Edinburgh International Film Festival

65th Edinburgh Film Festival Begins with a Smashing Lineup Amid Budget Woes, Controversy

Bryce J. Renninger — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 10:26:11 GMT

The oldest continually-running festival in the world began its 65th edition Wednesday in Edinburgh with a massive slate of festival hits and premieres.

The biggest buzz around the festival has been the participation of Tilda Swinton, her frequent collaborator Mark Cousins and former Edinburgh Film Festival director Lynda Myles and their subsequent departure. When the collaboration was announced in December, The Guardian called the decision a "dramatic move" that would "breathe new life into an event that faces big funding cuts." The festival had announced that the three had decided on several changes, including cheaper tickets, a string of "discrepant thinkers" as guest curators, one-off events and "honesty days" when people could have paid what they feel a film is worth. It should come as no surprise that such changes don't seem to have been entirely accepted. (Keep in mind that Swinton and Cousins have been radically reassessing the traditional nature of film festivals for a few years now, at one point enlisting a group of traveling cinephiles to pull a mobile cinema trailer through the summery hills of Scotland for a fortnight.)

When asked about the departure by the Hollywood Reporter, Swinton said her involvement had "continuously been misreported," and that "Lynda Myles, Mark Cousins and I have not 'parted company' with plans for the EIFF, because we were never - in fact - officially engaged with them. We were certainly never paid or made responsible in any way to the festival's organization.” So, take from that what you will.

The festival does, however, appear to have taken a less traditional, low-key route than in years past. There have been no red carpets and there is neither a star-studded jury nor prizes. There are, however, a number of retrospectives and special screenings, including a selections by guest curators Bela Tarr, Jim Jarmusch and Apichatpong Weerasethakul and several Derek Jarman films curated by Gus Van Sant.

The festival opened on Wednesday evening with the UK premiere of "The Guard," an Irish crime comedy directed by John Michael McDonagh. The film is aiming to represent Irish film on an international level following its positive reception at Tribeca and Sundance earlier this year. However, according to The Scotsman, the low-profile premiere, which went off without an appearance by either of its stars - Don Cheadle or Brendan Gleeson - was quite a disaster. "The 1,900-seater Festival Theatre was only two thirds full and there was embarrassment for the organizers when the cinema screen, bought by the festival last year for the venue, broke down for a few minutes."

All is not lost, as Edinburgh will see a handful of big names this year. Kim Cattrall is expected to attend the UK premiere of "Meet Monica Velour" and Ewan McGregor will be there in support of the European premiere his film "Perfect Sense." The festival's other major UK premiere is for Philip Seymour Hoffman's directorial debut "Jack Goes Boating," though Hoffman is not expected to appear.

The festival, which lost a great deal of funding due to cutbacks in the arts which have had the UK film industry reeling for months now, doesn't seem to have any regrets about its choices. Festival director James Mullighan told STV: “We’re neither able nor willing to compete with the red carpets and star wattage of Berlin, Cannes, Toronto and Venice. We are paying fresh mind to the historic and cultural reputation of our glorious home town.”

Van Sant, Rossellini, Jarmusch and Weerasethakul Among Curators At Overhauled Edinburgh Fest

Peter Knegt — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 10:59:19 GMT

Earlier this week, the Edinburgh International Film Festival’s new artistic advisors Mark Cousins and Lynda Myles delivered "EIFF65: Our Suggestions," the "first fruits" of their rethink of the Festival (which was initially announced late last year). Cousins and Myles outlined a "radical evoluton of form and content" at the festival, and named the first group of guest curators, who will be invited to "to dream what the Festival will and can be, to use film and the fabric of one of the world's most beautiful and potent cities as a canvas, or screen."

"In December, with snow in our hair, we agreed to suggest ideas for the 65th Edinburgh International Film Festival," Cousins and Myles said. "What an honour. The EIFF changed film culture. We’re proud to pitch in. Our suggestions try to make Edinburgh the most distinctive film fest in the world, possibly the most spirited and brainiest. For the last month we’ve been working behind the scenes trying to get the film and culture world to join in this rethink... We feel - sincerely - that Edinburgh should lead the world in exploring what film curation is, how it creates mood, audience, loyalty, appetite, expectation, taste, knowledge and joy. It has, at times, including recently, done a lot of this, and Filmhouse does it all year round. So, in our 65th year, to get the juices going we have asked great people in the world of culture – film, music, art, design, etc. – to join our experiment and pitch in ideas for themes, days, moments and events. Some of them will come to the Festival, but what we want are their brains, their taste, their spirit - not their celebrity or any of that secondary mould."

So far, guest curators are an impressive array of international film names including Isabella Rossellini, Gus Van Sant, Jim Jarmusch, Clint Mansell, Apichatpong and Weerasethakul. The full list with descriptions provided by Cousins and Myles below.

ISABELLA FIORELLA ELLETRA GIOVANNA ROSSELLINI: Star of Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, Fearless; director; surrealist; founder of Green Porno. Passionate advocate of Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini.

GUS VAN SANT: Director of Elephant, My Own Private Idaho, Gerry, Good Will Hunting, Paranoid Park, Psycho, The Last Days, Milk.

SARA DRIVER AND JIM JARMUSCH: Sara is an independent filmmaker, whose You are Not I, based on a Paul Bolwes story, we’re hoping to show. She teaches and produces and writes the films of Jim Jarmusch, her partner. Jarmusch helped create the new American cinema with the film Stranger than Paradise. Down by Law was – well, you know how great it was, how attuned to inner life. Jarmusch helped bring the grace and pace of filmmakers like Hou Hsiao Hsien to world attention.

ALAN WARNER: Acclaimed Scottish author of The Sopranos, The Man Who Walks and Morvern Caller.

MIKE SKINNER: The most acclaimed British song-writer and musician of his generation; a poetic innovator, rapper, chronicler, storyteller and shape-shifter. His Original Pirate Material changed British music. His second single Dry Your Eyes Mate went to number one in the UK charts. He’s just written a film, which he’ll direct.

APICHATPONG WEERASETHAKUL: Mysterious object at Noon, Blissfully Yours, Tropical Malady, Syndromes and a Century and Uncle Boonmee. He’s already as significant to the history of cinema as Jean Cocteau and King Hu. No filmmaker seems so good at making us feel part of the circle of life. It’s his reverie which moves us.

CLINT MANSELL: Brilliant composer of the scores of Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream and Pi, former lead singer of Pop Will Eat Itself.

GREIL MARCUS: Legendary musicologist and cultural critic. His 1975 book Mystery Train drew a mental map of American literature and mythology and placed music on that map. He’s a historian of post-punk, Bob Dylan and Situationism – his whole life is a derive – and is a central figure at the Telluride Film Festival.

Cousins and Myles said that more curators will be announced shortly (the next major announcement is set for "around March 1st"). Festival director James Mullighan exlained that now that the curator have agreed to participate, "they are in dialogue with Mark and Lynda about what it is they might bring. Films, music, art, writing, mood: nothing is off the table at this point."

Mullighan also said that the festival will still have premieres in the midst of all the guest curation.

"Edinburgh has a strong reputation for playing the best of new work, and this won't change," he said. "I don’t know how many at this stage – my team and I are modeling this."

The Edinburgh International Film Festival will run June 15-26, 2011.

Cousins and Swinton Set Blueprint For "Radical Transformation" Of Edinburgh Film Fest

Peter Knegt — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 11:59:45 GMT

For its 65th anniversary, the Edinburgh International Film Festival has unveiled a transformative plan via a blueprint shaped by filmmaker/journalist Mark Cousins, actress Tilda Swinton, and a wider artistic team that will be announced later. The result will be "radical new approach to the image and structure" to the festival, which will run in June 2011.

In what the event describes as a "moving away from the traditional concept of 'film festivals,'" the blueprint utilizes the theme, "All That Heaven Allows."

"[EIFF] may cease to have a competition section or prizes, and will focus more on inviting a team of guest curators to program their own selection of films or contribute to special themed days within the festival," an event release stated in describing the new direction. "The festival goers will be encouraged to interact with many bold initiatives to bring the city alive, all of which will be revealed later by Cousins and his artistic team."

As part of the initiative, the festival has hired James Mullighan to produce the transformation of the festival. Currently Mullighan is Creative Director at Shooting People, an international network of independent filmmakers, with 38,000 members in the UK and US. He oversees all day to day operations and has been responsible for building the business. He has also worked for Sony Classical and Columbia records in Australia, and as a freelance journalist working for a variety of publications including The Scotsman, GQ, Vogue and Rolling Stone. In 2003 he joined the travelling short film festival RESFEST as Producer, UK & Ireland.

"We live in a very fragmented and competitive space and so it becomes much more important to continually refresh, revitalise and re-invent," commented Gavin Miller, CEO Centre for the Moving Image (CMI), the parent body of the Edinburgh International Film Festival. "I'm both confident and excited with this blueprint that Mark Cousins has shaped, which will deliver a unique and distinctive festival. I am delighted also that James is joining us as the producer and I believe that his years at Shooting People put him in a good position to build on the heritage of Edinburgh International Film Festival as a distinctive cultural force."

James Mullighan commented: "I am absolutely thrilled to be appointed to this new position at a film festival that I have long admired and supported. It has an incredible history of programming the finest films from all over the world and delivering an exciting and innovative programme to a very faithful and enthused audience. Mark describes it as a Ziggy Stardust moment and I think that's right. We will announce Mark's blueprint for the festival in the New Year."

Cousins and Swinton have been active contributors to the film culture in Scotland in recent years, from their own unique film festivals, including 2009's A Pilgrimage, to the 8 1/2 Foundation, which gives films to children on their 8 1/2th birthday and kicked off at last year's Edinburgh International Film Festival.

FUTURES | Edinburgh "Star" Hattie Dalton

Peter Knegt — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 06:57:18 GMT

"We really only completed the film a couple of days before we found out we were closing Edinburgh," "Third Star" director Hattie Dalton told indieWIRE days before her film debuted at the Scottish film festival. "So we literally had just finished the mix and everything, and I was in this stage of still slightly reeling. I wasn't sure if the film quite worked or not. I mean, it's a natural role of the director to look at all the problems so you can solve them. So I was still in that state, really, and once we found out, I thought 'well, it must work.'"

Edinburgh audiences seemed to agree on Sunday night when "Star" helped end the 64th edition of the film festival. It also marked Dalton's feature film debut after winning a BAFTA for her 2004 short film "The Banker." "Star" (written by Vaughan Sivell - also making his feature debut) follows the dark comic themes of "Banker" and Dalton's other shorts, depicting a road trip between four young friends - one of whom has just been diagnosed with cancer.

"It was ambitious to do a film like this as a first film because it is a difficult subject matter," Dalton said. "My short films are quite black comedies. I always think that if you can entertain people along the way then the poignancy or the weight of the story can kind of be a drip feeder afterward and the resonance stays. I mean that's my opinion... But that's the sort of films that I like, and that's the sort of films that my short films are. 'Third Star' is definitely along those lines...To have a guy in it whose dying of cancer sounds like not the most commercial film. But the fact that it's a comedy...I mean, it's always a fine line to walk between serving the truth of the weight of something like that, and to also give relief to be able to laugh along the way. I know - through my friendships and my family and my upbringing- that you deal with the hardest things using humor. If you don't laugh..."

Dalton - a native of Australia - got her start in broadcast journalism, which eventually led to a decade of work editing featuring films.

"It was during that time that secretly began to want to get into directing," she said. "And I'd make these no-budget short films with friends. But it's actually been a very nurturing environment in the British film industry. There were some people I worked with - particularly editors and directors - who encouraged me with my short films. And then a couple of the more 'grown up' short films were recognized, and it sort of set me off to thinking that maybe I could make a career out of this. So this being the first feature is a big deal."

As for "Third Star"'s life beyond Edinburgh, Dalton is hopeful.

"It's not the easiest of films," Dalton said. "And it's the type of film that will really need word of mouth. We feel like it works well enough that once people see it, they'll tell people to go. But on paper, it might not seem very commercially viable. But that's what you need these festivals for. So that people who are willing to tell stories about the bigger things in life get to actually represented."

"Skeletons" and "Jackboots" Break Out In Edinburgh

Peter Knegt — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 06:30:00 GMT

The Edinburgh International Film Festival made no secret about the intentions of its 2010 edition. The festival's tagline, "What Will You Discover?," was plastered all around town, as were handmade signs that announced: "Lost: British Cinema, 1967-1979. Please Help Find It At The Edinburgh International Film Festival." Celebrating its 64th edition, the spirit of the festival was anything but old.

"We've been kind of re-positioning ourselves softly over the last couple of years to focus more on discovery and new filmmakers... trying to up our world premiere numbers but maintain quality," Festival Artistic Director Hannah McGill had told indieWIRE just prior to the festival. "And I think that's gotten through to everyone now. We're finding that our discovery message is really picking up and that people appreciate that - whether it's audiences or filmmakers. Eighty of the films in the program are from first or second-time filmmakers, and that definitely reflects the newness and freshness that we wanted to get. And there's a very big presence of British filmmakers, and I think it feels like a point in the UK film calendar where people can catch up on what young, new British filmmakers are doing."

Taking on the pressure that comes with trying to be a "discovery" festival is no small feat. With just a handful of festivals worldwide really capable of launching a film into a major run in the festival circuit or toward a pick-up for distribution, trying to join that club is generally quite risky. But after quite a few years of moving in that direction, there's definitely signs that Edinburgh's ambition is coming into fruition. And it's nice to see, as the film-loving Edinburgers that make up the festival's audience are certainly deserving of being the ones to discover.

Last year, the fest's audience award winner - Tomm Moore's "The Secret of Kells" - came out of nowhere to garner an Academy Award nomination for best animated feature. This year, two films seem at least likely to have welcomed lives on the festival circuit.

The first, like "Kells," is an animated feature film. Receiving a special mention from the festival's Michael Powell Jury (which recognizes innovation in British cinema), Edward and Rory McHenry's "Jackboots on Whitehall" was labeled by fest goers as a sort of British "Team America: World Police." Shot using animatronic puppets, the film presents an alternative history of World War II in which the Nazis seize London. At times brilliant satire, at others simply silly fun, "Jackboots" wholly makes impressive use of its innovative animation - especially considering it reportedly only cost $6,000,000 to make. It stands a good chance at becoming something of a cult hit, which should be aided by its all-star cast of British voice talents, from Ewan McGregor (as the film's protagonist) to Alan Cumming (as Hitler) to Timothy Spall (as Winston Churchill) to Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant and Stephen Merchant.

"Jackboots" lost the actual Michael Powell Award to a very different British film, writer-director Nick Whitfield's high-concept, "Eternal Sunshine"-y first feature, "Skeletons." The film follows Davis (Andrew Buckley) and Bennet (Will Adamsdale), a pair of men whose job is to literally clean out the skeletons in people's closets. Using a complicated mix of devices and psychic powers, David and Bennet actually have the ability to enter into the world of secrets behind folks' closet doors, reliving their best-kept moments. Eventually this leads them to a woman (played by Paprika Steen), who has lost her husband and wants Davis and Bennet's help in finding him. Though occasionally underdeveloped as whole, the film's fantastic performances (particularly Jason Isaacs, who plays Davis and Bennet's boss) and clever script more than make up for it. Like "Jackboots," "Skeletons" is sure to pop up at festival after festival for some time.

A scene from Nick Whitfield's "Skeletons."

The jury that awarded "Skeletons" the fest's top prize said that the film "best exemplifies the spirit of Michael Powell in its original vision and dark humour.” Sir Patrick Stewart who presided over the jury which also included director Mike Hodges; film curator Laurence Kardish; director Rafi Pitts and actress Britt Ekland.

Other films in the running for the prize were: "brilliantlove" (Ashley Horner); "Cherry Tree Lane" (Paul Andrew Williams); "Huge" (Ben Miller); "The Kid" (Nick Moran); "Mr. Nice" (Bernard Rose); "Ollie Kepler's Expanding Purple World "(Viv Fongenie); "Pelican Blood" (Karl Golden); and "Soulboy" (Shimmy Marcus).

Other major winners at the awards - which were handed out by McGill and festival patrons Seamus McGarvey and Tilda Swinton on Saturday night included David Thewlis, who won the PPG Award for best performance in a British Feature Film, Ryan Piers Williams' "The Dry Land," which won the Projector.tv Award for Best International Feature, Laura Poitras' "The Oath," which won best documentary, and Aaron Schneider's "Get Low," which won the festival's audience award.

The complete list of winners is below.

The Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film, sponsored by the UK Film Council
Skeletons – Directed by Nick Whitfield

PPG Award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film
David Thewlis in Mr Nice

Projector.tv Best International Feature Award
The Dry Land, directed by Ryan Piers Williams

Moët New Directors Award
Gareth Edwards for "Monsters"

Best Feature Documentary Award
The Oath, directed by Laura Poitras

Standard Life Audience Award
Get Low, directed by Aaron Schneider

UK Film Council Award For Best British Short Film
Baby, directed by Daniel Mulloy

Best International Short Film Award sponsored by Steedman & Company
Rita, directed by Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza

Scottish Short Documentary Award supported by Baillie Gifford
Maria's Way, directed by Anne Milne

McLaren Award for Best New British Animation in partnership with BBC Film Network
Stanley Pickle, directed by Victoria Mather

Short Film Nominee Edinburgh, for the European Film Awards 2010
Maria's Way, directed by Anne Milne

Talking Independent in Edinburgh: Directors Speak Out

Peter Knegt — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:02:48 GMT

The "international indie" was on the topic at the Edinburgh International Film Festival yesterday, with Screen International's Mike Goodridge moderating a talk with two Edinburgh International Film Festival filmmakers, "Obselidia"'s Diane Bell and "Postale"'s Josh Hyde. The filmmakers discussed their work and the challenges that have come with both making the films, and getting them out there. It was a fitting discussion amidst a festival that has clearly made considerable strides in recent years to celebrate smaller, undiscovered films. Last week, the festival's Artistic Director, Hannah McGill had said in an interview with indieWIRE that "distributors - whether they're small, medium or large - are just picking up less and less stuff. They're not going to take a risk a small, niche British film unless there's some evidence that they can get an audience. And my hope would be that Edinburgh can provide that evidence by promoting the films and the filmmakers, and showing the acquisitions people a real audience response."

While Bell's "Obselidia" has been a fixture on the U.S. festival circuit since its Sundance premiere this past January (though it is having its international premiere here in Edinburgh), Hyde's "Postales," on the other hand, has yet to be discovered. The narrative film following two street kids in Peru, the film is set to have its world premiere in Edinburgh this Friday.

Hyde said that he and his "Postales" team have "discovered a new place where cinema can live" in Edinburgh. "You see great mainstream movies, but you also see the kind of movies we like to make," he said.

Hyde warned, though, that he is trying to be very conscious of what a film festival should mean to a filmmaker, particularly after Goodridge noted that the majority of first-time filmmakers don't end up making a second film.

"You have to let your momentum continue, and not make the film festival the end all be all, but a launching pad," he said. "Where you see who your audience is and meet contacts... We'll be on this festival circuit for a year and a half, two years. And you convince yourself you're a great filmmaker, but you're not to doing any writing. But at the end of the day, you're only as good as your last film... and your next film."

First-time filmmaker Bell disclosed her own thoughts on the film festival experience, specifically when "Obsedelia" premiered in Sundance.

"By some miracle we got into competition, which was incredible," she said. "I still don't really know how we got there... And Sundance is a trip. It was one of the most insane experiences of my life. I mean, you screen in a theater of 1,300 people. To sell that out and see Robert Redford looking up at you from the audience is insane. But there's good sides and bad sides. I'm a writer, so I usually sit alone in my room writing. But then I have to get up in front of all these people and explain my film. This was my first film, and I've never done that before."

Bell also shared a horror story about doing a Google of her film the day after it premiered in Sundance.

"I found a review on a blog that called it 'a compendium of indie cliches,'" she said, laughing. "That blog is tattooed on my heart forever."

Bell's salvation came at a brunch specifically for directors, where she chatted with fellow Sundance filmmakers who told her not to let herself be bothered by it.

"Screw it," she recalled one saying. "That's not why you made your movie."

Bell said festivals like Edinburgh provide a nice alternative to the "insanity" of Sundance. "You come here and it's a calmer feeling and it's more about the films and not some insane goldfish pond," she laughed.

Both "Postales" and "Obsedelia" were made on ultra low-budgets, and Hyde and Bell shared stories about how they managed to get from square one to where they are now.

"Postales" came as a result of Hyde making a documentary about Peruvian street kids years ago, and "falling in love with the subjects" of that film. He decided to make a narrative feature with similar characters, piecing together financing "from small financiers, clearing off credit cards, even mortgaging things."

"If you can't convince someone with a story to open up their wallet, you probably shouldn't make a movie," he said. Bell meanwhile, had decided to take advantage of the writer's strike and just "write something for herself." "I didn't think it would ever become a movie," she recalled. But upon finishing the script, she had a change of heart, and attempted to make a budget. "I couldn't do it," she said. "So I actually put an ad on Craigslist for someone that could make a budget for a small movie but they wouldn't get paid. And I got 50 responses!"

Bell also found two people who eventually became her producers off the website, and her editor, a 25-year old from Arkansas who had never edited a film before. Bell and her editor had something in common as Bell had never actually directed anything before - not even a short. But she recalled that despite that, convincing people to let her do it wasn't hard.

"They could feel how passionate I was about it," she said. "So I managed to convince two of the actors, the DP, and the producers to go out to Death Valley with me to make tests. And from that I made a trailer, and once they saw that, we had the money within two months."

Screening the film in Edinburgh marks a homecoming of sorts for Bell, who was born and went to university here.

"I love it," she said of being here. "Except for the fact that my family is all crazy. And it was quite scary.. So many people had showed up I hadn't seen in like ten years. I mean, I went to this festival every year when I was a student. And the one thing I don't like is that you need to get your badge scanned to get into press and industry screenings. You used to be able to just sign in as press, and I would always fake it... That's how I saw a Robert Bresson retrospective that really changed my life."

The Edinburgh International Film Festival continues through this Sunday.