Karlovy Range Movie Fest Double Anniversary 2026: Meet the Program Crew

Identical to in lots of elements of life, making a movie is a crew effort. And so is placing collectively the lineup of an enormous movie pageant. Simply ask Karel Och, the creative director of the Karlovy Range Worldwide Movie Pageant (KVIFF).

“I don’t assume I’ve ever used a singular every time I speak concerning the choice, as a result of I’d be ashamed to make use of the singular, as a result of clearly, from day one till the second we share the films with the viewers, that is teamwork,” he tells THR. “The great thing about this teamwork is that, in case you are fortunate, you may have a crew filled with sturdy people, similar to I do.”

Which implies that “the discussions are wonderful, since you study out of your colleagues, from the emotionality of your colleagues, from the intelligence of your colleagues,” Och explains. “Generally, they persuade you that their ideas are higher for the pageant and for this system. I’m 52, so I’m the oldest, however the youngest member of our crew just isn’t even 30 years outdated, and it really works completely.”

For the double anniversary of the fest’s sixtieth version in its eightieth yr of existence, he and his programming crew have scoured the globe for brand new motion pictures from established filmmakers and first options from new voices alike.

Whereas the KVIFF crew has a world focus and worldwide expertise, it added Italian programmer Lorenzo Esposito final yr. “I’m very completely satisfied to say that within the historical past of Karlovy Range, which is now 80 years outdated, that is the primary time we now have a international collaborator who’s greater than a programming advisor,” Och tells THR. “Clearly, we’re actually completely satisfied about our consultants, however we’re not working with them all year long every day. Lorenzo is the primary foreign-language-speaking member of the programming committee within the historical past of the pageant.”

That implies that Och and his crew added the Italian to their WhatsApp group. “There are seven of us, and we converse English, despite the fact that six of us are Czech,” he shares. “That really makes you consider the way you categorical your self concerning the motion pictures. I feel it’s a present to be pressured to articulate your self in English together with your colleagues who’re Czech to seek out new methods to specific your self completely.”

Solely time will inform which movies within the 2026 KVIFF choice will change into large surprises, main discoveries or arthouse gems. What THR can, nonetheless, already current to you is a have a look at the employee bees of the massive Czech pageant who assist Och make all of the cinema magic occur.

Meet key members of the KVIFF programming crew right here.

Anna Kořínek
Program Coordinator

When did you begin working for KVIFF, and the way did you get employed?
I began in 2010 in an administrative place in this system division. I used to be appointed Program Coordinator and a member of the choice committee in 2016.

What did you do earlier than working for the pageant?
I used to be working for the Queer Movie Pageant Mezipatr within the positions of manufacturing coordinator and program coordinator. I used to be additionally partly concerned in another Czech movie festivals.

Do you may have any specialty or focus?
As a programmer, I’m targeted on the German-speaking nations, the Center East and Iran. I’m additionally curating this system Future Frames: Technology NEXT of European Cinema, this system that goals to advertise younger European administrators and assist them to construct a bridge from movie college to the movie trade.

Do you may have any favourite or significantly particular KVIFF second or expertise?
It’s troublesome to select just one second, but when I had to decide on one particular class of experiences, it will be the chance to offer a voice to filmmakers who’re silenced in their very own nations, principally for political causes. One of many areas I deal with as a programmer is the Center East and Iran. Iran is an extremely fascinating nation when it comes to movie, the place many unbiased filmmakers who reject censorship are presently energetic. After all, this implies they will by no means display their movies of their residence nation. So for me, screenings the place filmmakers may be current, see their movies, present them to the viewers, and converse freely about them are a really particular expertise.

So I’ll always remember when an Iranian director, then in exile in France, noticed his movie for the primary, and maybe final, time on the massive display in Karlovy Range through a video name from his journalist good friend – and what adopted: a protracted spherical of applause and shouts of help from the viewers, and tears of emotion not solely from the filmmaker but in addition from his good friend.

What is among the many stuff you love about KVIFF?
If I needed to reply this query with the very first thing that involves thoughts, it will be the annual return to the summer time camp that all of us love a lot. It’s a well-recognized place with folks we would not see for a complete yr – individuals who take day without work from their day jobs to work with us throughout that one particular week we’ve been making ready for all yr. It’s the enjoyment of lastly getting to satisfy the filmmakers whose movies we’ve been discussing with colleagues for months, and cheering concerning the moments when these movies have been confirmed for this system.

I completely take pleasure in introducing movies, once I can inform the viewers why we within the programming division contemplate this explicit movie to be distinctive and worthy of being proven on the massive display in Karlovy Range. I’m at all times thrilled once I stroll previous a theater the place a movie has simply ended and see viewers members leaving, discussing the movie they’ve simply watched. Maybe it’s all additionally as a result of vitality that the whole crew has all through the pageant – optimistic vitality, the place everybody does their utmost to make sure the pageant runs completely whereas sustaining a very good temper and a humorousness. 

Sandra Hezinová
Programmer

When did you begin working for KVIFF, and the way did you get employed?
I began working for the pageant whereas pursuing my Grasp’s diploma within the Division of Movie Research at Charles College in Prague. That was in 2015. Again then, KVIFF’s programming division was in search of college students to supply administrative help in the course of the busiest months main as much as the pageant. I turned a programmer three years later.

What did you do earlier than working for the pageant?
Primarily learning, although I organized a scholar movie pageant earlier than that. By the point I joined the KVIFF crew, I used to be already a programmer for the Queer Movie Pageant Mezipatra, the place I remained till 2019.

Do you may have any specialty or focus?
On the subject of territories, my major focus from the start has been Scandinavian cinema, alongside Canadian cinema. Lately, I’ve additionally been chargeable for the cinemas of Latin America, Spain, and, to some extent, Portugal. As my earlier reply suggests, I even have a robust curiosity in queer cinema.

Do you may have any favourite or significantly particular KVIFF second or expertise (out of the various)?
The 53rd version was undoubtedly one of the memorable for me, as Sébastien Pilote’s The Fireflies Are Gone was screened within the Crystal Globe Competitors. I found the movie and introduced it to the pageant after seeing it in Montreal at screenings organized by Telefilm Canada.

What is among the many stuff you love about KVIFF?
Scouting new movies and tasks, and welcoming the filmmakers behind the movies we choose for this system. These experiences make my work rewarding and enriching yearly. 

Vojtěch Kočárník
Programmer

When did you begin working for KVIFF, and the way did you get employed?
Like many individuals who work for KVIFF at this time, I used to return to Karlovy Range as a scholar. I keep in mind the second once I noticed Cairo Station within the Grand Corridor – after the introduction, a part of the programming crew sat down on the ground within the aisle and watched the movie along with the viewers. That was the primary time it occurred to me that there have been actual folks behind the pageant, and I turned interested by how movie festivals work.

Slightly later, as a journalist, I interviewed Karel Och, KVIFF’s creative director. Not lengthy afterward, I contacted him once more to ask whether or not he may know of any alternatives to work for the pageant. He was beneficiant and supplied me a place as a pre-selector, which a number of years later was a full-time programmer function.

What did you do earlier than working for the pageant?
I graduated in Media Research, Journalism, and European Politics from Masaryk College, and later additionally studied Movie Research at Charles College. I began working for KVIFF whereas nonetheless at college, and I now additionally work in movie distribution.

Do you may have any specialty or focus?
As a programmer, I focus totally on the Central and Japanese European area and Africa, and I’m chargeable for docs from everywhere in the world.

Do you may have any favourite or significantly particular KVIFF second or expertise (out of the various)?
The moments I keep in mind most fondly are these spent with younger, usually rising filmmakers. On the identical time, I additionally vividly keep in mind introducing the documentary movie 2000 Meters to Andriivka final yr, accompanied by its creator, Oscar-winning director Mstyslav Chernov. In that second, I in all probability felt most strongly each the accountability and the aim of my occupation: to broaden folks’s consciousness and assist convey tales and testimonies from all corners of the world – even from the entrance line of warfare.

What is among the many stuff you love about KVIFF?
The distinctiveness of the brutalist constructing of Resort Thermal, designed by Vladimír and Věra Machonin. Particularly the Grand Corridor – its aura, the cinema display, and the pink seats. It stays essentially the most lovely cinema I do know.

Petra Vočadlová
Programmer

When did you begin working for KVIFF, and the way did you get employed?
I began working for KVIFF in 2017 throughout my college research. I joined the crew solely at some stage in the pageant, working on the Program Division reception desk. In 2021, after finishing my research overseas, I returned and joined the crew for a part of the yr as a member of the Program Division. In 2023, I turned a programmer.

What did you do earlier than working for the pageant?
Earlier than working for KVIFF, I studied Movie Research. I accomplished my undergraduate diploma on the College of Aberdeen in Scotland and my grasp’s diploma on the College of Groningen within the Netherlands. I didn’t have a lot direct expertise within the movie trade earlier than becoming a member of KVIFF.

Do you may have any specialty or focus?
As a member of the choice committee, I deal with the Benelux area and English-speaking nations. Along with my colleague Natalia, I additionally curate the style part Afterhours.

Do you may have any favourite or significantly particular KVIFF second or expertise?
There are too many to select from. If I needed to choose one, it will be the 2 days earlier than the pageant formally begins. By then, the core crew is already in Karlovy Range, and within the evenings we collect on one of many terraces of the Resort Thermal, the pageant centee. We’ve got a beer, discuss the truth that it’s all taking place once more, and benefit from the anticipation – and the calm earlier than the storm – collectively.

What is among the many stuff you love about KVIFF?
To this point, I’ve spent my whole 20s working for KVIFF, and it feels as if it has change into a part of my DNA. I’m grateful that as a result of pageant, I get to journey overseas and meet folks from internationally, uncover varied occasions and get to be a part of the community. And I’m proud to be a part of an occasion that has the ability to spark essential conversations and join movie lovers and trade professionals throughout generations and borders. And, after all, it’s the final begin to the summer time.

Natalia Kozáková
Programmer

When did you begin working for KVIFF, and the way did you get employed?
I began collaborating with KVIFF in 2018 as a program assistant, a place that was supplied to college students of our faculty (the movie research division on the School of Arts of Charles College) in an admission course of, which I managed to get by way of. Since then, I additionally labored as a pre-selector and a jury information, [before] lastly attending to a programmer’s place in 2024.

What did you do earlier than working for the pageant?
I began the collaboration with KVIFF throughout my research, however for a couple of years, I additionally labored as a content material creator and coordinator in a youngsters’s radio, a vacationer information and a movie critic.

Is there any specialty or focus you may have?
I focus primarily on movies from the post-Soviet bloc, animation and style movies.

Do you may have any favourite or significantly particular KVIFF second or expertise?
I’ve fond reminiscences of assembly wonderful folks while working as a jury information, who later turned my shut buddies. In any other case, witnessing standing ovations after the premieres within the Grand Corridor is at all times a heartwarming expertise.

What is among the many stuff you love about KVIFF?
The cinephile viewers.

Lorenzo Esposito
Affiliate Programmer

When did you begin working for KVIFF, and the way did you get employed?
I began in 2019 as an Italian advisor between my final yr in Locarno and my first yr on the Berlinale. I saved this place till 2024, then I turned affiliate programmer in 2025, working with this system division. I additionally curated two retrospectives: “One other Beginning. Iranian Cinema Right here and Now” (2023) and “The Want to Be a Crimson Indian: Franza Kafka and Cinema” (2024, co-curated with Karel Och).

What did you do earlier than working for the pageant?
I used to be a movie programmer for Venice (2001: co-curating the Nuovi Territori part); Turin (2002-2006: member of the choice committee); Rome (2007: Raúl Ruiz retrospective); Locarno Movie Pageant (2013-2018: member of the choice committee); Berlinale (2020-2024: member of the choice committee).

Do you may have any specialty or focus?
Throughout my Locarno/Berlin years, I targeted on Mediterranean nations and the Center East, Portugal, Turkey and Iran. As affiliate programmer in Karlovy Range, I’m nonetheless [focused] right here however work extra throughout.

Do you may have any favourite or significantly particular KVIFF second or expertise?
The happiness I felt in them and the gratitude from the younger unbiased Iranian administrators and producers of the 2023 retrospective.

What is among the many stuff you love about KVIFF?
Freedom in programming and the viewers.