KARLOVY VARY: The 46th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (www.kviff.com) opened with a lifetime achievement award for Dame Judi Dench at the opening ceremony 1 July 2011. The much awarded British actress accepted the festival's Crystal Globe from fest helmer Jiri Bartoska with a moving speech and received a standing ovation from the audience followed by the screening of her latest film Jane Eyre directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga Dench said she had been in the Czech Republic many times as she had friends living in Prague. Fukunaga was in Karlovy Vary to present the film.

MOSCOW: MIFF`s Russian film programme will present over 150 films this year screening all the recent features, docs and animation as well as a selection of shorts. For most foreigners attending the festival the Russian programme is the reason that they are here. Russian film critic Irina Pavlova has been the director of the Russian programme for 9 (2003-2011) years.

MOSCOW: Moscow International Film Festival (http://www.moscowfilmfestival.ru/eng/) programme director Kirill Razalogov cannot be accused of lacking ambition. He presides this year over a programme that can only be described as vast in both the number of films and its diversity. Over 400 films are being screened at this year's festival from every category of the audiovisual spectrum. Razlogov is one of Russia's leading film critics and cultural figures.

PRAGUE: The 46^th Karlvoy Vary International Film Festival has announced its competition lineup. The festival (1-9 July 2011 http://www.kviff.com/) will screen a total of 179 feature films with 21 world premiers, 24 international and 17 European premieres. 54 films are debuts.

GDYNIA: Jerzy Skolimowski's Essential Killing won the Golden Lion for best feature film the 36^th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia (6-11 June 2011 www.fpff.pl) as well as scoring four other prizes. The film also won the prize for best directing as well as best cinematography, best editing and best music. Essential Killing had already won the Special Jury Prize and the Best Actor Award for Vincent Gallo in Venice IFF last year.The almost dialogue-less film is about a man who escapes from extraordinary rendition in the Afghan war.

CANNES: A jury headed by Robert De Niro awarded the Palm d'Or to Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life. The Grand Prix was shared by The Kid with a Bike directed by the Dardennes and Once Upon a Time in Anatolia directed by Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan and produced by Zeynep Ozbatur Atakan. Kirsten Dunst won the Best Actress award for her role in Lars von Trier's Melancholia. Von Trier provoked a storm of controversy during the festival with his remarks about Nazism during a press conference.

CANNES: Polish pubcaster TVP reported a number of deals and festival invitations during the Cannes IFF film market this year.

CANNES: Film New Europe (http://www.filmneweurope.com/) was presented at the Russian Pavilion during a Roundtable on Russian Film Distribution in Cannes on 17 May 2011. Speakers at the roundtable were distinguished Russian distributors Armen Dishdishyan of Central Partnership, Tigran Dokhalov of West, Nadezda Motina of CP Digital, Anna Franklin FNE general director and roundtable moderator Dmitry Livniev publisher of Russia's Action film magazine.

CANNES: Lithuania has made its Cannes IFF debut with its first-ever market stand organized by the newly restructured Lithuanian Independent Producers Association. The stand provided an umbrella for 18 Lithuanian producers in Cannes and a number of festival directors and other Lithuanian industry professionals.

CANNES: Bulgarian Script writer Iglika Triffonova was awarded the Krzysztof Kieslowski Award for best Eastern and Central European Script at a gala awards ceremony in during Cannes IFF on 18 May. The award was for her script False Witness and carries a cash prize of 10,000 Euros.