59th Karlovy Vary Film Festival Winners – Miro Remo’s ‘Better Go Mad in the Wild’ Takes Grand Prix

The 59th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival wrapped with the award ceremony, where Better Go Mad in the Wild directed by Miro Remo won the Grand Prix – Crystal Globe. The jury in a statement said, “A funny valentine to the fading art of being true to yourself, Miro Remo’s delightfully inventive documentary is a portrait of bickering twin brothers who may live a weird, off-grid life on their dilapidated farm but who, in a world as mad as ours, actually might be the sanest people on earth. In the lifestyle it portrays but also in the filmmaking risks it takes and the raucously loving brotherhood it admires, Better Go Mad in the Wild feels like a gulp of fresh, woody www.kviff.com air, or a quick dip in an outdoor pond, or a moment of contemplation as a cow chews on your beard. In short, it feels like being free.”

The Special Jury Prize went to the the secret Iranian film Bidad directed by Soheil Beiraghi. The jury commented in a statement, saying ” Mirroring the bravery it takes to make such a film in Iran, writer-director Soheil Beiraghi’s Bidad is just as courageous in its constantly unexpected narrative turns, as it careens through different genre terrains as energetically as it rolls through the different suburbs of Tehran. Morphing from social-injustice thriller into family melodrama into a triumph-overadversity arc, it is most striking as a gonzo lovers-on-the-run romance, shot through with punk energy and spiky personality that ends on an ambivalent yet optimistic note — because where there’s this much life, there’s hope.”

The 60th Karlovy Vary IFF will be held from July 3rd to July 11th 2026.

2025 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Award Winners

CRYSTAL GLOBE COMPETITION

GRAND PRIX – CRYSTAL GLOBE
Better Go Mad in the Wild / Raději zešílet v divočině
Directed by: Miro Remo
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2025

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE (15 000 USD)
Bidad
Directed by: Soheil Beiraghi
Iran, 2025

BEST DIRECTOR AWARD – EX-AEQUO
Vytautas Katkus for the film The Visitor / Svečias
Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, 2025
Nathan Ambrosioni for the film Out of Love / Les Enfants vont bien
France, 2025

BEST ACTRESS AWARD
Pia Tjelta for the role in the film Don’t Call Me Mama / Se meg
Directed by: Nina Knag
Norway, 2025

BEST ACTOR AWARD
Àlex Brendemühl for the role in the film When a River Becomes the Sea / Quan un riu esdevé el mar
Directed by: Pere Vilà Barceló
Spain, 2025

SPECIAL JURY MENTION
Kateřina Falbrová for the role in the film Broken Voices / Sbormistr
Directed by: Ondřej Provazník
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2025

PRÁVO AUDIENCE AWARD
We’ve Got to Frame It! (a conversation with Jiří Bartoška in July 2021) / Musíme to zarámovat! (rozhovors Jiřím Bartoškou v červenci 2021)
Directed by: Milan Kuchynka, Jakub Jurásek
Czech Republic, 2025

PROXIMA COMPETITION

PROXIMA GRAND PRIX
Sand City / Balur Nogorite
Directed by: Mahde Hasan
Bangladesh, 2025

PROXIMA SPECIAL JURY PRIZE
Forensics / Forenses
Directed by: Federico Atehortúa Arteaga
Colombia, 2025

SPECIAL MENTION
Before / After / Avant / Après
Directed by: Manoël Dupont
Belgium, 2025

CRYSTAL GLOBE FOR OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC CONTRIBUTION TO WORLD CINEMA
Stellan Skarsgård, Sweden

FESTIVAL PRESIDENT’S AWARD FOR CONTRIBUTION TO CZECH CINEMATOGRAPHY
Jiří Brožek, Czech Republic

FESTIVAL PRESIDENT’S AWARD
Vicky Krieps, Luxembourg / Germany
Dakota Johnson, United States of America
Peter Sarsgaard, United States of America

NON-STATUTORY AWARDS

THE ECUMENICAL JURY AWARD

GRAND PRIZE OF THE ECUMENICAL JURY
Rebuilding
Directed by: Max Walker-Silverman
USA, 2025

COMMENDATION OF THE ECUMENICAL JURY
Cinema Jazireh
Directed by: Gözde Kural
Turkey, Iran, Bulgaria, Romania, 2025

EUROPA CINEMAS LABEL AWARD
Sbormistr / Broken Voices
Directed by: Ondřej Provazník
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2025

FIPRESCI AWARD

The FIPRESCI award for the best film in the Crystal Globe Competition
Out of Love / Les Enfants vont bien
Directed by: Nathan Ambrosioni
France, 2025

The FIPRESCI award for the best film in the Proxima Competition
Before / After / Avant / Après
Directed by: Manoël Dupont
Belgium, 2025

KVIFF EASTERN PROMISES WINNERS

KVIFF & MIDPOINT DEVELOPMENT AWARD
History of Illness / Povijest bolesti
Director: David Gašo
Croatia

EURIMAGES CO-PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT AWARD
Battalion Records / Mâinile Sus!
Director: Ștefan Bîtu-Tudoran
Romania

EURIMAGES SPECIAL CO-PRODUCTION DEVELOPMENT AWARD
In Vacuo / Vacuum
Director: Yelizaveta Smith
Ukraine, Germany

CONNECTING COTTBUS AWARD
RadioAmateur / RadioAmator
Director: Tomasz Habowski
Poland
  
ROTTERDAM LAB AWARD
Ondřej Lukeš, producer of Restless / Neklid, Czech Republic

MARCHÉ DU FILM PRODUCERS NETWORK AWARD
Michelle Brøndum Hauerbach, producer of Soyboy, Great Britain
Genovéva Petrovits, producer of Democracy: Work In Progress / Hajtűkanyar Autósiskola, Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany

WORKS IN DEVELOPMENT – KVIFF TALENTS

Feature Pool

Nameless / Nepojmenovaná
Director and animator: Daria Kascheeva
Czech Republic

Spirit Moose / Spirit Moose
Director: Tomáš Klein
Slovakia, Czech Republic

Burnout / Vyhoření
Director: Greta Stocklassa
Czech Republic

Creative Pool

Mould / Plíseň
Director and animator: Phillippe Kastner
Czech Republic

Lost Boys / Lost Boys
Director: Dužan Duong
Czech Republic

Remake / Rymejk
Director: Kateřina Letáková
Czech Republic

A Siege / Ostrom
Director: István Kovács
Hungary