Stellan Skarsgård to Receive the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema at KVIFF

Swedish film and theater actor Stellan Skarsgård, recipient of a Golden Globe award, will return to Karlovy Vary for the 59th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where he will be presented the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema.

Skarsgård will personally present his new film Sentimental Value, which won the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. It was the sixth film directed by Joachim Trier, a film that has received rave reviews from critics around the world and is already considered a serious Oscar frontrunner.

Skarsgård previously was a guest of the festival in 2002, when he presented director István Szabó’s film Taking Sides.

During his long career, Skarsgård has appeared in dozens of movies, worked with leading international directors, and received numerous prestigious awards. But this summary falls far short of properly describing the full dimension that he brings to his various roles, nor the wide range of genres he has appeared in. He has no trouble alternating between Hollywood blockbusters and independent arthouse cinema, where his name often helps smaller films to be made. He himself says that all acting is the same – the only difference is what each film needs from him. His ability to make even smaller roles shine almost certainly is the result of his rich experience as a stage actor, including appearances with the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Skarsgård worked primarily for Swedish and European films. His outstanding performance as the lead in Hans Alfredson’s The Simple-Minded Murderer (1982) earned him a Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlinale. He also played the lead in the drama The Ox (1991), directed by famous cinematographer Sven Nykvist, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. After previously appearing in several international productions – an adaptation of Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988, dir. Philip Kaufman) and the action film The Hunt for Red October (1990, dir. John McTiernan) – he made his international breakthrough as the male lead in Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves (1996), which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. Over the years, he has collaborated with von Trier on a number of occasions, including Dancer in the Dark (2000), Dogville (2003), Melancholia (2011), both parts of the provocative drama Nymphomaniac (2013), and the television series The Kingdom.

In 1997, his portrayal of a professor in Gus Van Sant’s double Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting and an appearance in Steven Spielberg’s Amistad further confirmed his outstanding acting talents, and in recognition the European Film Academy presented him with its 1998 European Film Award for Achievement in World Cinema. There followed offers to appear in films such as Timecode (2000, dir. Mike Figgis), The Glass House (2001, dir. Daniel Sackheim), Exorcist: The Beginning (2004, dir. Renny Harlin), and above all two parts of the international mega-hit that is the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006, dir. Gore Verbinski) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007, dir. Gore Verbinski). In 2006, Skarsgård played the title character of the famous painter in Miloš Forman’s historical drama Goya’s Ghosts. But he has also appeared in lighter films, for instance the musical hit Mamma Mia! (2008, dir. Phillida Lloyd) and its loose sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018, dir. Ol Parker).

In 2011, he played Dr. Erik Selvig in the action sci-fi Thor (2011, dir. Kenneth Branagh), and over the following years he reprised this role in several other Marvel movies: The Avengers (2012, dir. Joss Whedon), Thor: The Dark World (2013, dir. Alan Taylor), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015, dir. Joss Whedon), and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022, dir. Taika Waititi).

In 2019, Skarsgård appeared in director Václav Marhoul’s adaptation of Jerzy Kosiński’s novel The Painted Bird, which was shown at the Venice Film Festival. Also that year, he made his return to Scandinavian film with the drama Hope (dir. Maria Sødahl), which was nominated for two European Film Awards and shortlisted for the Best International Feature Film category at the Academy Awards, and Out Stealing Horses (dir. Hans Petter Moland).

His portrayal of the Soviet politician Boris Shcherbina in HBO’s successful miniseries Chernobyl (2019) earned him an Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film. He subsequently worked with Dennis Villeneuve on the sci-fi saga Dune (2021, 2024) and played one of the main roles in both seasons of the Star Wars series Andor (2022–2025).

The film Sentimenal Value, in which he plays one of the leading roles, was enthusiastically received at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Ambitious, sensitive, humorous, and touching, the film tells the story of a house full of family memories, joys and conflict. Charismatic characters wander the house’s cold interior, while their complex destinies entwine in the overgrown garden. Can ancient grievances be forgiven? It’s a question echoing from room to room.