The 60th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will host the world premiere of Only Beautiful Things to Look At (Prameň), a Czech-Slovak-Hungarian co-production that confronts one of the most controversial and unresolved chapters of Czechoslovakia’s history. Directed by Slovak filmmaker Ivan Ostrochovský, the drama has been selected for the festival’s Crystal Globe Competition and will premiere on July 5 before opening in Czech cinemas on July 16.
Set in the mid-1980s, the film explores the state-controlled reproductive policies of the communist era through the story of a gynecologist whose professional certainty is gradually challenged by a personal relationship that forces her to reconsider the system she serves. Led by Anna Geislerová, the project marks one of the most anticipated Czech-language titles at this year’s festival and brings renewed attention to a subject that remains politically and socially sensitive decades after the fall of communism.
Revisiting reproductive policies under communism
Only Beautiful Things to Look At centers on Ingrid, an ambitious doctor working in a provincial Czechoslovak hospital during the 1980s. Her responsibilities include delivering babies, performing abortions, and participating in the sterilization of Romani women. In the film, these procedures are presented not as isolated acts but as part of a broader state system that sought to influence some of the most personal aspects of citizens’ lives.
According to the festival synopsis, Ingrid initially has few doubts about her professional role. While she struggles with feelings of emptiness in her personal life, she remains largely unquestioning of the institutional structures around her. That changes when she develops a friendship with Agáta, a young Romani orderly portrayed by Simona Boledovičová.
Through this relationship, Ingrid begins to see the human consequences of policies that had reduced an ethnic minority to what authorities viewed as a demographic issue. The film examines the moment when an individual starts questioning a system they have long accepted, shifting its focus away from historical reconstruction and toward personal moral reckoning.
Ostrochovský has said he was less interested in creating a story of clear-cut victims and perpetrators than in exploring how ordinary people become participants in unjust systems. Rather than presenting a direct indictment of specific individuals, the director has framed the story around questions of responsibility, self-doubt, and the possibility of recognizing and correcting wrongdoing.
The historical backdrop reflects a real and still debated issue. Forced and coercive sterilizations of Romani women occurred in former Czechoslovakia during the communist era and, according to human rights organizations, continued in some cases after 1989. The subject remains a significant part of discussions about historical accountability in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
A major competition title for Karlovy Vary
The film’s selection for the Crystal Globe Competition places it among the festival’s most prominent titles. For Ostrochovský, it represents a return to Karlovy Vary with a project that combines historical subject matter with intimate character drama.
The director is known for previous films including Servants (Služobníci), Goat (Koza), and Photophobia (Svetloplachosť), works that have often explored the intersection of personal choices and political systems. With Only Beautiful Things to Look At, he again examines how ideology and bureaucracy can shape individual lives, this time through the lens of reproductive rights and medical ethics.
Geislerová, one of the Czech Republic’s most acclaimed actors and a five-time Czech Lion winner, spent several years attached to the project. She has described Ingrid as a capable and pragmatic professional whose emotional life remains constrained until her friendship with Agáta forces her to confront previously unquestioned assumptions. The cast also includes Eva Mores, Éva Bandor, Vlad Ivanov, and Attila Mokos.
The film arrives at a time when questions surrounding reproductive autonomy, state authority, and minority rights continue to resonate internationally. While rooted in a specific period of Czechoslovak history, its themes extend beyond historical reflection, examining how institutions can shape personal decisions and how individuals respond when they begin to recognize the consequences of their actions.
As Karlovy Vary celebrates its 60th edition, Only Beautiful Things to Look At stands out as one of the festival’s most visible Czech-language entries. By revisiting a difficult chapter of the region’s past through the story of one woman’s awakening, the film seeks to open a conversation about responsibility, memory, and the legacy of state control over private lives.
