The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) will present the world premiere of a digitally restored version of Tainted Horseplay (Kopytem sem, kopytem tam, 1988), directed by Věra Chytilová, as part of its 60th edition in 2026. The screening forms part of the festival’s wider anniversary program, which also marks 80 years since its founding in 1946.
The restoration continues a long-standing KVIFF initiative focused on preserving and reintroducing significant works of Czech and Czechoslovak cinema. The festival first launched this effort in 2011 with the restored premiere of Marketa Lazarová, a film that also helped define the early career of this year’s President’s Award recipient, Magda Vášáryová.
Restoration project highlights Czech film heritage
The presentation of restored films has become a key component of KVIFF’s programming over the past 15 years. According to executive director Kryštof Mucha, the initiative was inspired by international restoration efforts and aims to bring canonical works of domestic cinema back to audiences in high-quality formats.
The restoration of Tainted Horseplay was carried out by UPP and Soundsquare in collaboration with the National Film Archive and the Czech Audiovisual Fund. The project used original picture and sound negatives preserved by the archive, ensuring fidelity to the film’s original form while adapting it for contemporary exhibition standards. Financial support for the restoration was provided by Milada and Eduard Kučera.
Chytilová’s film joins a growing list of restored Czech titles that have premiered at KVIFF, reinforcing the festival’s dual role as both a showcase for contemporary cinema and a platform for film preservation. This year’s anniversary edition places particular emphasis on historical reflection, with additional retrospectives and exhibitions examining the festival’s legacy.
A late-1980s portrait of disillusionment
Originally released in 1988, Tainted Horseplay offers a sharply observed portrait of a generation navigating the final years of the socialist era. The film centers on a group of thirty-something friends whose carefree lifestyle—marked by heavy drinking, casual relationships, and moral detachment—is disrupted by a sudden health crisis.
When one member of the group is revealed to be HIV positive following a hospital visit, their social dynamics unravel. What begins as a seemingly lighthearted depiction of urban life evolves into a study of paranoia, responsibility, and fractured relationships. The diagnosis, treated as both a narrative turning point and a broader metaphor, reflects the anxieties and taboos of the time, particularly around AIDS, which was rarely addressed openly in late-1980s Czechoslovakia.
Chytilová, who co-wrote the screenplay with Pavel Škapík, constructs the film as a tragicomic mosaic, combining elements of satire and psychological drama. The work critiques not only institutional structures but also the disillusionment and aimlessness of a generation grappling with boredom and alienation.
The film’s visual style, shaped by cinematographer Jaroslav Brabec, contributes to its fragmented and expressive tone. Chytilová also collaborated closely with members of Prague’s Divadlo Sklep theater ensemble, whose performances bring a distinctive blend of irony and spontaneity to the film. The cast includes Tomáš Hanák, Milan Šteindler, David Vávra, Tereza Kučerová, Chantal Poullain, and Jiří Bartoška.
Shot in Karlovy Vary, the film’s setting adds another layer of resonance to its inclusion in this year’s festival program. Its return to the spa town in restored form underscores the festival’s ongoing engagement with national cinema and its historical contexts.
As KVIFF marks its dual anniversary, the screening of Tainted Horseplay highlights the enduring relevance of late-20th-century Czech filmmaking. By revisiting works that confronted social and cultural tensions of their time, the festival continues to frame its present-day programming within a broader historical perspective.
