🎙 Stream Close Up — Wrap-Up: The Crystal Globe Competition at KVIFF 59

After nine in-depth conversations with filmmakers from around the world, we’re closing the curtain on the 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. This wrap-up episode connects the threads that ran through this year’s Crystal Globe competition from Lisbon to Kabul, from the Carpathians to New York.

Across fiction, documentary, and hybrid storytelling, certain themes emerged again and again:

• Social issues through intimate stories: from Pere Vilà’s reflections on gender violence to Dmytro Hreshko’s war-scarred forests.
• Trauma, healing, and resilience: how directors like Ondřej Provazník and Nina Knag explored aftermath rather than spectacle.
• Casting as care: the responsibility of protecting actors and building trust, whether with seasoned performers or non-professionals.
• The rhythm of slow cinema: patience, presence, and honesty in storytelling, celebrated in Vytautas Katkus’ The Visitor.
• Restraint and ambiguity: letting silence, absence, or even darkness tell the story.

We also reflect on the miracle (and struggle) of filmmaking itself, from funding battles to filming under Taliban rule, from children on set to directors juggling multiple roles.

🎬 Highlights:

• Nina Knag’s lead actress Pia Tjelta awarded Best Actress for Don’t Call Me Mama.
• Vytautas Katkus named Best Director for The Visitor.
• Nathan Amborsioni honored with a Best Director for Out of Love.
• Miro Remo’s Better Go Mad in the Wild winning the Grand Prix — Crystal Globe for Best Film.

This episode isn’t just about cinema as art. It’s about cinema as dialogue, care, and courage.

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