Karlovy Vary

The Karlovy Vary IFF is one of the oldest film festivals of all time (the first year took place in 1946). For more than 40 years the festival was organized under the pressure of the political situation in socialist Czechoslovakia. In the year 1994 the organization of the festival was taken up by a new team, in the lead of which stood the well-known Czech actor Jirí Bartoška and the significant film columnist and critic Eva Zaoralová, who decided to transform the stagnant show into a film forum of international importance. Within a few years, the team of Jirí Bartoška and Eva Zaoralová managed to return to the festival the prestige and interest of both professional and lay public through its new programme as well as organizational concept.