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Karlovy Vary will premiere Jan-Eric Mack’s debut “A Happy Family,” the first Swiss entry in the festival’s Crystal Globe main competition
The Apex Times

THE APEX TIMES

Culture/The Apex Times/Jul 3, 5:10 AM EDT

Karlovy Vary will premiere Jan-Eric Mack’s debut “A Happy Family,” the first Swiss entry in the festival’s Crystal Globe main competition

The Swiss drama, opening July 4, follows a mother whose home is destroyed and who takes steps to remain close to her children after they are placed in foster care.

3 min readEditor-approved Apex article

Writer-director Jan-Eric Mack’s debut feature “A Happy Family” will have its world premiere on Saturday, July 4 at the 60th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, where it will screen in the festival’s Crystal Globe Competition. The film also marks a first for Switzerland at the Czech event’s main contest, according to The Hollywood Reporter, with Mack describing the project as a social drama that mixes warmth, humor and suspense rather than adhering to familiar moral templates.

The Hollywood Reporter’s feature on Mack said the story centers on Niki, a single mother of two children who works two jobs but still has no money. The film’s plot turns after a fire burns down the family’s home, leaving Niki and her children to face an abrupt breakdown of their lives and routines.

After the fire, the children are placed in foster care, and Niki is banned from contact with them. In response, Mack’s film follows Niki as she adopts a new identity in an effort to stay near her children, a premise The Hollywood Reporter characterized as introducing thriller-like tension into the structure of a social drama.

In discussing the film, Mack emphasized complexity rather than moralizing, framing the main character as someone who does not fit neatly into binary categories of good or evil. The Hollywood Reporter described the script as leaning into surprises, including genre shifts that some viewers may not expect when they approach a story about poverty and social inequality.

Mack co-wrote “A Happy Family” with Anna Schinz, Nikita Afanasjew and Eva Kienholz. Schinz also stars as Niki, with the cast listed by The Hollywood Reporter as including Julia Jentsch, Bettina Stucky, Michael Neuenschwander, Alireza Bayram and Martina Apostolova. Additional film personnel named in the report include cinematographer Yunus Roy Imer and editor Benjamin Fueter.

The Hollywood Reporter also identified “A Happy Family” as being produced by Martin Joss and Peter Reichenbach, as a C-Films AG production in collaboration with DCM. With Karlovy Vary’s Crystal Globe Competition screening set for the festival opening weekend, the debut’s placement puts a Swiss title into the main competitive track for the first time.

As “A Happy Family” arrives in Karlovy Vary for its premiere, its reception will likely be informed by the contest context and by how the film’s thriller elements interact with its focus on family separation and financial precarity. The Hollywood Reporter positioned Mack’s intent as inviting audiences to reflect and discuss the human consequences of the systems around Niki, while keeping the tone sufficiently varied to sustain suspense.

Karlovy Vary’s 60th edition runs during the festival period around the July 4 opening, with the Crystal Globe Competition serving as the event’s headline competitive showcase. “A Happy Family,” opening there, becomes a high-profile debut for Mack and a major platform for the film’s ensemble and genre-splicing approach to social storytelling.

Why It Matters

  • The film’s Crystal Globe Competition placement gives Switzerland a first presence in Karlovy Vary’s main contest and raises the debut’s visibility with international buyers and media.
  • By centering on foster placement after a house fire and Niki’s efforts to remain near her children, the narrative connects festival attention to family stability and the practical consequences of institutional decisions.
  • The project’s thriller-tinged approach to a social drama may affect how festival audiences and critics interpret mainstream genre expectations when discussing poverty and social inequality.
  • With a July 4 world premiere during the festival’s opening window, “A Happy Family” enters Karlovy Vary at a time when competing titles and press coverage are at their highest concentration.

Sources

Key Facts

  • “A Happy Family,” Jan-Eric Mack’s feature debut, will premiere on Saturday, July 4 at the 60th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
  • The film is the first-ever Swiss entry in Karlovy Vary’s Crystal Globe Competition, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
  • The story follows Niki, a single mother of two who works two jobs but has no money, until a fire destroys the family home.
  • After the fire, the children are placed in foster care, Niki is banned from contact, and she assumes a new identity to stay close to them.
  • Mack co-wrote the film with Anna Schinz, Nikita Afanasjew and Eva Kienholz, and Schinz stars as Niki.
  • The Hollywood Reporter names Yunus Roy Imer as cinematographer and Benjamin Fueter as editor, and lists producers Martin Joss and Peter Reichenbach, with the production identified as C-Films AG in collaboration with DCM.
Karlovy Vary will premiere Jan-Eric Mack’s debut “A Happy Family,” the first Swiss entry in the festival’s Crystal Globe main competition | The Apex Times