Not only are thin fluid films of enormous importance in numerous practical applications, including painting, the manufacture of foodstuffs, and coating processes for products ranging from semi-conductors and magnetic tape to television screens, but they are also of great fundamental interest to mathematicians, physicists and engineers. Thin fluid films can exhibit a wealth of fascinating behaviour, including wave propagation, rupture, and transition to quasi-periodic or chaotic structures. More details of various aspects of thin-film flow can be found in the recent review articles by Oron, Davis & Bankoff (1997) and Myers (1998), and in the volumes edited by Kistler & Schweizer (1997) and Batchelor, Moffatt & Worster (2000).