Organizers of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival unveiled the new look for this year’s festival as well as a few other items at a press conference in Prague on Tuesday. This year’s 58th edition of the Czech Republic’s most prestigious film festival will take place in Karlovy Vary from June 28 through July 6, 2024.
Festival president Jiří Bartoška presented the abstract poster for this year’s festival, which falls in line with the design for other recent years. The main visual utilizes a black-and-white square and three circles to convey the appearance of 58. Additional concepts transform the shapes into film reels and concrete blocks that mimic the appearance of festival headquarters Hotel Thermal.
The poster and concept were was put together by designer Jonatan Kuna, animator Zdeněk Trinkewitz, and art director Aleš Najbrt for Prague-based Studio Najbrt, who has been working with the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival since the 1990s.
“As in the past, this year we have worked with the numbers marking the festival’s edition. Our symbol for the 58th edition was inspired by a simplified pattern of the Hotel Thermal’s ground plan. The result is an abstract black-and-white design consisting of one square and three circles,” Najbrt explains through a press release.
“This time around, we have taken the idea of maximum simplification as a starting point for transforming the symbol into iconic objects from the world of cinema and the Karlovy Vary festival. Brutalist concrete, Věra and Vladimír Machonin’s armchairs, film canisters, or an old camera.”
In addition to the new look for this year’s festival, organizers also dropped the first news of what to expect from this year’s fest.
Actor Ivan Trojan will be honored at this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where he will be presented the President’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to Czech Cinema at the closing ceremony on July 6. One of the most popular Czech actors of the 21st century, Trojan is best known for his roles in films like Loners (Samotáři), Angel of the Lord (Anděl Páně) and its sequel, and the 2021 Czech Oscar submission Charlatan.
Trojan is most recently starring in an undisclosed role in Agnieszka Holland’s Kafka biopic Franz, which is currently shooting in Prague’s city center.
This year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has also teamed up with Variety to honor one of the world’s most respected casting directors, Francine Maisler, who has worked on such films as Dune and Dune: Part Two for Denis Villeneuve, Birdman and The Revenant for Alejandro González Iñárritu, and The Tree of Life for Terrence Malick. Maisler will give a special master class at this year’s festival, which will also screen one of her films.
The first film screening at the 2024 edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has also been revealed. Keeping with the long-running tradition of featuring newly-restored Czech classics, this year’s festival will present a screening of the Western ballad Shadows of a Hot Summer (Stíny horkého léta) from acclaimed director František Vláčil. The film originally screened at the 1978 edition of the festival, where it won the Crystal Globe for Best Film.
This year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will kick off from June 28. Keep an eye out for more news regarding the upcoming festival over the next two months.
One Response
Best KVIFF logo since the 49 pig, nice work guys