PRAGUE - A WARTS-and-all documentary about the life of Vaclav Havel when he was Czech president premiered in Prague on Wednesday.

'I am very glad that you are so numerous this evening,' the former Czech leader, unable to attend because he is recovering from a heart scare, told the assembled from his hospital bed.

'I hope that you will not leave thinking 'enough of Havel,'' the former Czech leader said in a brief message read out before the film started rolling.

'Citizen Havel' was put together from 70 hours of footage shot between 1993 and 2005 by director Pavel Koutecky, a long time friend of Mr Havel, production company Film&Sociologie said.

Mr Havel is shown in the midst of negotiations to form a government, agonising on the eve of a visit to hospital, as well as trying to play the saxophone he counted on offering former US president Bill Clinton.

He is even shown recommending a top restaurant to the Rolling Stones, getting annoyed because his shirts are badly ironed, and fretting during an official photo session.

In addition to visit of the Rolling Stones to Prague Castle and a jazz performance by Bill Clinton in the capital, there are appearances from a series of top politicians including former presidents George Bush, Mikhail Gorbachev and Jacques Chirac.

The film crew was given almost unlimited access to the atypical head of state who was propelled into power after the 1989 Velvet Revolution after the toppling of the communist regime.

Following the death of Mr Koutecky in an accident in 2006, the final compilation of the documentary was handed over to his colleague, Miroslav Janek.

'I had the possibility during a year to steer through a flood of incredible images. It was like seeing a big hunk of ham in a window which it was necessary to cut, piece by piece, to get the right result,' he explained.

The international premiere of 'Citizen Havel' is scheduled for the Berlinale film festival in the German capital on Feb 11.