Unspooling at the Praha Cinema and the Concert Hall-Palác Kultury, The Maverick: Peter Greenaway series has become the sleeper of the second Prague International Film Festival, crowding the two venues for the screenings of 10 films by the UK director.

"We have constantly had to turn away audiences, and with no air condition at the central theatre, it has been necessary to stop the projections regularly and open the doors, to prevent visitors from fainting by numbers," said programme director John Riley.

Other festival sidebars attracting local attention include the Retrospective of Polish Cinema Post Second World War and the showcase of American Independents. From the latter, Todd Solondz's Welcome to the Dollhouse and Ulu Grosbard's Georgia were mass draws.

"The Icelandic Rack Focus has also been very popular - the auditorium was 75% full for Hilmar Oddsson's Tears of Stone, although the Czechs were playing soccer," he added, yesterday estimating the total number of admissions in excess of 40,000.

Jorn Rossing Jensen

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