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In view of the ongoing lockdown announced by the government in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the special Karlovy Vary IFF 54½, originally scheduled for 18–21 November, will not take place.
“When we announced the special Karlovy Vary IFF 54½, we were met with much enthusiastic feedback. People were looking forward to visiting Karlovy Vary to see new films at an unusual time of year. We are sorry that we will not be able to hold this event either, but in this era, people’s health absolutely takes priority, and I am sure that everyone sees it the same way,” says KVIFF’s president Jiří Bartoška, adding: “We would like to thank the Czech Ministry of Culture, the City of Karlovy Vary, the Karlovy Vary Region, and our partners for supporting all festival activities that were held over the course of 2020. We believe that thanks to this support we will be able to organize our regularly scheduled 55th Karlovy Vary IFF on 2–10 July 2021 to the extent and at the level of quality that our guests, partners, and audiences are accustomed to.”
The Karlovy Vary festival is traditionally one of the most important cultural events in the Czech Republic. Every year, it provides a special venue for film professionals, audiences, and representatives from the field of culture to come together. We are convinced that at this time when people in the Czech Republic and around the world must come to terms with different living conditions, we must maintain the continuity of important events that reinforce our awareness of cultural values at home and within the international context.
In view of this year’s coronavirus epidemic, we were unable to hold the regular 55th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (3–11 July 2020). In response, we decided to hold Karlovy Vary IFF 54 ½ from November 18 – 21, 2020. With this non-competition survey of films, we offer our guests and audiences in Czech premiere an exclusive selection of the most distinctive films to have aroused positive responses at their premieres at Sundance, Berlin,or Venice, or that bear the Cannes Label.
While respecting all applicable hygienic measures, we aim to provide our guests and audiences a unique chance to experience the festival’s atmosphere during the untraditional autumn season, at a smaller scale but with high-quality programming and the unique opportunity to stay in places that, during regular festivals, are normally closed to the public.
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.
The program of the Karlovy Vary IFF 54 ½ will feature roughly 30 films, each of which will be shown two or three times. The program will be organized 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 program of the festival will be available on the official festival website, www.kviff.com, starting 19 October 2020.
The activities of the KVIFF Eastern Promises industry platform were successfully conducted on-line in the original July dates and have introduced to international film professionals over 40 unfinished film projects from the region of Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East. With expected travel restrictions, Karlovy Vary IFF 54 ½ edition will instead focus more locally on the challenging situation faced by theaters and exhibitors in the Czech Republic. Using the experiences of the well-received summer showcase KVIFF at Your Cinema, which organized simultaneous screenings of festival titles in almost 100 cinemas across the country, we will be looking at possible ways of connecting festivals, exhibitors and new distribution models in times of fundamental changes to the traditional film industry.
Safety measures for guests and audiences
Besides all national or regional governmental regulations valid during the festival, we are also planning a number of additional measures of our own.
The number of seats in the screening halls will be set in line with the capacity permitted by government regulations. A specialized company will ensure several types of preventative disinfection. Industry activities
The activities of the KVIFF Eastern Promises industry platform were successfully conducted on-line in the original July dates and have introduced to international film professionals over 40 unfinished film projects from the region of Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East. With expected travel restrictions, Karlovy Vary IFF 54 ½ edition will instead focus more locally on the challenging situation faced by theaters and
exhibitors in the Czech Republic. Using the experiences of the well-received summer showcase KVIFF at Your Cinema, which organized simultaneous screenings of festival titles in almost 100 cinemas across the country, we will be looking at possible ways of connecting festivals, exhibitors and new distribution models in times of fundamental changes to the traditional film industry.
Visual of the Karlovy Vary IFF 54 ½
The visual style of the festival has been designed by Jakub Spurný of Studio Najbrt.
Information for visitors
The special Karlovy Vary IFF 54 ½ will be open to the general public. For organizational reasons, however, visitors will be subject to different rules than at our regular festivals.
Tickets
In view of the event’s shorter duration, there will be no Festival Passes. Instead, tickets will be sold for individual screenings, with priority given to online sales. Ticket presales will begin on 21 October 2020 through the Go Out reservation platform. Ticket prices will be CZK 80. Tickets may also be purchased from ticket offices at the participating cinemas.
For health and safety reasons, visitors will have to register their contact information when purchasing their tickets.
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