The special edition will host an exclusive selection of films which aroused positive responses at their premieres at Sundance, Berlin, or Venice, or that bear the Cannes Label.
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has announced that it will host a special edition 54½ from November 18 to 21 this year. It comes after the 55th edition of the film festival, scheduled to take place in July 2020, was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With the special edition, the festival will offer its audiences in Czech an exclusive selection of films which aroused positive responses at their premieres at Sundance, Berlin, or Venice, or that bear the Cannes Label.
The programme of the Karlovy Vary IFF 54½ will feature roughly 30 films, each of which will be shown two or three times. The programme will be organised in such a way that audiences can see each film either in the first or in the second half of the four-day festival.
Screenings will be held at the Grand and Small Halls of the Thermal Hotel, at the Karlovy Vary Theatre, and the Čas Cinema. A complete programme of the festival will be available on the official festival website, starting October 19.
While respecting all applicable hygienic measures, the special edition will take place on a smaller scale but with high-quality programming.
In a statement, the festival organisers said: “It is our ambition to find a way of, even under today’s circumstances, to hold a large-scale cultural event effectively and above all safely. We believe that, if we observe the rules and ensure sophisticated prevention and protection, there is no need to resign on cultural life even today.”
