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The 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival began on Friday with one of this year's top stars, American actor Willem Dafoe, being awarded the festival's Crystal Globe - recognizing outstanding artistic contribution to world cinematography. Mr Dafoe is known for a wide body of work including roles in the films Platoon, Wild at Heart, Spider-Man, and The Last Temptation of Christ.

On Friday, the festival opened with the world premiere of the Czech-British production Anthropoid.

The 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival begins on Friday evening. Opening the festival is the highly-anticipated WWII drama Anthropoid about the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich by Czech and Slovak parachutists in 1942. Jamie Dornan (of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ fame) is one of the stars in the production who will be attending. Other top stars attending the festival this year include Willem Dafoe and Jean Reno.

The 51st edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival gets underway in the West Bohemian spa town on Friday evening. As every year, the country’s biggest movie event promises Hollywood stars, several world premieres and a unique atmosphere generated by thousands of enthusiastic young film fans. Radio Prague’s Ian Willoughby is in Karlovy Vary and we asked him what is coming up tonight as well as throughout the festival:

Who better to ask for tips about this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival than its artistic director Karel Och? On the eve of the biggest movie event of the year in the Czech Republic, I caught up with its head of programming – and began by asking him if there were any particularly noteworthy special sections this year.

Some 400 film fans have been queuing up for tickets to the 51th Karlovy Vary International Film festival, which is due to kick off on Friday. The festival will open with a screening of, the British-US-French coproduction film Anthropoid which tells the story of the 1942 assassination of acting Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich in Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The screening will be attended by the director Sean Ellis and lead actors, including Jamie Dornan. Among other guests of the 50th Karlovy Vary International Film festival will be American actor Willem Dafoe, who will receive a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to world cinematography, and screen-writer Charlie Kaufman. The festival will run until July 9.

Movie star Willem Dafoe and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman will be the special guests at this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the organisers announced on Tuesday. Dafoe, who is known for his roles in The Last Temptation of Christ, Platoon and countless other pictures, will receive the Crystal Globe for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema. The President’s Award will go to Kaufman, the author of such distinctive works as Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The 51st edition of the Karlovy Vary festival begins on Friday next week.

The final film by director Jan Němec, who died in March at the age of 79, is to take part in the main competition at the 51st Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, organisers announced on Tuesday. Němec, who first made his name as part of the Czech New Wave, partly shot The Wolf from Royal Vineyard Street (Vlk z Královských Vinohrad) at last year’s festival. There will be two locally-directed contenders for the top prize at Karlovy Vary this year, with Jan Hřebejk’s The Teacher also in the running.

The British-US-French coproduction film Anthropoid which tells the story of the 1942 assassination of acting Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich in Czechoslovakia, will open this year’s edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which gets under way on July 1, the festival’s spokeswoman Uljana Donátová announced on Thursday. The screening of Anthropoid will be attended by the director Sean Ellis and by the leading actors Jamie Dornan, Charlotte Le Bon, Aňa Geislerová and Toby Jones. The historical drama was shot in the Czech Republic over the last summer.

Czech actress Jiřina Bohdalová, who turns 85 next month, will receive the President’s Award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in July, organisers announced on Tuesday. In connection with the prize, there will be a screening of her 1970 movie The Ear; directed by Karel Kachyňa, it is regarded as a classic of Czech cinematography. A restored version of another great Czech film, Intimate Lighting by Ivan Passer, will also be presented at the 51st edition of the festival. Actor and screenwriter Zdeněk Svěrák, who recently reached 80, will appear in the festival trailer.

A new Czech documentary called Amerika, which has recently premiered at the Karlovy Vary International Festival, explores the unique Czech pastime known as tramping, inspired in part by the vision of the American Wild West. But instead of providing a detailed description of the movement, the film takes its viewers on a journey through the Czech countryside, giving them an opportunity to experience the emotions one feels when wandering through the landscape. We have more in this week’s edition of In Focus.