In 1965 and 1967, Czechoslovakia won its first Hollywood Oscars – for A Shop on the High Street and Closely Observed Trains. In the same period, Miloš Forman’s A Blonde in Love (1965) and The Firemen’s Ball (1967) were also short-listed, and at Cannes in 1968 three Czech films were in competition. It was a golden era for Czech and Slovak cinema and, for a time, names such as Miloš Forman, Jiří Menzel, and Věra Chytilová were up there among the leading art-house directors.
Feature by Peter Hames

We talk to Xavier Mendik, organiser of the Cine-Excess festival, which mixes academic conference on all aspects of cult cinema and screenings of films at the ICA (London), May 1-3.
Interview by Virginie Sélavy

While the BFI’s Pop Goes the Revolution season was a slightly fluffy affair offering little insight into French cinema and May 68, this month sees the Southbank cinema host part of the Fashion in Film Festival, which conversely offers an impressively rich and well thought out programme.
Preview by Virginie Sélavy

A look at some early works by the director of Swimming Pool and 8 femmes.
Review by Peter Momtchiloff

The Mai 68s fit so perfectly with our 40th-anniversary-of-May-68 issue that some of you may think we made them up. But they’re real, honest, and they describe themselves rather brilliantly as ‘the sound of Dinosaur Jr if fronted by Ulrike Meinhof’. Here, they pick their ten favourite films.

Park Chan-wook has followed up his brooding revenge trilogy with a whimsical, pastel-hued romantic fantasy set in a psychiatric hospital. I’m a Cyborg premiered in the UK at the Korean Film Festival in November and on that occasion Park Chan-wook told us more about the ideas behind the film and gave us a tantalising insight into his next project.
Interview by Virginie Sélavy

There are still many old-school fans in attendance but SFL also attracts cooler fashionistas looking for alternative programming. By having a variety of events that range from highbrow to lowbrow, the festival tries to be all things to all (sci-fi) men and it almost always succeeds.
Feature by Alex Fitch

Marjane Satrapi’s adaptation of her own Persepolis graphic novels deservedly won the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes festival.Full of life and irreverent spirit, this is a film that is simply impossible to dislike. The same can be said of Satrapi herself, who proved to be a wonderfully entertaining interviewee when we caught up with her during last year’s London Film Festival.
Interview by Virginie Sélavy

Director Shane O’Sullivan tells us about his new feature documentary, RFK Must Die, which explores the controversies surrounding Kennedy’s death and the possibility that his assassin may have been hypnotically programmed. The film screens as part of the East End Film Festival.
Feature by Shane O’Sullivan

A midnight movie is not just a film shown at midnight. Bridget Jones’ Diary shown at midnight would not be a midnight movie. Neither would a midnight screening of Time Regained – not unless the crowd were told to speak in French and to bash a teaspoon against a teacup when a compere gave the cue.
Feature by Lisa Williams