Ukraine front to Palestinian saga: Fest brings world to Karlovy Vary
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is currently in full swing, with the 59th edition of the region’s biggest celebration of cinema offering viewers around 200 works from all corners of the world on a very broad range of themes.
Among the scores of notable pictures at the 2025 Karlovy Vary has been 2000 Metres to Andriivka by Mystyslav Chernov, who previously won an Oscar for 20 Days in Mariupol. The Ukrainian documentarian’s latest work follows changing fortunes in one battle in Russia’s war on his country.
“When we started filming, when we actually almost finished filming, when the operation to take Andriivka had success, this film was about victory. This film was about a symbol of resistance, a symbol of hope. But as time went by, our protagonists were losing their lives, and their families were losing their loved one, so this film also became a film about memory.”
All That’s Left of You is written by, directed by and stars Cherien Dabis, who is Palestinian-American. Shown in its European premiere at the festival, it’s an epic story that follows one family over generations and aims to capture the experience of many Palestinians. But Dabis says it’s not meant to be didactic.
“It’s really a story about how this family survives decades of political upheaval and personal loss, and the love that really keeps them together. I don’t really think about the messaging, necessarily. I was thinking more about the characters and the story. I knew that the message would kind of come naturally. Because of who I am, where the story takes place, what this family is surviving. So it was quite simple in a way for me to focus just on the family and know that everything else would kind of fall into place.”
Rebuilding is one of 12 works vying for the Crystal Globe for Best Film at this year’s Karlovy Vary. The low-budget drama explores the concept of community following a catastrophe and is directed by Max Walker-Silverman.
“The catalyst of the film was a fire at my grandmother’s house burned down, which was devastating of course, but also life did go on in a strange way. The forest did come back. It sort of presented this paradoxical experience in which the loss led to a reinvention. And the reinvention presented some sort of future in which we can reimagine the way we live and rediscover who we are – and in doing so retain some sense of home that’s otherwise so uncertain.”
How Rebuilding has done in the main competition at Karlovy Vary will be clear on Saturday evening, when the winners are announced at the traditional closing ceremony.
