To the untrained ear, Wroclaw, Poland, the site of the ERA NEW HORIZONS International Film Festival which begins next week, is generally mispronounced as "ro-claw". I've been learning to offer the correct pronunciation, which is more like "rotz-vav". The former German city known as Breslau has been on-again and off-again part of the Polish empire for centuries. It is now a major economic and cultural center for the modern state of Poland and will be honored in 2016 as the cultural capital of Europe

The Florida Film Festival became an adult this year. It celebrated its eighteenth year in the community, and the opening night party set the tone. Guests were treated to fare from several Orlando area restaurants, prudently selected wines and conversation about the recently screened premier of Jennifer Aniston’s new “indy” film, Management.

Český Krumlov, the Czech Republic’s answer to Camelot, is so fairy-tale perfect you half expect mini-chiclets to rain down on its cobbled streets. Marionettes deck the panes of its gingerbread shops. Bears roam a castle moat. And the town’s very name describes the bend in the Vltava River that rings this UNESCO World Heritage Site dating back to the 13th century.