The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic on Monday said that its expanded “KVIFF at Your Cinema” series, which it previously unveiled as its answer to the novel coronavirus pandemic that led to the cancellation of this year’s fest, will present 16 films in 96 cinemas in the country over the course of nine days this summer.
Among the titles are the European premieres of Zeina Durra’s Egypt-set drama Luxor, starring Andrea Riseborough; Fernanda Valadez’s feature debut Identifying Features; and The Mole Agent, Maite Alberdi’s mix of the spy comedy and observational documentary genres.
“Each of the selected works will have only one exclusive screening, which will take place at all participating theaters at the same time,” organizers said. “The screenings are being planned in the spirit of the festival” and will be accompanied by on-site introductions to the films by fest programmers.
“Since, given the situation, moviegoers can’t come to Karlovy Vary this year, we decided to bring at least part of the festival to them,” said festival president Ji?í Bartoška. “It’s our way of thanking the visitors, guests, and film enthusiasts who create the fantastic festival atmosphere in Vary every year.”
He added: “We are thrilled by our viewers’ immense interest, and it’s also huge that nearly 100 theaters have signed on for KVIFF at Your Cinema. I believe that together we will succeed in offering audiences not only great films, but even a bit of the traditional festival atmosphere.”
By the time organizers decided that the 55th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival would take place next year due to government measures concerning the coronavirus pandemic, the program department had already picked some titles, giving them the idea to expand the traditional KVIFF at Your Cinema post-festival film series.
The series is set to run July 3-11.
