The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) closed its 60th edition on 11 July by handing its top prize, the Grand Prix Crystal Globe, to "Fruit Gathering", a debut feature from Myanmar director Aung Phyoe. The award, announced at a ceremony in the town's Hotel Thermal, came with a $25,000 cash prize split between the director and producers, according to Screen Daily and other trade outlets that covered the closing night.

The film, a co-production between Myanmar, the Czech Republic and France, was the first Myanmar title ever selected for the festival's main competition. Screen Daily reported that the film follows the bond between two female factory workers and was described by the jury as a "lush and meditative portrait of work and friendship before morphing, unexpectedly and organically, into a harrowing drama of obsession and queer desire".

A jury drawn from five continents

The Crystal Globe jury comprised Justin Chang, Amanda Nell Eu, Pavel Rejholec, Nadia Turincev and Eskil Vogt. The panel also singled out Danish director Mads Mengel's debut feature "The Guest" for two prizes. The Guest from Denmark's Mads Mengel won the $15,000 special jury prize, and Mengel also took the Best Director award.

“"A squirmingly funny yet precisely modulated drama that subtly raises questions about motherhood, filial duty and mental illness."”

The film stars Trine Dyrholm as an estranged mother who tries to reclaim her place within her son's family. In the acting categories, the Best Actress award went to Anna Schinz for Jan-Eric Mack's A Happy Family, about a woman who assumes a new identity to see her children after they are taken into foster care, and Ghassan Saad for Pipes from Lebanese director Karim Kassem.

Martina Buchelová's Lover, Not A Fighter won the top prize of the Proxima competition, for bold works by young filmmakers and experienced auteurs. Other winners in the section were Shuntaro Uchida's Incinerator and director Efthimis Kosemund-Sanidis for A Whole Person Almost.

Hollywood royalty marks a milestone year

Karlovy Vary, founded in 1946 and one of the oldest film festivals in Europe, marked its 60th edition with an unusually starry guest list. Dustin Hoffman spoke up for the importance of film festivals in maintaining film as an art form, in accepting an honorary Crystal Globe at the opening night of the 60th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Maggie Gyllenhaal received the President's Award the same evening. Accepting his prize, Hoffman said, "I want to thank Karlovy Vary film festival for serving this love of filmmaking."

French actress Juliette Binoche will receive the Crystal Globe with the same title at the closing ceremony, alongside cinematographer Robert Richardson, a three-time Oscar winner. Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema was awarded to the French actress Juliette Binoche and President's Award to former Czechoslovak actress Magda Vášáryová, and American actor Jeffrey Wright.

For an international audience, the festival's location carries its own significance. Karlovy Vary, a Czech spa town, has for decades served as a bridge festival between the arthouse sensibilities of Cannes, held two months earlier, and the more commercial instincts of Venice, which follows in late August. This year's milestone edition screened a total of 179 films from July 3 to July 11, 2026.

The choice of a Myanmar production for the festival's top prize is notable given the country's ongoing civil conflict since the 2021 military coup, which has made independent filmmaking there increasingly difficult. "Fruit Gathering" becomes one of the highest-profile international festival wins for a Myanmar film in recent memory, offering a rare spotlight on the country's film community at a time when many of its artists work in exile or under restricted conditions.

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