Film Festival

Curtains up for Film Festival

16 Aug 2007

The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) commenced last night at Edinburgh’s Cineworld in Fountain Park with the UK premiere of David Mackenzie’s Hallam Foe. Organisers of the film festival felt that Hallam Foe, shot on location in Edinburgh and…

John Waters

5 Questions

16 Aug 2007

5 words to describe the film you have at the Festival Rude, joyous, juvenile, intellectual, dirty. 4 of your favourite cinemas in the world The Charles Theatre, Baltimore (my local arthouse); the Earl Theatre, Baltimore (now closed – a…

I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK

16 Aug 2007

Firm Festival favourite Park Chan-wook, the South Korean filmmaker who served up the queasy perplexing delights of Old Boy and Lady Vengeance, returns with something very different. I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK is a madcap romantic comedy set inside a…

Les Chansons d’Amour

16 Aug 2007

Teacher, novelist, playwright, children’s book author and now filmmaker, Christophe Honoré is fast becoming the name to drop on the world film festival circuit. His last two films – incest drama Ma Mere and playful Nouvelle Vague-ish comedy drama Dans…

Tilda Swinton

9 Aug 2007

Even without her bright beacon of red hair, it would be difficult to miss Tilda Swinton at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival. Enjoying her inaugural year as patron, alongside the venerable Sir Sean Connery, you can take your pick when it…

Ethan Hawke

9 Aug 2007

Kaleem Aftab talks to actor, writer and now director Ethan Hawke about adapting his novel The Hottest State for the big screen

Jess Weixler

9 Aug 2007

Jess Weixler is so all-American she looks like she’s jumped straight out of a photograph of high school cheerleaders. Her long blond hair and blue eyes make her the archetypal American beauty – just like all those Britney Spears wannabes lusted after by…

Hitlist - the best Fringe comedy

9 Aug 2007

Stewart Lee Still surfing on his own wave of post-Springer glory, the 41st Best Stand-Up Ever delivers a routine would rocket him further up that chart if they had another poll today. Hilarious and confrontational. UdderBELLY’s Pasture, 0870 745 3083…

Seachd: The Inaccessible Pinnacle

(Simon Miller, UK, 2007) 90min

9 Aug 2007

Admirable in intent and ambitious in scope, this first-ever Gaelic language feature is a real achievement. By collaborating with local talent – writers, actors, musicians – from the Isle of Skye where the film was shot, the makers have fulfilled their…

Twisted Sister

(Ed Herzog, Germany, 2006) 94min

9 Aug 2007

Anna (Heike Makatsch) is an apparently successful thirty-something in the music industry, but when she takes a holiday in Spain with her timid younger sister, Marie (Anna Maria Mühe) she turns into a nightmare. Anna makes every event into a…

John Waters: This Filthy World

(Jeff Garlin, US, 2006) 86min

9 Aug 2007

The ‘Ayatollah of Crud’ speaks. Time was when John Waters used to stand for something. Alienation from the mainstream perhaps, a gothic outsiderness, suburban depravity. But now, with money coming in from the ludicrously successful stage (and screen…

5 Reasons To Go To - Scottish Novels On Screen

9 Aug 2007

1 Andrea Gibb (pictured) No relation to the Bee Gees, Gibb (AfterLife, Dear Frankie) is one of Scotland’s most prolific and successful screenwriters. She will be chairing this event/debate which looks at the success of Scottish literature in its many…

Intolerance

9 Aug 2007

And so begins this year’s List-sponsored Anita Loos Retrospective of films, written by or adapted from the work of the grand old dame of American screenwriting. First up is legendary silent film director DW Griffiths’ one true masterpiece from 1916…

Irvine Welsh

5 questions

9 Aug 2007

5 words to describe the film you have at the EIFF Racism and testicular cancer comedy. 4 of your favourite cinemas in the world Cameo, Edinburgh; Rio Dalston, London; IFI, Dublin; Castro, San Francisco. 3 people you would love to work with…

Edinburgh film festival moves to June after 60 years

8 Aug 2007

Organisers of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) have announced plans to hold the event two months earlier next year, in a bid to move outside the city’s renowned festival season. The switch will see the film festival take place June…

Hallam Foe

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jul 2007

Edinburgh International Film Festival A walk across the rooftops Alan Morrison meets the director and stars of Edinburgh-set Freudian fairytale Hallam Foe, which opens this year’s EIFF

Two Days in Paris

19 Jul 2007

Edinburgh International Film Festival A woman for all seasons Julie Delpy talks to Kaleem Aftab about her feature film directorial debut and tells him why she finds it hard to sit still

This Filthy World

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jul 2007

As a new film about him comes to this year’s Festival, veteran cult filmmaker John Waters shows no sign of slowing down. Paul Dale does his best to catch up with him

Planet B-boy

Edinburgh International Film Festival

19 Jul 2007

Think breakdancing died out in the 80s? Think again, says Mark Edmundson as he talks to Benson Lee, the writer-director of Planet B-boy which charts its epic resurgence

Anita Loos retrospective

19 Jul 2007

Anita Loos was an intellectual brunette who wrote about dumb gold-diggers. As a major retrospective of her work hits the Festival, Paul Dale explores her legacy

Knocked Up

19 Jul 2007

Writer, director and producer Judd Apatow honed his skills on The Larry Sanders Show, winning a couple of Emmys for his writing. What he took from the experience was that the best comedies are not made up of jokes, but of observations on the ways people…

Seachd

19 Jul 2007

Working with a tiny budget, director Simon Miller and producer Christopher Young’s remarkable first-ever Gaelic feature is dramatic, funny and spectacular, and steeped in Gaelic mythology. Transcending their modest means, largely by collaborating with…

Komma, Ex Drummer

19 Jul 2007

A pair of Belgian movies at the EIFF will showcase the talents of Flemish superstar composer and actor Arno Hintjens. The 59-year-old’s surprisingly mature acting (for a pop star) can be sampled in Martine Doyen’s engrossing personality theft drama…

The Directors

13 Nov 2006

It may not be very apparent yet, but Scotland’s summer festivals are feeling seismic tremors. On the one hand there are new chiefs heading up two of Edinburgh’s prestigious festivals. On the other, there’s a new, upmarket music festival outside Glasgow…