Slovenian director Damjan Kozole returns to Karlovy Vary after taking the Best Director award in 2016 for Nightlife. His new drama Half-Sister, a Slovenian/Macedonian/Serbian/Croatian coproduction, is described as being reminiscent of the Czechoslovak New Wave. The Father, a Bulgarian/Greek coproduction directed by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov is a small family drama dotted with comically absurd situations. Slovak director Marko Skop helms the Slovak/Czech drama Let There Be Light.

The East of the West competition of films from mainly first-time directors will open with the feature debut of Kosovo director Lendita Zequraj, Aga’s House. The selection includes films from Slovak, Czech, Estonian, Romanian and Serbian directors. The documentary competition will present the world premiere of Latvian director Laila Pakalnina’s Spoon.

Main Competition:

The Father (Bulgaria)
Directed by Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov
Produced by Abraxas Film

Patrick (Belgium)
Directed by Tim Mielants

The Man from the Future (Chile, Argentina)
Directed by Felipe Rios

La Belle Indifference (Turkey)
Directed by Kivanc Sezer

Lara (Germany)
Directed by Jan Ole Gerster

Mosaic Portrait (China)
Directed by Yiziang Zhai

Monzun (UK)
Directed by Hong Khaou

Let There Be Light (Slovakia, Czech Republic)
Directed by Marko Skop
Produced by Artileria ( Slovakia), Negativ (Czech Republic)
Supported by Slovak Audiovisual Fund, the Czech Film Fund, Slovak Radio and TV, Czech TV and Eurimages

Ode to Nothing (Phillippines)
Directed by Dwein Baltazar

Half-Sister (Slovenia, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia)
Directed by Damjan Kozole
Produced by Vertigo (Slovenia)
Coproduced by RTV Slovenia, Sisters and Brother Mitevski (Macedonia), Baš Čelik (Serbia), Propeler film (Croatia)
Supported by the Slovenian Film Center, Film Center Serbia, the Macedonian Film Agency, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Creative Europa MEDIA and Studio Viba Film

To the Stars (USA)
Directed by Martha Stephens

The August Virgin (Spain)
Directed by Jonas Trueba