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The annual Mezipatra Queer Film Festival gets underway on Thursday evening in Prague, with the main theme called Wind of Change.

The event, which is now in its 20th edition, will present around a hundred Czech and foreign films focusing on the LGBTQ issues, before moving on to the Moravian metropolis of Brno.

The opening film will be Adam, a coming-of-age comedy by U.S. director Rhys Erns.

The 23rd edition of the annual Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival gets underway on Thursday evening. Over the course of the next five days, the festival will showcase a total of 277 films, including a section dedicated to the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. I spoke to Marek Hovorka, the festival’s director, and asked to tell me more about the opening film, a tribute to the great Czech cinematographer Jaroslav Kučera:

The 6th edition of the Central European film festival 3Kino will feature some 60 films under the theme ‘Islands of Freedom’.

Films will screen from 10 to 15 October in the Prague cinemas Lucerna, Světozor, Atlas and Evald, and include new features by Czech director Václav Marhoul (‘The Painted Bird’) and Polish director Agnieszka Holland (‘Mr. Jones’).

The 3Kino festival jury will first award prize to the best feature film, selected from 11 competition films. The award ceremony will take place on 14 October at the Lucerna cinema.

Serial Killer – billed as the first international festival of TV and web series in Central and Eastern Europe – is the brainchild of Kamila Zlatušková, a former vice-dean of Prague’s famous FAMU film school and seasoned TV professional. Inspired by the likes of France’s Series Mania and the Edinburgh television festival, Serial Killer seeks out provocative original stories with novel approaches to telling them.

For the first time in 25 years, a majority Czech feature is in the main completion at Venice, one the world’s most prestigious film festivals. Director Václav Marhoul is vying for a Golden Lion award with his adaptation of The Painted Bird, a controversial novel set during WWII about a boy subject to all manner of abuse by eastern European villagers.

One of the Czech Republic’s most-highly respected film festivals – the Summer Film School in Uherské Hradiště – wraps up on Saturday with the screening of a documentary film by Olga Sommerová about the Czech singer songwriter Jiří Suchý, founder of the legendary Semafor theatre.

The 45th edition of the festival featured over 200 films, as well as concerts, debates, shows and debates. Among the notable guests this year were Czech director Hynek Bočan, Polish filmmakers Lech Majewski and Wojciech Smarzowski, and the Slovak actor Milan Lasica.

The 45th annual Summer Film School in Uherské Hradiště saw its opening ceremony on Saturday evening. At the launch, film and television screenwriter Hynek Bočan received the annual Association of Czech Film Clubs Award. The association said the playful and intelligent nature of Mr. Bočan's films were among the reasons behind the award. The 81-year-old's new film Bumerang was then screened at the festival.

Polish director Lech Majewski and Slovak actor Milan Lasica are also expected to receive awards this year.

The ten day long Summer Film School features 200 films and will run until August 4th. This year, organisers have divided the programme into three sections: History, the Present and Czechia/Slovakia.

The semiannual Best Film Fest gets underway at Prague arthouse cinemas Atlas, Lucerna, Evald and MAT on Thursday.

The eclectic program, now in its 16th year, features the top international and Czech films of the past year from a wide range of genres. The festival runs until 17 July.

Screening will be Oscar-winners such as Bohemian Rhapsody, the road movie Green Book, and the documentary Free Solo about a rock climber who attempts to conquer the famed El Capitan's 900-metre vertical rock face at Yosemite National Park.

The biopic drama genre will feature Pain and Fame about Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, played by Antonio Banderas, who won Best Actor at Cannes.

Among the Czech movies in the Best Film Fest are the tragicomedy On the Roof with Alois Švehlík and Terrorist with Iva Janžurová.

The 54th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival culminated at the weekend, with the Grand Prix going to Bulgarian film The Father. Meanwhile, actress Patricia Clarkson, who received the event’s lifetime achievement Crystal Globe, brought Hollywood glamour to the closing ceremony.

The Bulgarian-Greek road comedy “The Father” won the main prize at the 54th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, picking up the Crystal Globe at the closing gala ceremony on Saturday night.

The jury also singled out the German psychological family drama “Lara” by Jan-Ole Gerster for which Corinna Harfouch took the Best Actress Award. Milan Ondrik won Best Actor for his lead role in the Slovak-Czech family drama “Let There Be Light”, while Belgian director Tim Mielants won the director’s prize for his film “Patrick”.

The viewers’ award went to Olga Sommerova’s document “Jiří Suchy – Tackling Life with Ease”.

One of the main celebrities at the festival Patricia Clarkson got a standing ovation as she received the Crystal Globe for contribution to world cinema, as did Julianne Moore at the opening of the festival.