Miro Remo’s stunning portrait of identical twins, “Better Go Mad in the Wild,” took top honors at this year’s Karlovy Vary Film Festival, meaning the Festival’s Crystal Globe and a $25,000 cash prize will stay home in the Czech Republic.
A hybrid documentary with plenty of visual power and a wise-talking bovine, the film immerses us in the everyday lives of Ondřej and František Klišík, as they live with only each other (and their animals) for company in their remote home. Surrounded by the beautiful forests of Šumava, their lives are defined by reflections (often literal, as there’s a mirror that becomes a haunting and breathtaking way to view their world) on life, death, and isolation. While visually stunning, as Remo and his co-cinematographer Dušan Husár marvel at the twins’ humble world, it’s also a deeply funny film, where the two constantly bicker.
The festival also awarded a jury prize to the Iranian drama “Bidad,” which sees writer, director, producer, and co-editor Soheil Beiraghi tell the story of a young woman named Seti (Sarvin Zabetian) who is trying to find her voice as a singer while government forces seek to silence her. The film was one the festival announced late in the day to protect the film crew while they traveled, and Beiraghi shared how he faced repression himself while in production.
The Best Director award went to Vytautas Katkus for the film “The Visitor” and Nathan Ambrosioni for the film “Out Of Love”, while the Best Actress award went to Pia Tjelta for “Don’t Call Me Mama” and the Best Actor Award went to Brerex Brendemühl for the role in the film “When One Becomes a Sea”. Kateřina Falbrová also received a special mention from the jury for her role in the Czech drama “Broken Voices” and the PRAVO Audience Award went to “We Have to Frame! (A Conversation with Jiří Bartoška in July 2021)”, which opened the festival.
Additional awards were given out at the Proxima competition, with the top prize going to Bangladeshi director Balur Nogorite’s “Sand City.”
Earlier, Kivff announced the winners in Eastern Promises, its film industry and market section.
The full list of winners:
Crystal Globe Competition
Crystal Globe Jury
Nicolas Celis
Babak Jalali
Jessica Kiang
Jiří Mádl
Tuva Novotny
Grand Prix – Crystal Globe
“Better to go crazy in nature”
Directed by: Miro Remo
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2025
Special Jury Award
“Bidad”
Directed by: Soheil Beiraghi
Iran, 2025
Best Director Award
Vytautas Katkus for the film “The Visitor”
Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, 2025
Nathan Ambrosioni for the film “Out Of Love / Les Enfants Vont Bien”
France, 2025
Best Actress Award
Pia Tjelta for her role in the film “Don’t Call Me Mama”
Norway, 2025
Best Actor Award
Àlex Brendemühl for his role in the film “When a River Becomes the Sea”
Spain, 2025
Special Jury Mention
Kateřina Falbrová for her role in the film Broken Voices
Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2025
PRÁVO AUDIENCE Award
“We have to frame it! (A conversation with Jiří Bartoška in July 2021)” / “Musíme para Zarámovat! (Rozhovor S Jiřím Bartoškou v Červenci 2021)”
Directed by: Milan Kuchynka, Jakub Jurásek
Czech Republic, 2025
Proximate Competition
Jury Proxima
Yulia Evina Bhara
Noaz Deshe
Nelson Carlos de Los Santos Arias
Marissa Frobes
NEXT GRAND PRIX
“Sand City”
Directed by: Balur Nogorite
Bangladesh, 2025
Proxima Special Jury Award
“Forense”
Directed by: Federico Atehortúa Arteaga
Colombia, 2025
Special mention
“Before / After”
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
Eastern promises
Eurimages Co-Production Development Award
“Battalion Records” (Romania), ștefan Bîtu-Tudoran and Diana Carívia
Eurimages Special Co-Production Development Award
“In a vacuum” (Ukraine), Yelizaveta Smith and Eugene Rachkovsky
Midpoint Development Award and KVIFF
“History of Disease” (Croatia), David Gašo and Marta Eva Mećav
Connecting the Cottbus Award
Radioamateur (Poland), Tomasz Habowski and Marta Szarzyńska
Rotterdam Laboratory Prize
Ondřej Lukeš, producer of the film “Restless” (Czech Republic)
Marche du Film Producers Network Award
Michelle Brøndum Hauerbach, producer of “Soyboy” (United Kingdom) and Genovéva Petrovits, producer of “Democracy: Work in Progress” (Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany)
