Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
The opening of the 50th Karlovy Vary IFF
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| Location | Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic |
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| Founded | 1946 |
| Awards | Crystal Globe |
| Number of films | 223 (2015) |
| Website | www |
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Czech: Mezinárodní filmový festival Karlovy Vary) is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad), Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival is one of the oldest in the world and has become Central and Eastern Europe’s leading film event.
The pre-war dream of many enthusiastic filmmakers materialized in 1946 when a non-competition festival of films from seven countries took place in Mariánské Lázně and Karlovy Vary. Above all it was intended to screen the results of the recently nationalized Czechoslovak film industry. After the first two years the festival moved permanently to Karlovy Vary.
The Karlovy Vary IFF first held an international film competition in 1948. Since 1951, an international jury has evaluated the films. The Karlovy Vary competition quickly found a place among other developing festivals and by 1956 FIAPF had already classified Karlovy Vary as a category A festival. Given the creation of the Moscow Film Festival and the political decision to organize only one "A" festival for all socialist countries, Karlovy Vary was forced to alternate year by year with Moscow IFF between 1959 and 1993.
The social and political changes that took place after the Velvet Revolution in November 1989 pushed concerns about organizing the Karlovy Vary IFF to the background. The program for 1990 was saved by the release of a collection of Czechoslovak films which had been locked up for years in a storage vault. And the appearance of a number of international guests such as Miloš Forman, Lindsay Anderson, Annette Bening and Robert De Niro helped as well. Future festivals were in doubt. Financial problems and a lack of interest on the part of the government, organizers and viewers almost ended the festival's long tradition in 1992.
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