Karlovy Vary Is Very Proud to Be the World’s Second-Oldest Film Festival

Skip to main content By Georg Szalai Plus Icon Georg Szalai Global Business Editor View All June 26, 2026 11:00pm Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Krystof Mucha Courtesy of Rockaway Arts Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment The spirit of Václav Havel and Jiří Bartoška lives on at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF), and attendees of the 60th edition of the Czech fest will feel a sense of continuity and legacy, a reminder of the long history of the festival, along with innovations and updates that the team always looks to add regularly when it makes sense. In fact, Kryštof Mucha, who joined the festival team in 1997, became its executive director in 2004 and has added the role of chairman of the board of the KVIFF Group, says for him and his colleagues, it is all about connecting the past and the future. This mix of looking back into history and paving the way into the future will also be a central theme of this year’s double anniversary edition of KVIFF, given that the fest was launched 80 years ago.

Related Stories Movies Luis de la Rosa, 'Spider-Man' Animator, Dies in Annecy Train Incident at 34 Movies Will Hollywood Ever Give the Minions Their Due? Indeed, one of the oldest film festivals in the world, Karlovy Vary was part of the so-called “first wave” of post-war European film festivals. Its first edition was held in 1946 as a non-competitive event with 13 features, including international participation, organized by the spa towns of Mariánské Lázně and Karlovy Vary during the first half of August.

Organizers highlighted earlier this year that this first edition actually took place “before the inaugural editions of the festivals in both Cannes and Locarno.” The event was at first called the Czechoslovak Film Festival, and the first edition was actually held in Mariánské Lázne; then in Mariánské Lázne and Karlovy Vary; and later solely in Karlovy Vary. The Venice Film Festival is older, having been founded in 1932 and renewed in 1946, with its first post-war edition following KVIFF’s inaugural edition.

That long history, with all its ups and downs, is something that Karlovy Vary will highlight in its double anniversary year. Two key figures have long been seen as ambassadors for the fest. They are long-time festival president Bartoška, who died last May after being the public face of KVIFF for more than three decades, and Havel, the author and former dissident-turned-Czech-president, who died in 2011, but was a key force behind the KVIFF scenes.

“For this year’s anniversaries, we wanted to point to a few moments from the history of the festival, so there will be a big exhibition in the streets, like last year when we had an exhibition of photos of Mr. Bartoška,” shares Mucha. “So we will feature the history of the festival, starting from 1946 until today.

Also, 2026 is the Havel year, because he would be 90 this year. So we also want to remind people that Václav Havel was one of our big supporters, so there will be a small presentation of photos of him.” About the importance of the politician and the actor-turned-festival-president for KVIFF, Mucha tells THR: “Havel was one of the key people in the new era of the festival, because Mr.

Bartoška brought Miloš Forman to the festival, and Havel was a friend of Mr. Bartoška’s. In those days, everybody was interested in meeting with Václav Havel.”

The story goes like this: Havel would tell people from the film world interested in meeting him that he would be in Karlovy Vary in July, and they should come there if they really wanted to get together with him. “That was the best support we could ever have,” Mucha recalls. “When I went to the United States, I was the one to prepare the invitation letters.

And I went to Mr. Havel’s office, and he was using these colored pens, green and red, and he would write: ‘We will see each other in Karlovy Vary.’ So I was using these invitation letters, and that really helped.”

The two famous names and their close relationship were pivotal when KVIFF fell upon hard times. In 1993, the government of the new Czech Republic withdrew financial support for many cultural events to focus them on becoming financially independent, putting KVIFF at risk. After a backlash, the Ministry of Culture convened a group of influential citizens to figure out a path forward.

Bartoška and veteran film journalist Eva Zaoralová worked with the ministry, the city of Karlovy Vary and the historic Grand Hotel Pupp, which later became the inspiration for Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel, to establish the Karlovy Vary Film Festival Foundation. In 1995,