Winner of the Panorama Audience Award at Berlinale 2026, a neon noir with Ryan Gosling, the second-to-last screen role of Daniel Day-Lewis, a cult work by David Lynch, a Czechoslovak political classic from 1970 and an Austrian cinematic essay on film itself. The Lukáš Berberich invites section of the 32nd edition of IFF Art Film (19 – 25 June 2026) is curated by the dramaturg and director of the Košice arthouse Kino Úsmev. Six titles share an auteur perspective on cinema — from a contemporary festival discovery, through American modern classics, to a Central European archive and experiment.
Lukáš Berberich © Matúš Chovanec
Lukáš Berberich has been running Kino Úsmev in Košice since 2016. The arthouse cinema is today one of the stable hubs of independent film distribution and curatorial programming in eastern Slovakia. The Lukáš Berberich invites section carries the cinema’s programming line onto the festival scale.
Prosecution — an award at Berlinale 2026
From the current festival season, the programme features Prosecution (Staatsschutz) by German director Faraz Shariat. Prosecutor Seyo Kim becomes the target of a racist attack — and instead of waiting for the system to deal with the case, she takes the investigation into her own hands. The film had its world premiere at the 76th Berlinale in February 2026 in the Panorama section, where it received three awards: the Panorama Audience Award, the CICAE Award and the Heiner Carow Prize. Chen Emilie Yan in the lead, with Julia Jentsch, Alev Irmak, Arnd Klawitter and Sebastian Urzendowsky.
Screenings: 20 June at 5:00 p.m., Kino Veritas · 23 June at 5:30 p.m., Kunsthalle
An American auteur trio: Refn, Anderson, Lynch
The second line of the selection follows American auteur cinema. Drive by Nicolas Winding Refn (2011) is today a reference neon noir — Cliff Martinez’s synth-pop soundtrack, the silent face of Ryan Goslin as a stunt driver with a double life, and stylised violence that divided critics and audiences at its premiere. The summer screening in Záhradné kino underlines the film’s atmosphere.
Screening: 19 June at 8:30 p.m., Záhradné kino
Phantom Thread (2017) by Paul Thomas Anderson is a film about a London dressmaker and his muse. The second-to-last screen role of Daniel Day-Lewis was created in a duet with Vicky Krieps. The film won the Oscar for Best Costume Design and received five additional Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Director.
Screening: 20 June at 10:30 a.m., Kulturpark JOJ Play
Lost Highway (1997) by David Lynch closes the American line of the selection. Saxophonist Fred Madison receives a videocassette of himself in his mailbox — and from that moment on, identity, time and reality dissolve into two intertwining stories. Patricia Arquette, Bill Pullman, Robert Blake and Robert Loggia in one of Lynch’s most unsettling films, which has, over almost three decades, established itself as a cult work.
Screening: 25 June at 7:30 p.m., Kino Veritas
Memory and experiment: a Czechoslovak classic and an Austrian film essay
The selection is rounded out by two European titles. The Ear (Ucho) by Karel Kachyňa from 1970 is a classic of Czechoslovak political drama — a marital dialogue between a high-ranking official and his wife on the night after a reception gradually reveals that the apartment is bugged and the regime is preparing another „action“. The film was banned immediately upon completion and reached cinemas only in 1989. The claustrophobic black-and-white form of Josef Illík and the performances of Radoslav Brzobohatý and Jiřina Bohdalová made it one of the most powerful films about power and fear in Central European cinema.
Screening: 22 June at 2:00 p.m., Kino Veritas
The series Film ist. (parts 1 – 6) by the Austrian filmmaker Gustav Deutsch from 1998 is a found-footage essay assembled from archival early-cinema footage and scientific and instructional films. Its six 14-minute chapters — Comedy, Magic, Conquest, Writing and Language, Feeling and Passion, Memory and Document — present a reflection on what film is and how it comes into being.
Screening: 23 June at 8:30 p.m., Záhradné kino
The full programme of the 32nd IFF Art Film and festival cinepasses are available at aff.cinepass.sk.
The 32nd IFF ART FILM is made possible thanks to the support of:
Main organizer: ART FILM FEST s.r.o.
Co-organizers: Mesto Košice, K13 – Košické kultúrne centrá, Visit Košice, ART FILM FEST, n.o.
With the financial support of: Audiovizuálny fond
The project was co-financed by the Košice Self-governing Region from the Terra Incognita program
Main partners: CODES Brand House, H2O FUND SICAV
Automotive partner: AUTO-VALAS
Official hotel: Hotel Yasmin
Main media partners: TV JOJ, Pravda, Eurotelevízia
Sponsors: U. S. Steel Košice, ANTIK Telecom, Kino Úsmev, LOKO TRANS Media, CORE Labs, Technická univerzita v Košiciach
Technological partners: NOV, ZEBRA, Deutsche Telekom Systems Solutions Slovakia, DELTA OnLine, ARICOMA, Datacomp
Official suppliers: DKC Veritas, PLOOM, DOMOS SLOVAKIA, Reštaurácia Contessa, Natura, Kinley, Budweiser Budvar, Julius Meinl
Official wine: KubBo Select, Ostrožovič
Media partners: JOJ play, JOJ 24, Film Europe Media Company, Rádio KOŠICE, Aktuality.sk, Forbes, Startitup.sk, Korzár, Slovenka, SITA, TASR, Mediaboard, AHOJ TV, See & Go, BigMedia, Kino Sterio, Košice City Guide, Košice V Skratke, MOJAkultura.sk, Česko-Slovenská filmová databáze – ČSFD, Filmsk.sk, diva.sk, koktejl.sk, zenskyweb.sk, Naše Košice
Partners: JOJ Cinema, Jojko, Slovenský filmový ústav, WITKOWITZ SLOVAKIA, DDDental, CK TUI ReiseCenter Slovensko, Taper, ECO Technologies, Aupark Shopping Center Košice, Dopravný podnik mesta Košice, Letisko Košice, YumEarth, Rent2Eat, CPK Transport, iWish.sk, Kvety Garomi, Hair Factory Košice, Face up! Studio by Michaela Petroci, Panta Rhei, ARTFORUM, LOCAL NOMAD, Východoslovenské múzeum v Košiciach, MIHYRING
Gastronomic partners: Pub u Kohúta, OhniskO Fire Dining & Brew Bar, MAIKO SUSHI, Kaviareň Slávia, El Nacional, Tabačka Kulturfabrik, Casa Trade – Casablanca cafe, La Hacienda, Red Velvet Cake Bar, Macarons Košice, Savour Patisserie
