Scaled-down film festival opens in empty auditorium

A film festival without the audience

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

kicked off in a near-empty auditorium

Location: Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic

due to lockdown restrictions

The festival’s president still gave a speech

to the scaled-back audience

and the red carpet was abandoned

It was worlds away from last year's event

Date: June 28, 2019

which had hundreds of screaming fans

Organizers say the full festival will return

by 2021