Karlovy Vary 2024

Festival Reviews

Lapilli

by Ben Nicholson | Jun 30, 2024 | Festivals, Karlovy Vary 2024

Overcome with grief at the sudden loss of her grandparents, filmmaker Paula Durinova’s expressive documentary Lapilli finds solace in the geological formations of the Aral Sea.

Real

by Stephen Dalton | Jun 30, 2024 | Karlovy Vary 2024, Festivals, Spotlight

Former political prisoner turned army commander Oleh Sentsov captures a raw slice of Ukraine frontline combat in his accidental “found footage” war documentary ‘Real’.

Panopticon

by Carmen Gray | Jun 30, 2024 | Festivals, Karlovy Vary 2024

George Sikharulidze’s debut on masculinity and identity in today’s Georgia is an unusual coming-of-age drama alive with ideas and a bold political imagination.

The Hungarian Dressmaker

by Carmen Gray | Jun 29, 2024 | Festivals, Featured, Karlovy Vary 2024

A Hungarian dressmaker does what she can to survive and resist the power abuses of the ‘40s Slovak State fascist militia in Iveta Grofova’s dark, evocative drama.

Three Days of Fish

by Stephen Dalton | Jun 29, 2024 | Festivals, Karlovy Vary 2024

Dutch writer-director Peter Hoogendoorn’s autobiographical second feature ‘Three Days of Fish’ finds both humour and melancholy in a painfully awkward father-son relationship.

The Dead Don’t Hurt

by Ben Nicholson | Jun 29, 2024 | Festivals, Karlovy Vary 2024

Viggo Mortensen’s tender and offbeat drama, The Dead Don’t Hurt, is led by a magnetic Vicky Krieps and cultivates something beautiful amongst the arid plains and rocky outcroppings of the old west.

Banzo

by Ben Nicholson | Jun 28, 2024 | Festivals, Karlovy Vary 2024

In the setting of a Portuguese plantation on Principe in the early 20th century, Margarida Cardoso crafts a haunting and unsettling portrait of colonial destruction in the form of Banzo.

I’m Not Everything I Want to Be

by Carmen Gray | Jun 28, 2024 | Festivals, Featured, Karlovy Vary 2024

An enthralling doc on Czech photographer Libuse Jarcovjakova, whose candid, diaristic images show a communist Prague on the margins, and life on her own terms.

Santosh

by Stephen Dalton | Jun 28, 2024 | Featured, Festivals, Karlovy Vary 2024

A brutal rape and murder case in rural India shines a light on deeper problems of corruption, misogyny and inequality in Sandhya Suri’s ponderous but impressive police drama ‘Santosh’.

Karlovy Vary Looks to Young Audiences

by TheFilmVerdict | Jun 27, 2024 | Festivals, Karlovy Vary 2024

The 58th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival freshens up and renews its commitment to a new generation of viewers.