The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will again extend its celebration of restored cinema to Prague early next year, as the fourth edition of KVIFF Classics brings a curated lineup of landmark titles to Kino Světozor from Jan. 15–17, 2026. The three-day program continues a long-standing festival tradition of presenting restorations and retrospectives, now expanded into a dedicated winter event in the capital.
Organized in collaboration with the Czech National Film Archive, the showcase is designed to reconnect audiences with films that have shaped national and global cinema. The 2026 edition places particular emphasis on newly restored works, significant anniversaries, and tributes to recently deceased figures whose legacies remain central to 20th-century film history.
Across six screenings, the event spans Czechoslovak historical drama, European postwar classics, American studio pictures, and influential genre films, offering viewers—from longtime devotees to first-time audiences—a rare chance to see major titles in the best available quality.
Restorations and opening-night tribute
KVIFF Classics will open on Jan. 15 with a newly restored edition of 1967’s The Valley of the Bees (pictured at top), directed by František Vláčil. A staple of the Czech historical canon, the film examines the conflict between personal freedom and religious duty through the story of young nobleman Ondřej and his austere mentor Armin.
Featuring Petr Čepek and Jan Kačer, the drama remains a central work in Vláčil’s collaboration with writer Vladimír Körner and continues to resonate for its portrait of authority, devotion, and the struggle for self-determination. The screening of the new The Valley of the Bees restoration follows the festival’s tradition of opening with a premiere of a freshly reconstructed domestic classic.
On Jan. 16, the festival will present Stars (1959), Konrad Wolf’s Cannes Special Jury Prize–winning drama about a forbidden wartime romance in occupied Bulgaria. Shown in a digital restoration, the screening marks the centenary of Wolf’s birth, recognizing the East German filmmaker whose work repeatedly returned to the memory and moral ambiguities of World War II.
The festival will also screen The Sicilian Clan (1969), Henri Verneuil’s heist thriller starring Jean Gabin, Alain Delon, and Lino Ventura. The screening acknowledges multiple milestones: the approaching 50th anniversary of Gabin’s death and the enduring reputation of Verneuil’s procedural crime saga, known for its precise pacing and Ennio Morricone’s celebrated score.
KVIFF Classics will also pay tribute to Robert Redford, who passed away in September and had longstanding ties to the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, with a screening of Arthur Penn’s The Chase (1966), a tense portrait of a Texas town in turmoil after a prison escape. Redford appears alongside Marlon Brando and Jane Fonda in what became one of his early breakthrough roles. Penn’s drama remains notable for its depiction of mid-century American anxieties and for its place in the director’s path toward later films such as Bonnie and Clyde and Little Big Man.
Closing weekend highlights and centenary tributes
The festival’s commemorative thread continues on Jan. 17 with two screenings marking major anniversaries of prominent filmmakers. KVIFF Classics will honor the late David Lynch—who would have turned 80 on Jan. 20, 2026—with The Straight Story (1999). The understated road drama, one of Lynch’s most atypical works, follows Alvin Straight’s 240-mile journey by lawn mower to visit his ailing brother. The film’s quiet focus on reconciliation and perseverance contrasts with the director’s more surreal titles, offering audiences a rare look at Lynch’s most accessible and humanistic storytelling.
KVIFF Classics will also celebrate the centenary of Andrzej Wajda’s birth with a screening of Ashes and Diamonds (1958), one of the foundational films of postwar Polish cinema. The story of a Home Army soldier tasked with assassinating a communist official in the hours after World War II, the film remains central to Wajda’s early career. Its themes of doubt, ideology, and individual responsibility have kept it relevant across generations of viewers.
The festival will conclude with Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950), shown in a newly restored 4K version marking the film’s 75th anniversary. Wilder’s noir satire of Hollywood’s star system—featuring Gloria Swanson as reclusive silent-era icon Norma Desmond and William Holden as struggling screenwriter Joe Gillis—continues to be cited as one of the most influential examinations of fame, illusion, and the shifting machinery of the film industry.
For audiences seeking landmark works in their best possible form, the January lineup from KVIFF Classics offers a concentrated survey of cinematic history that remains pertinent well into the present. More information can be found at the official festival website.
