Prgue, July 03: US actor Robert De Niro will take center stage at the 43rd Karlovy Vary international film festival -- the biggest of its kind in Central Europe -- when he receives an award for lifetime achievement.

A total of 14 films are being shown in competition in the nine day festival which opens Friday in the 19th century spa town in the western Czech Republic.

Entrants include "Lza Stakla" by Croatian Zrinko Ogresta, "Captive" by the Russian Alexei Uchitel, two Czech films, "Karamazov" by Petr Zelenka and "The Children of the Night" by Michaela Pavlatova, "Les Tremblements Lointains" by Belgian Manuel Poutte and "La Verite ou Presque" by Frenchman Sam Karmann.

De Niro`s latest film "What Just Happened", which he did not direct but in which he stars, will be screened at the festival`s opening with a total of 220 films and documentaries crammed in before the event closes on July 12.

British actor Christopher Lee, who was one of the stars in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy of films, will also conduct a master class and German actor Armin Mueller-Stahl will show off his paintings in a town gallery.

Beyond the stars and glamour, the festival will also seek to be a shop window for the film industry in Central and Eastern Europe with its "From East to West" section in which more than a dozen films will compete.

"It is important to offer a place for these small films and make them known to distributors," explained festival co-director Eva Zaolarova.

Norwegian director Helmer Bard Breien took the main prize last year with his film "Kunsten a Tenke Negativt" ("The Art of Negative Thinking").

Bureau Report