Crystal Globe Competition at the 60th KVIFF opens with portraits of two mothers – one Czech, one Swiss

The anniversary edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival kicks off its Crystal Globe Competition with the world premiere of the Czech contender Chica Checa at 5 p.m. in the Grand Hall, followed by A Happy Family – the first Swiss film ever selected to compete for the festival’s top prize.

Chica Checa is the fourth feature by Šimon Holý, whose debut Mirrors in the Dark competed in the East of the West section, while his later work And Then There Was Love... screened in the Proxima Competition. This latest project marks Holý’s first international co-production, made in collaboration with France and Slovakia. Like his previous work, it focuses on a female protagonist. 

The film follows fifty-five-year-old Zdena (Pavla Tomicová), a rural postwoman living alone in a slowly decaying house, finding quiet comfort in tending her cucumbers and watching television. Her son Lukáš (Jan Cina) lives in France – successful, happy, and distant, or so it appears on the screen of the old computer they use to keep in touch. When Lukáš’s grandmother Věra expresses her final wish to see the pop icon Helena Vondráčková, it seems like a mere whim of a dying woman. But when Lukáš returns home, he brings with him a secret he has carefully guarded for years. And his visit sets off an avalanche of events...

“The basic idea of the film has remained the same throughout all the years of development and production: as long as we’re not hurting others, we should have the chance to do what we want with our lives. Do you want to stay in your house and work on fixing it? Don’t leave just because of what people say. Are you a boy and did you fall in love with a boy? People on social media, lobbyists, or politicians are telling you it’s wrong and dangerous? Don’t let them, and love whoever you want. It’s just and only your life. What others think about it can be completely irrelevant to you. People will always have opinions, but they won’t live your life for you,” says director, screenwriter, and composer Šimon Holý, summing up the central theme of his melancholic comedy.

Later that evening, at 7:30 p.m., the competition presents the world premiere of A Happy Family. Mirroring Chica Checa’s focus, the Swiss film also centres on a mother. Niki has two kids, two jobs, and no money. After a fire turns her life upside down, her children are placed in foster care. Banned from contact, she assumes a new identity risking everything to stay close to them.

“A Happy Family portrays a single mother of two who, despite full-time work, lives below the poverty line on the outskirts of Zurich. She belongs to the so-called “working poor” – people who work hard yet remain trapped in poverty. In Switzerland, this reality often stays invisible, hidden behind closed doors,” says director Jan-Eric Mack of this first feature-length work.

“The film explores how systemic inequality and gender roles collide: most of those affected are women, struggling to balance motherhood and survival in a society that treats family as a private matter. Rising living costs and social fragmentation deepen their vulnerability. Our story reflects this fragile balance – between personal responsibility and structural injustice, failure and resilience. “Without moral judgment, A Happy Family invites empathy for those who fall through the cracks of a system meant to protect them,“ says Mack about the film, which combines intimate observation with the atmosphere of a thriller to paint a portrait of economic insecurity and social marginalisation in one of the world’s wealthiest societies.