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Karlovy Vary International Film Festival · 2026

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2026

Proxima Competition

Programme

12 films · 2 reviews

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33 Steps

Thirteen years after Milan Daniel suffered a serious head injury in a racially motivated attack, his assailant is set to be released. What feelings does this moment awaken in a traumatised man?

(Country: Slovakia, Czech Republic; Year: 2026; Director: Šimon Domček, Anna Domček; Writer: Anna Domček, Šimon Domček, Matúš Ďuraňa, Rastislav Graňák; Stars: Milan Daniel, Jana Poláková, Mili Daniel, Gabriel Daniel, Róbert Jakab, Eliška Křenková, Róbert Mikla)

Against Nature (Contra la Naturaleza)

After many years away, Jonás returns to the countryside to start work as a stonemason. In a place marked by the harshness of life, he opens himself up to something intangible – a force that permeates the landscape, bodies, and time itself.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2026; Director: Axel Bertha)

Homo Sive Natura

In the remote forests of eastern Cambodia lives a community of indigenous inhabitants. A businessman arrives with seemingly selfless intentions but he has an ulterior motive.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2026; Director: Giovanni C Lorusso; Writer: Giovanni C Lorusso; Stars: Rous Mony, Bich Kosal, Pic Kara, Yan Voy, Chhun Savin, Chang Sapleak)

Incinerator (Shokyakuro)

Japan Japan One liner: Ten-year-old Kozue, who definitely is not one of the popular kids at school, secretly spends her time tossing various objects into the school’s incinerator. When university student Jinta comes to her classroom and invites the children to a shadow play performance, something awakens inside Kozue, and her path toward adulthood begins.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2026; Director: Shuntaro Uchida)

The Ink-Stained Hand And The Missing Thumb

A pair of toll booth workers are bound by love, until one day, a sudden tragedy turns their lives upside down.

(Country: India; Year: 2026; Director: Yashasvi Juyal; Writer: Yashasvi Juyal)

Lover, Not A Fighter

Review preview for Lover, Not A Fighter

Although Lover, Not A Fighter is a decidedly funny film, it tackles a multitude of gut-wrenching themes.

Boldizsar Forro · 4 out of 5
The troubled young adult Andrej tries to get things back on track in his life. But love always turns things upside down.

(Country: Czech Republic, Slovakia; Year: 2026; Director: Martina Buchelová; Writer: Martina Buchelová; Stars: Adam Kubala, Michaela Kostková, František Beleš, Jaroslava Pokorná, Marián Mitaš, Mia Sofia Arpášová)

Full review

My Friend The Porn Star (Mein Freund der Pornostar)

A woman tries to help her friend get an erotic film off the ground, but as he gets cold feet, they turn to AI to help.

(Country: Austria; Year: 2026; Director: Rosa Friedrich; Writer: Rosa Friedrich; Stars: Rosa Friedrich)

Paris Paris

Drama about a trio of men, from different countries, living in exile.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2026; Director: Isabelle Tollenaere)

Petty Thieves

When a young man's thievery is rumbled by a co-worker the pair become partners in crime.

(Country: Croatia, Germany, France, Serbia; Year: 2026; Director: Mate Ugrin; Writer: Mate Ugrin; Stars: Gavrilo Jović, Tea Ljubešić, Snježana Sinovčić Šiškov, Izudin Bajrović, Lana Meniga, Lana Barić)

Rain Catcher

Review preview for Rain Catcher

A stylish and twisty psychological thriller that easily goes the distance in terms of plot, even if the scripting is uneven in places

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A photographer takes snapshots of strangers, sharing them online as 'Rain Catcher' but he is unsettled when he spots a mysterious woman who is photographing him.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2026; Director: Michele Fiascaris; Writer: Michele Fiascaris, Filippo Polesel; Stars: Dudley O'Shaughnessy, Jessie Mei Li, Kate Dickie, Lorenzo Richelmy, Youssef Kerkour)

Full review See: Michele Fiascaris on expanding his short Rain Catcher into a rain-slicked noir thriller

Truck Driver (Camionero)

Hybrid film about truckers.

(Country: Argentina, Spain; Year: 2026; Director: Francisco Marise; Writer: Javier Rebollo, Francisco Marise)

A Whole Person Almost

Ilias arrives on a remote island to claim his late father’s inheritance. But the longer he is forced to stay on the island, the more his initial indifference begins to fade.

(Country: Greece; Year: 2026; Director: Efthimis Kosemund Sanidis; Writer: Efthimis Kosemund Sanidis)