STANLEY Kubrick’s widow said the iconic director predicted the internet’s influence on the film industry and that big blockbusters make it hard for a “tsunami” of movies to “swim to the surface”, at the St Albans Film Festival opening party.

Christiane Kubrick explained to guests at the Café Rouge event that her late husband foresaw the effect of the World Wide Web on film and its distribution.

She said: “He forecast to a certain degree what the internet would do to films and he always wondered what would happen, and I think the time has come where films can be distributed in a whole new way.

“It’s going to be very different and I have the feeling that films are now going into the realm of books, [and be] specialised.”

The Eyes Wide Shut film-maker, famous for movies such as the once-banned A Clockwork Orange and cult-horror flick The Shining, would have appreciated the film festival’s acknowledgment of his career a “great deal”, according to Christiane.

The esteemed artist and actress met Kubrick on the set of Paths of Glory, which he directed. They moved to England in the early 1960s finally settling in Childwickbury Manor, just outside St Albans.

Speaking about the city’s inaugural film festival she said: “This is fantastic.”

Leoni Kibbey, film festival director said: “I am thrilled to be welcoming Christiane Kubrick to open our festival, especially on International Woman’s Day.

“The Kubrick name is legendary in the world of film, and to have the family’s support of this Festival is amazing.”