The Crystal Globe Competition presents 12 world premieres, including a new film by previous winners and a drama starring Trine Dyrholm

​Returning to the main competition are Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, whose The Father won in 2019. Their latest, Black Money for White Nights, offers a tragicomic portrait of a generation forced to reassess their values in life. Also returning is Cypriot filmmaker Tonia Mishiali, whose debut Pause competed in the 2018 East of the West section. Her new and inventive story about how family connections and motherly love can be found in the most unexpected places is called The Lion at My Back.

Another repeat appearance is by Šimon Holý, whose first two films premiered in the East of the West and Proxima sections. His first entry in the Crystal Globe Competition is Chica Checa, in which Pavla Tomicová and Jan Cina play a mother and son. Slovakia is represented by the latest film from Ivan Ostrochovský, who screened his previous films in both Venice and Berlin. Only Beautiful Things to Look At stars Aňa Geislerová as an ambitious doctor in 1980s Czechoslovakia – a time when the state decided who could have children.

Several other films in competition focus on female characters as well. Five Years, Four Months gives voice to Colombian women who take the search for their missing children into their own hands. The first Swiss film to vie for a Crystal Globe in Karlovy Vary, Happy Family, looks at the life of a single mother whose children are taken away by the authorities.

Scandinavia is also present this year with a film from Denmark. The intimate The Guest, the story of a family brought to the brink of collapse by old wounds, stars the wonderful Trine Dyrholm. Iranian filmmakers are back as well with the family drama Hijamat, which was produced and edited by Jafar Panahi.

The selection is further complemented by a range of distinctive auteur-driven works from across the globe. Serbian director Miroslav Terzić returns with Three Weeks After, a coming-of-age drama exploring vulnerability, grief and the devastating impact of bullying. In Behind the Rain, Chilean filmmaker Valeria Sarmiento intertwines personal trauma with a nation’s collective memory. Lebanese director Karim Kassem presents Pipes, a poignant portrait of a small town struggling with a water shortage, while Myanmar’s Aung Phyoe makes his feature debut with Fruit Gathering, a tender story of two young women searching for intimacy and freedom in contemporary Myanmar.

All twelve films from the Crystal Globe Competition are making their world premiere at KVIFF.

More information about the films in the Crystal Globe Competition is available in our catalogue.​