🎙 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 Crystal Globe 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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