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The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival kicks off on Friday night in the West Bohemian spa town. This year’s festival, the 48th, will give audiences the chance to catch hundreds of movies they would never otherwise get to see on the big screen, while fans can also look forward to seeing some big stars on the red carpet. Ahead of the gala opening, Ian Willoughby, who is there, told us what is happening at the moment.

A day before the scheduled Friday opening of the International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary, one of its main celebrity guests, the actress Audrey Tautou, informed the organizers that she will not be able to attend. The French star was scheduled to attend the opening ceremony, where her newest film Mood Indigo will be screened. The director of the film, Michel Gondry, will be introducing the movie instead. Another guest of honor at the festival, John Travolta, will be arriving in the west Bohemian spa town on Friday.

Vojtech Jasný’s lyrical masterpiece All My Good Countrymen is the third classic Czech film to have been digitally restored in recent years, and, like its predecessors, the new version will be seen for the first time at the Karlovy Vary film festival. Ahead of Saturday’s gala screening, I discussed the movie and its restoration with the person who oversaw the project, Anna Batistová, head of the Audiovisual Collection at the National Film Archive.

Presale tickets offered online for the 48th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival were reserved or sold out in less than half-an-hour on Monday. Ten percent of overall tickets became available at 10 in the morning. Regular counter sales begin on Thursday, a day before the start of the festival. This year more than 200 films will be screened; top stars attending will include French actress Audrey Tautou (Amélie, The Da Vinci Code) and American actor John Travolta (Saturday Night Fever, Get Shorty, Pulp Fiction).

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is to honour two-time Oscar nominee John Travolta with its prestigious Crystal Globe lifetime achievement award. The US film star will attend the festival for a gala screening of Mark Steven Johnson’s Killing Season. The festival’s director Jiri Bartoška also confirmed Tuesday that French star Audrey Tautou would attend to present her latest film, Michel Gondry’s Mood Indigo. Other guests will also include Sin Nombre director Cary Fukunaga, British actor Julian Sands and Italian filmmakers Paulo Sorrentino and Valeria Golino.

This year’s recipient of the annual Crystal Globe prize for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will be the American director and producer Oliver Stone. The announcement was made on Tuesday at a press conference by Jiří Bartoška, head of the festival. The other recipient of the award this year will be the Czech costume designer and artist Theodor Pištěk. This year’s festival will take place from 28 June to 6 July.

The leading Czech film critic Eva Zaoralová was on Wednesday – her 80th birthday – named a member of France’s Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, officer category, and received a medal from France’s ambassador to the Czech Republic. Dr. Zaoralová is perhaps best known for her work with the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, of which she was artistic director for several years. She is now the festival’s artistic adviser.

The Crystal Globe for the best feature movie at the 47th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival was awarded to the film The Almost Man by Norwegian director Martin Lund. The Italian movie Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy by Marco Tullio Giordana received the Special Jury Prize while prize for best director went to the Canadian filmmaker Rafaël Quellet. The Ukrainian movie House with a Turret by Eva Neymann won the winner of the festival’s East of the West section while actresses Helen Mirren and Susan Sarandon received awards for contribution to world cinema.

The 47th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival concludes on Saturday with an awards ceremony at the Thermal Hotel. The Crystal Globe awards will be handed to the creators of the winning film and the winners of individual categories. US actress Susan Sarandon is set to receive an award for her contribution to world cinema. More then 11,000 people attended the festival which offered over 200 movies, 23 of them in world premieres. The news agency ČTK reported on Saturday many critics and guests at the festival were disappointed with the main competition this year which included films with brutal and naturalist scenes better suited for an independent film event.

Czech actor Josef Sommer received an award for his contribution to Czech cinema at the Karlovy Vary film festival on Sunday. The festival’s president, Jiří Bartoška, handed the popular 88-year-old the award ahead of a screening of the 1969 film the Joke, based on the novel of Milan Kundera in which Josef Sommer played the lead role. The 47th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival continues in the west Bohemian spa town until Sunday.