"The official selection of the 58th KVIFF offers a unique epicentre of genres and themes that move contemporary cinema," says Karel Och, Artistic Director of the KVIFF, when describing this year's programme. 15 of the 32 films in the official selection are debuts, plus several other world premieres.

In the main Crystal Globe Competition, 12 films will be competing for the Crystal Globe this year, including the German production XOFTEX (Arden Film) by Noaz Deshe - a drama shot with real-life asylum seekers and  inspired by real stories. The film follows the Palestinian-Syrian teenager Nasser who is waiting with his brother in a Greek refugee camp for a decision on their asylum application.

A German production is also screening in the Proxima Competition section. The drama THE ALIENATED (FORTIS FEM FILM) by Anja Kreis revolves around mysterious events in a city where a woman claims to be carrying the Antichrist in her belly. Also screening in this section are the two German co-productions HICBIR SEY YERINDE DEGIL(NOTHING IN ITS PLACE) (Flaneur Films) by Burak Çevik and LAPILLI (Berlin University of the Arts) by Paula Ďurinová.

The films ARCHITECTON (ma.ja.de.) by Victor Kossakovsky, DIRECT ACTION (CASKFILMS) by Guillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell and DYING  (Port au Prince, Schwarzweiss Filmproduktion, Senator Film Produktion) by Matthias Glasner, some of  them award-winners from this year’s Berlinale, will be shown in the Horizon section.

THE GARDEN CADENCES (Flaneur Films) by Dane Komljen will be screened in the Imagina section. The documentary film is about Jone. She is one of the Mollies, the queer-feminist collective that lived in a caravan park at Berlin's Ostkreuz for a decade. THE GARDEN CADENCES traces her last summer before she was evicted. The second majority German production in this section is BEAUTIFUL DEAD WOMAN by Jan Soldat. The experimental short film reorganises female death scenes from 300 episodes of the "Ein Fall für zwei" TV series.

Another short film is programmed in the Pragueshorts at KVIFF section. The four-minute animated film DORMOUSE by Julia Ocker is about the eponymous animal and its sleepy vice. A STUDY IN EMPATHY (North Ship Film) by Hilke Rönnfeldt - already known for being selected to many  festivals - will be screened in Karlovy Vary in the EFP programme Future Frames: Generation Next Of European Cinema.