This year's Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (June 29-July 7) in the Czech Republic boasts a diverse range of more than 200 films, including nine world premieres.

Competition titles from the region include Zoltan Kamondi's Dolina, a tale of an isolated town in the Eastern Carpathians, that picked up an award at the Hungarian Film Week in February, Krzysztof Krauze's Savior's Square, which won the grand prize at the Polish Film Festival last September, Jan Sverak's Empties, which has set box-office records in the Czech Republic, and Russian dark comedy Simple Things.

Other titles include Bard Breien's Norwegian black comedy The Art Of Negative Thinking and Michael James Rowland's Lucky Miles.

The only competition film from the US is light comedy The Good Night, starring Martin Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow and Penelope Cruz.

Standout titles in the East of the West competition include The Trap, winner of the Grand Prix at the Sofia International Film Festival earlier this year and Marek Stacharski's Facing Up.

Adding some glamour, Renee Zellweger will attend to present Miss Potter and Eli Roth will be on hand with Hostel: Part II.

[s19] See ScreenDaily.com for the full line-up.