The Marienbad Film Festival is an international film festival focusing on works of an experimental nature, marginal forms of cinema, contemporary moving image, and artistic & challenging films. It creates an opportunity for independent and experimental filmmakers and artists using the moving image to meet, but also aims to make more challenging films accessible to a wider audience.

It brings in guests and films of international significance and introduces audiences to important works from the present and history of world cinema that experiment within form and narrative. It is an integral part of the cultural programme of Mariánské Lázně, has long supported the local cultural background and links the activities of cultural associations and local cultural organisers.

From the very beginning, the Marienbad Film Festival has been closely linked to its venue - the town of Mariánské Lázně. The spa town made its mark in the history of Czech film festivals as early as 1946-1949 with four successful editions of the festival, which was later moved to Karlovy Vary. The phenomenon of organising film festivals in tourist resorts has proven itself all over the world. The Marienbad Film Festival systematically enters the public space of the town and prepares the encounter of films with other art forms and expressions of cultural and social life, of visitors with local film lovers. In addition to the cinema, films will also take over the atypical spaces of the Casino Community Centre, the Municipal Theatre, the Chopin House, the Colonnade and the Municipal Museum.

The mission of the Marienbad Film Festival is the development of the field of experimental film and fringe forms of cinema in the Czech Republic and internationally, as well as the cultural and social development of the town of Mariánské Lázně and the entire Mariánské Lázně region.