German-Czech festivals, strangers filming in Amsterdam and pure dance in London and Luxembourg - our pick of this month's best happenings

The 7th edition of the largest and most prominent international film competition in Romania takes place in the city of Cluj-Napoca between 30 May and 8 June

The film school in Poland's second largest city is home of directors Roman Polanski, Krzysztof Kieślowski and cameramen from 'The Pianist' and 'Black Hawk Down' - an American film student's experience

The 93-year-old Italian director and father of the ‘commedia all’Italiana’ film genre, on the power of cinema, which ‘acts like a mirror, tells a story, but doesn’t preach’

One million more tickets, and ‘Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis’ (‘Welcome to the Sticks’) will become the most successful film in France since 1945. Can the French comedy break all box office records?

The absence of eastern European titles is the main story at Cannes from 14 – 25 May, amidst well- known western names including the Dardenne brothers, Wim Wenders and Italians Sorrentino and Garrone

Light comedies and export hits: Czech cinema rides on the wave of success. But in Prague young fresh filmmakers and independent cinemas push against the mainstream

Enjoy the year's first rays at Walpurgis night in Sweden, a vintage computer festival in Munich or the spring festival in Seville

Ten years since the release of Air's first album 'Moon Safari', one half of the French duo, 38, talks Czech audiences, being a vanguard of the European electronic scene and why Air are not like Radiohead

Europe was well represented at the 80th Oscars ceremony on 24 February in LA, with wins for actors Javier Bardem, Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard and Tilda Swinton

Between 9 and 14 February, the German capital played host to 350 up-and-coming film enthusiasts from all over the world

Two weeks before his handpicked successor takes over, a Russian film released on DVD on 14 February shows a rather different side to a fictional, unnamed outgoing Russian president

Joining the current wave of Romanian films in European cinema, Cristian Nemescu, who lost his life in a tragic road accident in 2006 aged 26, offers us a vision of a country which he wanted to and will change

Berlin sparks and pixels, free Splash electro in Paris, European student cinema festival in Manchester and eat yourself to death in Lodz

Yasmin, Cihan, Mani and Christian document their parents through the lens in Franco-German film 'Mon monde - meine Welt', a bitter-sweet reality bite that there is no quick-fix solution to the immigration issue

Belonging to the homeland, the importance of education for immigration and Turkey's entry into the European Union are converging themes in 'The Edge of Heaven', the latest film by the German director

First part of an exclusive interview with the author of 'Gomorra', investigating the Neapolitan mafia. From Scottish tourism to Spanish drug trade, the Italian empire stretches throughout Europe and the world

'Whatever happened to people launching into song for no reason?' 'They stopped doing it: it was ridiculous'

Released in 2006, Elephants Dream was the first animated film made exclusively with open source software and released online as a free public download. Café Babel speaks to the film’s director

Travelling through time, meeting surreal people in unreal places … Nothing is impossible at the cinema

EU Commission uses sexy film scenes to show how it supports European cinema

The British science fiction author, 82, on working with Hollywood greats, being caned for 'telling stories' at school and Europe being a 'wonderful idea'

Quentin Tarantino's sweeping May statement finds an exception in current Sicilian-set offering 'Salvatore - This Is Life'

Between 8 and 14 June London hosts the third part of ‘Picture Europe’, the first film festival taking place simultaneously across different European cities

After the release of his latest film Inland Empire, the 'Air is on Fire' in Paris - an exhibition revealing David Lynch's disturbing world

The Italian composer for the likes of 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' and 'Bulworth' takes home an Academy Award on February 25

Of the 26 films that the Berlin Film Festival is showing from February 8 - 18, 12 are European. A lack of fresh faces?

German film director Florian Henckel's feature debut shines in Hollywood with an elegant and assured spy thriller

From casinos and shops to television and the internet - the poker craze is taking off in France, leading to huge growth in the industry

We spoke to the Iranian graphic novelist, 37, in January, after she shot to fame with her black-and-white comic book ‘Persepolis’. It's currently hitting movie screens in its animated French version

Homer's hero is now travelling the length and breadth of the world wide web. With Germany’s six month presidency in full swing, the Goethe Institute has designed a virtual journey for artists. How is Europe searching for itself?

The Spanish director is favourite to take the Golden Globe for best foreign language film, for Volver. It would be his third award in just a few years. Why does Hollywood love Almodóvar so much?

Jewish director Dani Levy has broken taboos with a controversial new comedy about Hitler. The Germans once again ask themselves: Can we be allowed to laugh about Hitler?

From the set of a local television station, three madcap characters attempt to understand what happened in their sleepy Romanian town the day that communism died

Terry Gilliam spent half his life in London, where he created Monty Python with a group of like-minded comedians. At 65, the actor-director’s spirits remain as imaginative and animated as ever

The half Irish, half Ethiopian Ruth Negga, 23, burst onto the cinema scene as an emotional and promising talent during the 2006 Berlin Film Festival

The British film ‘Venus’ by Robert Michell scooped the main prize, whilst German films swept the board

A renowned composer for the Berlin state opera and a passionate guitarist, 45-year-old Sidney Corbett talks to café babel about his career, which began with his move from his native USA to Europe, and modern European music composition.