Stefan Komandarev's film "Blaga's Lessons" is the big winner at Karlovy Vary 2023, taking the Crystal Globe and the Ecumenical Jury Award, and its lead actress Eli Skorcheva being honoured as Best Actress. Tinatin Kajrishvili's "Citizen Saint" received an Commendation from the Ecumenical Jury. Another winner is "The Hypnosis" (Sweden, Norway, France 2023) by Ernst De Geer, which received the Fipresci Jury Award, the Europe Cinema Label Award and the Best Actor Award (Herbert Nordrum).
The 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival opened on 30 June with the period drama "Firebrand" by Karim Aïnouz. The festival screened the film, which premiered at the 2023 Cannes Festival, as a tribute to actress Alicia Vikander, who was awarded the Festival President's Prize. Ewan McGregor, Robin Wright and Daniela Kolářová are honoured with this special award as well. At the opening, Russell Crowe was also awarded a Crystal Globe for lifetime achievement.
The Ecumenical Jury, which accompanies the festival since 1994, awarded its prize to one of the 11 films in the International Competition. As a second competition section, the Proxima Competition for cinematic discoveries was established in 2022, dedicated to newcomers and innovative works by established directors; it replaced the former "East of the West" competition. The extensive "Horizons" section shows outstanding films of the recent past. The retrospective "Out of the Past" included several works by Jean-Luc Godard, who died in September 2022, especially one of his most famous films, "Le mépris" (Contempt) from 1963.