Father Geek here with all the info on the upcoming Edinburgh International Film Festival straight from ol' William Wallace himself. If you're looking for something fantastic to do from mid to late August folks this is it. Edinburgh comes alive during this time of year and no geek worth his salt could go wrong heading there for all the festivals that take over the city at this time...
I think its a safe bet that the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, is one of the few places on the planet where you'd be able to see the New York City Ballet, the Japanese Shakespeare Company and the cast of The Simpsons all perform on the same night within half a mile of each other. Every August the city turns itself into the arts capital of the world as it hosts half a dozen festivals simultaneously. The Festival Fringe alone consists of something in the region of 15,000 dance, theatre and comedy performances from amateurs and professionals, while the Edinburgh International Festival sees some of the world's finest professional opera, dance and theatre companies descending on the city. If that wasn't enough there's the Edinburgh International Book Festival (the world's largest), the Edinburgh International Jazz and Blues Festival (also the world's largest) and, of course, the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
The E.I.F.F. is the world's longest continually running film festival (Cannes and Venice are older but weren't held during the war years). The absence of major awards and a concerted effort to avoid commercialization, which would turn it into just another European Hollywood showcase, have led to the festival being overlooked in recent years among the hundreds of similar events worldwide. But it is still a fantastic celebration of cinema and many still share the opinion of John Huston, who famously named it "the only film festival worth a damn."
Running from the 13-27 August, this year, as usual, the emphasis is firmly on international cinema. The festival opens predicably with Lars Von Tier's Palm d'Or winner Dancer in the Dark and closes with another Cannes hit, Wong Kar-Wai's In the Mood for Love. In between are two weeks of great cinema. The sections for the 2000 festival are as follows:
Rosebud - New work from first and second time directors, including Djomeh (Hassan Yektapanah), Girlfight (Karyn Kusama), Crane World (Pablo Trapero), Amores Perros (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu), 101 Reykjavik (Baltasar Kormakur), and Human Resources (Laurent Cantet).
Director's Focus - New work from established international directors, including Gohato (Nagisa Oshima), Chunhyang (Im Kwon Taek), Faithless (Liv Ullmann), Panne e Tulipani (Silvio Soldini), The Werckmeister Harmonies (Bela Tarr), and Rien a Faire (Marion Vernoux).
Documentary - When the festival began in 1947 it was devoted to documentaries and over the years it has always retained strong links with non-fiction filmmaking. This year's lineup includes Harry's favourite Dark Days (Marc Singer), The Jaundiced Eye (Nonny de la Pe-a), Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse (Agnes Varda), and, fresh from his Oscar success, Scotland's own Kevin Macdonald with A Brief History of Errol Morris.
Retrospective - Max Ophuls is the subject of this year's retrospective, with showings of Caught, Divine, La Ronde, La Signora di Tutti, Le Plaisir, Letter from an Unknown Woman, Liebelei, Lola Montès, The Earrings of Madame de..., The Reckless Moment, Yoshiwara, and the world premiere of the newly restored version of The Exile.
Mirrorball - A showcase of works from contemporary music video directors. This year's focus is on low budget work, with masterclasses, seminars and workshops to compliment the showings. No doubt prompted by her presence for the opening film, there will also be a retrospective of Björk's video back catalogue.
Reel Life - For me, this is usually the highlight of the festival, the chance to listen first hand to film makers and professionals discussing their work. Previous years have seen the stage graced by David Lynch, David Cronenberg, Bernardo Bertolucci, Joel and Ethan Coen, and many others. This years line up is as enticing as ever, including the Coen Brothers' favourite composer Carter Burwell (Being John Malkovitch, Fargo), cinematographer Darius Khondji (Se7en, Delicatessen), actor/director Liv Ullmann (Faithless), mad Dutchman Paul Verhoeven (The Hollow Man ), and Hong Kong's top director Wong Kar-Wai (Chungking Express, Fallen Angels).
Short Films - Well over a hundred current feature and documentary short films, with a healthy Scottish presence.
Late Night Romp - Late night high energy cinema. This category was introduced last year and featured Run Lola Run and The Blair Witch Project. This year the hot tickets are for German horror sensation Anatomie (Stefan Ruzowitzky), Cut (Kimble Rendall), Deep in the Woods (Lionel Delplanque ), and Hideo Nakata's Ring Trilogy, which has nothing to do with Tolkien but everything to do with contemporary Japanese spookiness.
Special Events - The usual eclectic stuff - a series of masterclasses on script development from various writers and directors, a newly restored version of The Scarlet Letter (1926), an outdoor Sean Connery double bill to celebrate the Edinburgh actor's 70th birthday, and the Surprise Movie. The latter is probably the most popular feature of the festival, with previous offerings including Pulp Fiction and LA Confidential. The film won't be revealed until the projector starts, but the running time is published in the catalogue and this year its a whopping 190 minutes. Following a suggestion from my wife (the ever astute Mrs. Wallace), the running time is exactly Shadow of the Vampire PLUS Nosferatu. They've never shown a double-bill as the Surprise Movie before but this pair would be a match made in heaven.
Animation - Showcasing the best in international animation.
Focus on British Cinema - Showcasing the year's most exciting U.K. films, including Billy Elliot (Stephen Daldry), Purely Belter (Mark Herman), The Last Resort (Paul Pawlikowski), The Nine Live of Tomas Katz (Ben Hopkins), and The Low Down (Jamie Thraves). Testament to the growing strength of the Scottish film industry is a selection of new Scottish cinema, including Beautiful Creatures (Bill Eagles), Daybreak (Bernard Rudden), and One Life Stand (May Miles Thomas).
Families - A new category this year will present the best in international animation and filmmaking for children, with the highlight being the premiere of Ulrich Edel's The Little Vampire.
Galas - World and UK premieres of more commercial films, which gives the festival some extra glamour and also gives a reason for the press to turn up. This year's selection includes the Brazilian comedy Eu Tu Eles (Andrucha Waddington), Nurse Betty (Neil LaBute), Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? (Joel Coen), You Can Count On Me (Kenneth Lonergan), Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her (Rodrigo Garcia), The Hollow Man (Paul Verhoeven), The Luzhin Defense (Marleen Gorris), and The House of Mirth (Terence Davies).
For more details about the Edinburgh International Film Festival visit the official website at http://www.edfilmfest.org.uk
For more details about all the August festivals in Edinburgh visit the official Edinburgh Festivals website at http://www.go-edinburgh.co.uk
Slainte,
William Wallace
