Stellan Skarsgård is back to add star power to Karlovy Vary cinema screens. The Swedish star, who was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier’s international Oscar-winning Sentimental Value, was one of the celebrities gracing the Czech spa town with his presence during the 2025 edition of its big film festival, where he was honored with the KVIFF Crystal Globe Award for his “outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema.”
Also in the Czech spa town, the actor reflected on his life, career and working with the likes of Lars von Trier and Ingmar Bergman during a recording of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast in front of a packed house.
Now, he stars in the black-and-white trailer for the 2026 edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF), the event’s double anniversary of its 60th edition in its 80th year of existence, which runs July 3-11.
|Our extraordinary collection of original festival trailers has been expanded to include a micro-story featuring last year’s recipient of a Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema, actor Stellan Skarsgård,” the fest said, without disclosing further details about the trailer.
What is clear, however, is that Skarsgård has joined a who’s who of stars from Hollywood and beyond in starring in the typically irreverent and offbeat trailers that don’t take themselves, the celebrities and the award statuette too seriously. Johnny Depp, Mel Gibson, Helen Mirren, Benicio del Toro, Harvey Keitel, Milos Forman, Danny DeVito, Casey Affleck, Andy Garcia and John Malkovich are among the big names who have starred in trailers for KVIFF over the years.
Ivan Zachariás, the long-time creator of KVIFF trailers, recently traveled to Sweden to work on the 2026 version with Skarsgård.
And KVIFF on Tuesday released a first-look image of the star, which you can see in this post, from the trailer, which will premiere on the opening night of this year’s fest.
