Myanmar filmmaker Aung Phyoe has won the Crystal Globe, the highest honor at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, for his debut feature Fruit Gathering. The film received the festival’s top prize, which includes a $25,000 award shared between the director and the producers, marking a historic achievement for Myanmar cinema.
The victory is particularly significant as Fruit Gathering becomes the first film from Myanmar to premiere at Karlovy Vary, one of Europe’s oldest and most prestigious film festivals. Founded in 1946, the Czech festival is regarded as one of the continent’s leading showcases for international cinema, and the Crystal Globe is its highest competitive award.
Set in present-day Myanmar, Fruit Gathering unfolds across several seasons and follows two young women, San Kyi and Theint Theint Oo, who work together in a textile factory in industrial Yangon. As they spend more time together, a quiet but deeply emotional connection develops between them, expressed through subtle gestures, shared moments, and unspoken affection. Blending themes of class, gender, identity, and repression, the film marks a confident and assured feature debut for Aung Phyoe. It is a co-production between Myanmar, the Czech Republic, and France, further highlighting the growing international collaboration behind emerging Southeast Asian cinema.
Aung Phyoe is a Yangon-based writer, director, and editor who studied film editing at Whistling Woods International in Mumbai. Before making his feature debut, he directed several acclaimed short films, including Cobalt Blue, which screened at the Locarno Film Festival. Fruit Gathering stars Nandar Myat Aung as San Kyi, Nandar Myint Lwin as Theint Theint Oo, and Thida Soe Khant as San Kyi’s mother. Phyoe has said the story was inspired by his own observations of female friendships in Myanmar, describing their emotional closeness as something that is common yet often left unspoken within society.
The film’s exploration of queer intimacy carries additional significance because same-sex relationships remain a sensitive subject in Myanmar. Rather than approaching the theme through overt drama, Fruit Gathering tells its story with restraint, allowing emotion to emerge through silence, everyday interactions, and carefully observed moments. Critics have praised the film’s understated storytelling and emotional authenticity, while cinematographer Thaiddhi and editor Emily Swe create a patient, observational rhythm that allows the relationship between the two women to evolve naturally over the course of the film.
The International Competition jury praised Fruit Gathering for beginning as a quiet story about work, friendship, and everyday life before gradually transforming into a moving exploration of longing and emotional obsession. This year’s jury was chaired by acclaimed film critic Justin Chang and included filmmaker Amanda Nell Eu, sound designer Pavel Rejholec, producer Nadia Turincev, and Norwegian writer-director Eskil Vogt, whose collective experience spanned criticism, filmmaking, sound design, and international production.
Accepting the Crystal Globe, Aung Phyoe described the recognition as an unforgettable milestone in his career, noting that it was his first feature film, his first major international festival, and now his first major award. The victory immediately establishes him as one of the most promising new voices to emerge from Southeast Asian cinema.
Elsewhere in the awards, Danish filmmaker Mads Mengel won both the Special Jury Prize and Best Director for his feature debut The Guest, a family drama exploring motherhood and mental illness. Anna Schinz received the Best Actress award for A Happy Family, while Ghassan Saad won Best Actor for Pipes. The Právo Audience Award went to Helena Třeštíková’s documentary Bára – Diary of a Rockstar.
In the festival’s Proxima competition, which highlights emerging filmmakers, Martina Buchelová’s Lover, Not a Fighter claimed the top prize, while Shuntaro Uchida’s Incinerator received the Special Jury Prize. The international critics’ association FIPRESCI honored Only Beautiful Things to Look At in the main competition and Petty Thieves in the Proxima section, while 3 Weeks After received the Europa Cinemas Label Award.
This year’s festival also celebrated two important milestones—80 years since the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival was founded and its 60th edition overall. The event honored several distinguished figures from world cinema, with Juliette Binoche, Dustin Hoffman, and cinematographer Robert Richardson receiving the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema. Jesse Eisenberg, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Jeffrey Wright were presented with the Festival President’s Award. Held from July 3 to July 11 in the Czech spa town of Karlovy Vary, the festival also welcomed guests including Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, and Harvey Keitel.
With its Crystal Globe victory, Fruit Gathering has delivered a landmark achievement for Myanmar cinema while introducing Aung Phyoe to the international stage. As the first Myanmar film to compete at Karlovy Vary and the winner of the festival’s highest honor, the quiet, deeply personal drama has emerged as one of the defining discoveries of this year’s international festival circuit. The film is now expected to continue its global journey, with a theatrical release in the Czech Republic scheduled later this month before reaching additional international festivals and audiences.
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