‘The Sopranos’ Creator David Chase, Sharon Horgan, ‘Succession’ DoP Andrij Parekh, Bond Casting Director Debbie McWilliams & Riff Raff Entertainment Producers Among Speakers At Karlovy Vary
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- David Chase, the 7-time Emmy winner behind The Sopranos (21 Emmys, 5 Golden Globes, 1 Peabody over 6 seasons), headlines an on-stage conversation July 8, drawing on 50+ years across The Rockford Files, Northern Exposure, I'll Fly Away and Kolchak: The Night Stalker
- Sharon Horgan (Bad Sisters, Catastrophe, Divorce) and Succession DoP Andrij Parekh share a July 8 panel titled 'The Cinematic Series: Storytelling in the Age of Streaming'
- Debbie McWilliams, the casting director behind every James Bond film since 1981's For Your Eyes Only (and Monty Python and the Holy Grail), headlines a KVIFF Talks special panel July 10
- Producers Mollye Asher (Nomadland, The Rider) and Greg Shapiro (The Hurt Locker) lead a July 7 panel on building a producing identity; Riff Raff's Ben Jackson and Katie Sinclair — whose company was co-founded with Jude Law and produced Venice 2024 premiere The Order — also present
- Juan de Dios Larraín, co-founder of Fabula (Spencer, A Fantastic Woman, Maria), will discuss alternative distribution with curator Steffen Kottkamp via their respective new ventures Pijama and Directors Collection
- Cecilia Shen, CEO of Utopai AI and Forbes 30 Under 30 class of 2026, will present on AI in film and TV production — a stated 'key theme' of this year's edition alongside the broader focus on 'technological transformation and storytelling in the era of artificial intelligence'
- KVIFF expands its local presence with two Czech titles: The Cursed Warrior (Vojtěch Frič, Tomáš Dianiška) and 6-part miniseries Filter
Why it matters: KVIFF's 60th edition assembles prestige-TV veterans (Chase, Horgan, Parekh) alongside Bond and indie-film power players, but the festival is explicitly naming 'technological transformation and storytelling in the era of artificial intelligence' as a key theme and staging a marquee AI session with Utopai CEO Cecilia Shen.
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