🏆 The Anniversary 'Globes' Awarded in the Czech Republic

The 2026 season will be remembered by the industry as one of the most star-studded in the past decade, drawing a massive pool of A-list global celebrities, while the main awards captured the current aesthetic and geographical trends of global arthouse cinema.

This year, the honorary Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema was presented to actors Dustin Hoffman and Juliette Binoche, and cinematographer Robert Richardson. The Festival President’s Awards went to Jesse Eisenberg, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Magda Vášáryová, and Jeffrey Wright. Another high-profile media event was the visit of the Bacon acting dynasty (Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, and their son Travis), who presented their horror-comedy Family Movie out of competition.

The festival’s main prize—the Crystal Globe Grand Prix—was awarded by the jury, led by film critic Justin Chang, to Fruit Gathering (Thit-thee Khu), directed by Aung Phyoe (a co-production between Myanmar, the Czech Republic, and France).

The Special Jury Prize and the Best Director award went to Danish filmmaker Mads Mengel for his feature The Guest. The Best Actress award was claimed by Anna Schinz for the Swiss drama A Happy Family, while Ghassan Saad was named Best Actor for his performance in the Middle Eastern film Pipes. The festival audience favorite (Právo Audience Award) was Helena Třeštíková’s documentary Bára: Diary of a Rock Star.

In the festival’s second competitive section, Proxima, the top prize went to the Slovak-Czech film Lover, Not a Fighter, directed by Martina Buchelová. The Special Jury Prize in this category was awarded to the Japanese feature Incinerator by Shuntaro Uchida.

For the film industry, the 60th Karlovy Vary festival served as a major indicator of the recovery of Eastern European film markets. The event demonstrated a strong commitment to supporting complex co-production projects, as the majority of the laureates (including the winning title from Myanmar) were developed in close partnership with producers from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, and Germany.

Major European distributors also noted their favorites: the FIPRESCI Prize for the best film in the main competition was awarded to Ivan Ostrochovský’s Only Beautiful Things to Look At, an accolade that traditionally paves the way for a film’s wide European theatrical release.

The festival proved that Karlovy Vary remains a pivotal hub for independent cinema, successfully blending elite arthouse filmmaking with Hollywood star power.