Announcing this year's Official Selection, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival artistic director Karel Och said: "One of the defining characteristics of the films in this year's main programme is the remarkable determination of their directors to grasp the diversity and complexity of the world through direct engagement and through a relentless search for the connection between the artistic and the political, the intimate and the social."

The German production HIJAMAT fits this description perfectly. Nader Saeivar's drama follows Kerem, whose secret relationship with another man is exposed. The revelation throws his devout Muslim family into turmoil and sparks a conflict within his community between faith, identity and love. The film is competing for the Crystal Globe alongside ten other titles in the Main Competition.

The Horizons section traditionally showcases a selection of outstanding contemporary cinema. This year, it features twelve German productions and co-productions, including the festival award winners SHAME AND MONEY by Visar Morina, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, YELLOW LETTERS by Ilker Çatak, recipient of the Golden Bear at the Berlinale, and THE DREAMED ADVENTURE by Valeska Grisebach, which received the Jury Prize at Cannes.

A total of 22 German productions and co-productions will be screened in Karlovy Vary this year.

All German productions and co-productions in Karlovy Vary at a glance:

Crystal Globe Competition
HIJAMAT by Nader Saeivar (Arthood Films, JPJ Film Productions)

Proxima Competition
PETTY THIEVES by Mate Ugrin (HR/FR/DE/SR, Fünferfilm)
A WHOLE PERSON ALMOST by Efthimis Kosemund-Sanidis (GR/BG/DE/CY/RO, Wunderlust)

Horizons
YELLOW LETTERS (GELBE BRIEFE) by Ilker Çatak (DE/FR/TR, if…productions)
TWO MOUNTAINS WEIGHING DOWN MY CHEST by Viv Li (DE/NL, Corsofilm)
SHAME AND MONEY by Visar Morina (DE/XK/SVN/ALB/MKD/BEL, Schuldenberg Films, Vicky Bane)
SILENT FRIEND by Ildiko Enyedi (DE/HU/FR, Pandora Film)
FATHERLAND (VATERLAND) by Pawel Pawlikowski (PL/DE/IT/FR, Nine Hours)
GENTLE MONSTER by Marie Kreutzer (AT/DE/FR, Komplizen Film)
ELEPHANTS IN THE FOG (ELEFANTEN IM NEBEL) by Abinash Bikram Shah (NP/DE/BR/FR/NO, Die Gesellschaft DGS, Zischlermann Filmproduktion)
EVERYTIME by Sandra Wollner (AT/DE, The Barricades)
STRANGE RIVER by Jaume Claret Muxart (ES/DE, Schuldenberg Films)
THE DREAMED ADVENTURE (DAS GETRÄUMTE ABENTEUER) by Valeska Grisebach (DE/FR/BG/AT, Komplizen Film, New Matter Films)
ROSE by Markus Schleinzer (DE/AT, Walker+Worm, ROW Pictures)
A SAD AND BEAUTIFUL WORLD by Cyril Aris (LB/US/DE/SA/QA, Reynard Films)

Imagina
MY WIFE CRIES (MEINE FRAU WEINT) by Angela Schanelec (DE/FR, Blue Monticola)
WITH A KIND REGARD (MIT EINEM FREUNDLICHEN GRUSS) by Pavel Mozhar (Mozhar & Volkmar Film)
DOUBLE FREEDOM (LA LIBERTAD DOBLE) by Lisandro Alonso (CL/AR/LU/DE/UK)
THE REECE by Daniel Mann (UK/DE)

Pragueshorts at KVIFF
TUU TUU TIL by Veronica Solomon (Veronica Solomon Produktion)
9 MILLION COLORS (9 MILIONU BAREV) by Bára Anna Stejskalová (CZ/NO/DE)

Out Of The Past – KVIFF 60/80
LISSY by Konrad Wolf (DEFA)