The 42nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is running from Friday June 29 to Saturday July 7. It was actually first held in 1946 and is being held "only" for the 42nd time because for a period it had to share its "A" international film festival status with Moscow. In the early 1990s the Karlovy Vary festival had become somewhat moribund; however, since being taken over in 1994 by artistic director Eva Zaoralova, president Jiri Bartoska and their team it has enjoyed a great revival, becoming one of the biggest cultural and social events of the year in the Czech Republic.

This year over 220 feature length pictures are being shown. The programme includes a retrospective of Japanese New Wave films, a look back at the New Hollywood generation and a new section featuring some of the most important films from this year's Cannes film festival.

Among the special guests due in the pretty west Bohemian spa town this year are actors Rene Zellweger, Danny DeVito and Ellen Page and directors Monte Hellman, Hal Hartley, Tom Dicillio and Eli Roth.