include Czech film Playing by Lun Sevnik, student of Prague based FAMU. The section is organised in close cooperation with European Film Promotion, an organization that unies more than 30 professional organizations and institutions dedicated to the promotion and marketing of their national cinema, Czech Republic being represented by the Czech Film Center.

Lastly, the 54th Karlovy Vary IFF commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution with a selection of seven movies shot in 1989-1992. In Liberated section will be screened Tomáš Vorel’s Smoke, Věra Chytilová’s The Inheritance or Filip Renč’s debut Requiem for a Maiden. The full list is available HERE.

Let There Be Light (Nech je svetlo) | Official Selection – Competition


by Marko Škop
SK, CZ 2019 / 93 min
Milan (40) has three children and does construction work in Germany in order to provide for his family in Slovakia. While visiting his home over Christmas he discovers that his eldest son Adam is a member of a para-military youth group. The boy is involved in bullying and the death of a class-mate. The father has to decide what to do. In this process, along with his wife, he comes to discover the real truth about their son, their family, themselves and the community around them.
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A Certain Kind of Silence (Tiché doteky) | East of the West - Competition

by Michal Hogenauer
CZ, NL, LV 2019 / 96 min
Czech young au pair Mia starts work abroad for a well-off family in a lavish villa. Mia must look after their ten years old son and follows many strange rules of the household. She slowly begins to gradually and systematically disappear and abandon her morality and her relationships with child entrusted as a result of manipulation by a radical family community. Mia is suddenly able to expresses her love by violent tools.
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Silent Days (Hluche dni) | East of the West – Competition

by Pavol Pekarčík
SK, CZ 2019 / 81 min
Four stories about hearing-impaired children from Roma settlements who inhabit an environment they cannot completely understand and dream their own world. Sandra, who loves football and Ronaldinho; Marian, who wants to become a train conductor and idolises JC Van Damme; Alena and Rene, who fear that they’ll have a deaf child; and siblings Roman, Kristian and Karmen, who dream about having a proper toilet and living room.
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Over the Hills (Dálava) | Documentary Films – Competition

by Martin Mareček
CZ 2019 / 78 min
A great distance. Two thousand eight hundred fifty-two kilometers between Brno and Diveyevo, between the East and the West, between father and son. Far away, so close. At the end of summer holiday Vít and his son Grisha set off for a long journey to Russia. As soon as they get in the car, son puts his headset on and father immerses himself into memories. Still the two cannot escape one another. But there is one thing that can bring them close once again – a joint search. But what are they actually searching for?
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Old-Timers (Staříci) | Official Selection – Out of Competition



by Martin Dušek, Ondřej Provazník
CZ, SK 2019 / 85 min
"Nobody fucks with the truth" says Vlastimil Reiner, retired and immobile 90-year-old army colonel, as his friend Tonda helps him with his personal hygiene. The two men are about to embark on the last mission of their lives: to find and kill the former communist prosecutor who used to send the elite of the nation to their deaths. His crimes remain unpunished, denied and forgotten. Now the two former resistance fighters who used to battle a totalitarian society must battle their old age, their loved ones, and an era they no longer understand.

The Sleepers (Bez vědomí) | Special Events

by Ivan Zachariáš
CZ 2019
Professional violinist Marie (Táňa Pauhofová) once escaped to England from communist Czechoslovakia under difficult circumstances, when her husband Viktor (Martin Myšička) faced possible imprisonment. But things are different now, it’s 1989 and winds of change are blowing across Europe. Marie convinces Viktor to visit Prague, but it soon becomes clear that this was a tragic mistake. Marie wakes up in a Prague hospital, Viktor’s disappeared. Is he still alive? Come what may, she must find him. In a state that still clearly considers Viktor an enemy, and in a country that she no longer understands and that doesn’t understand her, Marie faces the biggest challenge of her life. She has no idea that she's not the only one searching for Viktor - there's the communist Secret Service, the British Embassy, and someone else. Someone, whose name remains unspoken.

Forman vs. Forman (Forman vs. Forman) | Special Events

by Helena Třeštíková, Jakub Hejna
CZ, FR 2019 / 78 min
Miloš Forman the artist. Miloš Forman the man. A filmmaker decorated with Oscars for Amadeus and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. At the same time a charismatic adventurer with the courage to question himself. The Forman vs. Forman documentary summarizes the life of the most famous Czech film director whose protagonists have always fought against institutions for freedom. The film is a collage of rare archive footage and autobiographic memories narrated by the director‛s son Petr Forman.
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Jiří Suchý – Tackling Life with Ease (Jiří Suchý – Lehce s životem se prát) | Special Events

by Olga Sommerová
CZ, SK 2019 / 106 min
Jiří Suchý has influenced several generations during his sixty creative years. He is considered to be a great Czech poet who enriched the cultural richness of this country - Czech language, with unprecedented song lyrics and theatrical texts. Within sixty years, he introduced 97 plays in Semafor Theatre, wrote 1 400 song lyrics and composed music to 500 songs. This documentary is about life path of a man, who dedicated his talent to theatrical and musical creation and beside that, he lived his personal and civic life while struggling with regime’s disfavor and his personal fate.
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Playing (Hra) | Future Frames - Generation NEXT of European Cinema

by Lun Sevnik
CZ 2019 / 22 min
Boris and Hugo, 16-year-old friends, arrive at Hugo’s parents’ apartment. They have bought a gun. They set up a livestream video on the internet and announce that in one hour they will commit suicide. While Boris is sure about the decision, Hugo still has his doubts. In the final moments of their lives, sadism, homoeroticism, and destructive desire are released.
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