Whether it is the adoring fans, the Bohemian food, drink and spirit, the picturesque setting, the mix of auteur cinema and star appreciation, the summer party atmosphere in the evenings or all of the above, one thing is for certain: The biggest stars and behind-the-camera names from Hollywood and beyond have journeyed to the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF), and they always genuinely enjoy their time and experience at the big Czech fest.
“It’s a breathtaking festival,” Viggo Mortensen told a big festival crowd in 2024, for example. “I had no idea it would be like this, but I knew about the great reputation that Karlovy Vary has. It’s a true and important celebration of cinema.”
And just last year, Dakota Johnson expressed her appreciation and gratitude for her invitation to KVIFF. “This looks like Disneyland. It’s crazy here. It’s so beautiful,” she told reporters about the picturesque Czech spa town. “I just couldn’t feel more grateful.” And on stage to receive a special honor, the star shared: “I’ve loved it here. I’ve been here for maybe 24 hours, but everyone loves movies.”
Escaping from Tinseltown and all that doom mongering about AI and streaming disruption, box office challenges and the rise of YouTube of TikTok for moments that remind them of why they are passionate about cinema may well be one of the big reasons why many a star has made Karlovy Vary a can’t-miss stop on their summer schedule.
This year, KVIFF is feting not one but two anniversaries – its 60th edition and its 80th year of existence. And it is doing so in star-studded style. The big names attending this year’s double anniversary edition of the film fest include Dustin Hoffman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, 20 years after KVIFF honored her for her role in Sherrybaby and the film itself with awards, Jesse Eisenberg, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, Harvey Keitel, who returns for his third KVIFF, Juliette Binoche, Jeffrey Wright and cinematographer Robert Richardson.
KVIFF’s double celebration also makes for a great time to remind everyone of KVIFF’s dual role that it has often played over the years: it is both a film fest and a love fest for cinema and its famous faces.
Case in point: Daniel Brühl was charmed by and in turn charmed a huge KVIFF crowd in 2024 when he was honored with the fest’s President’s Award. He extended a Czech thank you to the audience, telling everyone in attendance: “This is the most beautiful statuette. It’s more beautiful than the Oscar.” The crowd immediately erupted into cheers and applause. The star won even more hearts when he lauded “this magnificent town, Karlovy Vary,” emphasizing that it has “become a temple of cinema.”
Brühl added that seeing all the people working for the fest and “the audiences visiting this festival gives me hope, and encourages me, to continue doing cinema, because this is magic.” To huge smiles and thunderous applause, he then even took a photo of himself standing on stage in front of the packed venue for his mother.
Swedish veteran Stellan Skarsgård echoed that sentiment with Scandinavian brevity when he was honored with the KVIFF Crystal Globe Award last year, telling fans: “I want to thank this festival, which is a beautiful, fantastic tribute to filmmaking.”
And Russell Crowe added a dose of his brand of brashness when he lauded the Czech fest and its organizers during the 2023 opening ceremony. “I have to tell you the truth,” he said as he was honored with a Karlovy Vary lifetime achievement award. “I was unaware of this film festival until very recently.” Crowe then mentioned that “so many film festivals around the world … are completely disorganized,” complimenting the Karlovy Vary team for putting on a fest that “runs like clockwork.” He also got to showcase his musical side by playing a concert with his band to close out that opening night.
It was a Czech legend himself, the late Oscar-winning director Milos Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus, The People vs. Larry Flynt), who had made it his mission to promote KVIFF in Hollywood after its reboot in 1994, following the November 1989 Velvet Revolution that ended Communist rule in what was then Czechoslovakia, before Czechia and Slovakia became independent states as of 1993.
“He’d pick up the phone and call his friends, like Michael Douglas, who he knew because Douglas produced One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” Och told THR a few years ago. “He knew Douglas spent his summer vacations in Europe, so he asked if he’d visit the festival. He did the same for [The People vs. Larry Flint actors] Woody Harrelson and Edward Norton. Everyone had such respect for him, and trusted him, that they’d come.”
Harrelson actually ended up becoming such a huge fan that he has been to KVIFF several times. After visits in 1999 and 2000, when he introduced the marihuana history documentary Grass, which he narrated, he returned in 2023 to much fan excitement for a screening of the basketball comedy Champions.
Among the many bold names to have traveled to KVIFF in recent years are the likes of Johnny Depp, Vicky Krieps, Robert Pattinson, Steven Soderbergh, Taika Waititi, Robin Wright, Uma Thurman, Peter Sarsgaard, Casey Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Anna Paquin, Michael Douglas, Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine and Ewan McGregor.
“I think the most important thing is that they can meet with the regular film audience, because when you go to Cannes or Sundance, 90 percent of the people are industry professionals,” Kryštof Mucha, executive director of KVIFF and chairman of the board of the KVIFF Group, told THR. “Part of their job is to go see the movies and judge them from a distribution, selling or other perspective. But at Karlovy Vary, people care only about the quality of the movie, about the experience and the feeling they have after seeing the movie. And they also love to see the filmmakers who are willing to travel to such a small country as the Czech Republic. So the stars and filmmakers can have the best time. The communication between the directors, the filmmakers and the audience is what makes the festival different. It’s still a privilege to have a chance to screen a movie in front of a regular audience.”
And that can even remind the biggest stars of the passion that led them to create movies and make them feel empowered as creatives. “When Johnny Depp came to Karlovy Vary, everybody was crazy about him, and he had the best time,” recalls Mucha. “He told us later that for him it was so important, and this kind of support pushed him as he went into the trial with his ex-wife.”
KVIFF organizers also ensure that the celebrity visitors have a great time even during downtime at the Czech festival. Geoffrey Rush was honored with the KVIFF President’s Award in 2022 and returned in 2024 as a member of the competition jury. “The big cinema at the Hotel Thermal is the mecca,” he told THR. “To see films on that scale and that dimension is great. And I love the fact that there are so many delegates … up on stage because they’ve all come in support of their film. That’s exciting.”
Patricia Clarkson has made a name for herself as a true ambassador for KVIFF. She traveled to the Czech spa town in 2019 to receive its Crystal Globe lifetime achievement award. In 2023, she returned to join the competition jury and introduce a screening of Monica, the drama also starring transgender actress Trace Lysette.
“I’m thinking of moving to Karlovy Vary so we can all hang out here together,” Clarkson told the audience of that screening after being welcomed with a huge round of applause. Just before the screening started, the moderator had a surprise for the star, telling the movie buffs in attendance that it was Clarkson’s name day, which many countries in Europe and parts of the Americas celebrate on the day of the year associated with a person’s baptismal name. The crowd in the auditorium erupted, showering the star with another huge round of applause.
“The theater was packed. I mean there was not a single empty seat in that theater at one o’clock in the afternoon,” Clarkson later told THR. “This festival is just near and dear to my heart. I love being in Karlovy Vary. I signed so many autographs, and I’ll sign a million more.”
KVIFF organizers are focused on making the fest a cinematic feast and fun for film fans, directors and celebrities alike. “The festival itself is our best ambassador,” KVIFF artistic director Karel Och explains to THR. “I think we know how to make a person feel comfortable, and maybe the comfort and that good sensation can be communicated to his or her colleagues. And we love to support filmmakers. For example, we showed Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain in our other event [KVIFF Variations in November 2024], and he couldn’t come. “Now, we just can’t wait to receive him and Maggie Gyllenhaal.”
She and Eisenberg will both be honored with the President’s Award at KVIFF 2026, a year after Gyllenhaal’s husband Sarsgaard received it.
Explains Och: “Often, people we admire are busy and can’t come to the festival right away. There’s always the right moment for everything, and we see what works for them.”
And he concludes: “We had been in touch with Maggie since she won the festival award [in 2006] for Sherrybaby, and we’ve wanted to bring her back. We are really happy that she can finally make it and that it is in the year that she [premiered] The Bride!, which is a film we admire profoundly and which she will bring to Karlovy Vary.”
