70 years ago
The idea of a film festival is born
In 1945, right after the end of the War, in Karlovy Vary the idea of holding an annual Film Festival was born. The first talk of the idea came from a wellknown local physician, Dr. Milan Mixa, a Mason, and also responsible for the post-war municipal administration of the city in this period. His proposal was approved immediately, also because the famous spa town, eager to be revived after the dark years of the conflict, possessed everything necessary to make such an initiative come to life: international prestige, cinemas, elegant hotels and good train connections. Unsurprisingly however, it was a year later, when Marianske Lázně, a spa town competitor, realized the idea 50 km away, and held the first International Film Festival in Czechoslovakia in 1946. For the event to arrive to Karlovy Vary, one had to wait until 1948, when the festival adopted the format of competition between the various films screened for awards. Today the Mezinárodní filmový festival, this year in its 50th edition, is the largest film festival in the Czech Republic and the most prestigious in Central and Eastern Europe.