Film, Profile

An exploration of Hong Sang-soo's films ahead of Edinburgh Filmhouse season

Tony McKibbin examines the relationship dynamic in Korean filmmaker's celebrated films

Hong Sangsoo films often focus on characters so in crisis that they cannot help but generate crises in the very situations they find themselves in. They are not only crisis-ridden; they create a mise-en-scene of misery out of their own inability to…

Police, Adjective - Corneliu Porumboiu profile

Romanian filmmaker leading movement committed to realism and use of black humour

Name Corneliu Porumboiu Born Vaslui, Romania, 1974. Background Porumboiu studied film at the National University of Drama and Film in Bucharest. He first received acclaim for his short film A Trip to the City (2003). This was followed by…

Profile: Abbas Kiarostami

Certified Copy's director's film history

Name? Abbas Kiarostami. Born? Teheran, Iran, 1940. Background? Kiarostami worked as a graphic designer before joining the Centre for Intellectual Development Of Children And Young Adults where he started a film section. His first film The Bread And…

Profile: Anne Consigny of Wild Grass

Born 25 May 1963 in Alençon, Orne, France Background One of five children, Consigny grew up in the French capital, where he father was a high-ranking civil servant. She attended Paris’ National Conservatory for Drama aged 16 and two years later…

Paradis Regained: Heartbreaker

Matching up diminutive Gallic songstress Vanessa Paradis with hunky acting heavyweight Roman Duris may not have been an obvious fit, but the combination has proved electric. Richard Mowe talks to both actors ahead of the EIFF screening of their film…

The Illusionist opens EIFF 2010 - Sylvain Chomet interview

The year after French animator Sylvain Chomet knocked out cinema-goers at the 2003 Edinburgh International Film Festival with his wildly eccentric and utterly charming double-Oscar nominated debut feature, Belleville Rendez-vous (aka The Triplets of…

Michael Winterbottom on The Killer Inside Me

Born 29 March 1961 Background Born in Blackburn the director has become known for his ability to churn out films and work across genres. He made his first feature film Butterfly Kiss in 1995. What’s he up to now? Winterbottom has adapted…

Profile: Martin Compston

Name Martin Compston Born 8 May 1984, Greenock, Scotland Background The son of a welder father and office manager mother, aged 16, Compston signed as a professional footballer with his home town club Morton FC. Whilst still at school however, he had…

Profile: Nicolas Winding Refn

Born 1970 Copenhagen, Denmark Background After coming to prominence by re-sculpting his 1996 hit Pusher into an accomplished drug-trilogy, Danish writer/director Winding Refn’s controversial Bronson won him plaudits for coaxing a remarkable…

Interview: Mark Cousins - The First Movie

Documentary on experiment introducing the children of Iraq to cinema

Mark Cousins most recent adventure took him to Kurdistan on a mission to spread his love of cinema. Miles Fielder catches up with him Belfast-born, Edinburgh-resident Mark Cousins has been involved with cinema in many ways. He’s hosted the BBC’s cult…

Profile: Ian Hart

Name Ian Hart Born Liverpool, 1964 Background Ian Hart’s role as Professor Quirninus Quirrell in the ongoing Harry Potter saga is only a footnote in a role-call of strong supporting performances. Hart started out with a Play for Today…

Glasgow International - Mark Cousins meets Douglas Gordon

Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art returns this fortnight with a mouth-watering programme of work by over 50 artists in venues across the city, based around the theme ‘past, present, future’. Opening the festival, internationally renowned…

Brendan Gleeson has roles in both Perrier’s Bounty and Green Zone

Name Brendan Gleeson Born 29 March, 1955, Dublin, Ireland Background The lazy line to take on this scene-stealing character actor is he was a maths teacher for ten years before he decided to become and actor, and got his big break playing…

Profile: Luca Guadagnino on his role in I am Love

Name Luca Guadagnino Born 1971, Palermo, Sicily. Background Guadagnino actually spent the early years of his life in Ethiopia, before moving back with his family to Sicily aged seven. Having studied cinema at university in Rome, where he…

Warwick Thornton's role in Samson and Delilah

Name Warwick Thornton Born Alice Springs, Australia Background Thornton left school unable to read and write, and started working as a radio DJ. He soon graduated to having his own show called Green Room. His infatuation with images led…

Profile: Emma Thompson

Name Emma Thompson Born 15 April 1959, London. Background Her mum Phyllida Law is a respected Scottish actress who has appeared alongside her wee lassie in The Winter Guest and Peter’s Friends while her dad Eric only went and created The Magic…

Profile: John Hurt

Name: John Hurt Born: 22 June 1940, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, UK Background: The third child of a vicar and an actress (yes, really), Hurt followed a strict Catholic education at a local prep school with an escape to London to study art at St…

Profile: Gabourey Sidibe from Precious

Born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, where Do The Right Thing was filmed, she grew up in Harlem. Her mother is an R&B and gospel singer and her father a taxi driver. Sidibe’s life changed when a friend encouraged her to go to an open…

Déborah François

While still at school in her Belgian hometown, 16-year-old François attended an open casting held by the Dardenne brothers. She was chosen ahead of 150 other hopefuls in the role of a teenage mother, whose new baby is sold by her boyfriend, and the film…

Jean Eustache

In an interview given on the eve of the 26th Cannes Film Festival in May 1973, Jean Eustache voiced his frustration at the reception of his work and his troubled relationship with the film industry in France. ‘Although my films have always been…

Profile of Amelia director Mira Nair

Name: Mira Nair Born: 15 October 1957, Bhubaneshwar (India) Background: After starting her career as an actress, Nair turned to directing award-winning documentaries, including So Far From India. She made her feature film debut in 1988 with the…

Profile: Demetri Martin

Name Demetri Martin Born 25 May 1973, New York City Background A stand-up comic by trade, Martin’s 2003 show If I won the Perrier award at the Edinburgh Fringe. He’s written for such US staples as Late Night With Conan O’Brien and The…

Profile: Dylan Duffus from 1 Day

Name Dylan Duffus Background For his first acting gig, Birmingham barber Duffus started his career at the top, playing the central role in Penny Woolcock’s hip-hop musical drama about gang-life in the Handsworth area. Despite a lack of formal…

Profile: Cristian Mungiu

A look at the award winning director before his latest work, Tales From the Golden Age

Name Cristian Mungiu Born 27 April 1968 Background The graduate of the Bucharest Film School became the first Romanian director to win the Palme d’Or with his abortion drama 4 months 3 Weeks and 2 Days. Before becoming a full-time director…

Africa in Motion: Jean-Stéphanie Sauvaire

The French director on Johnny Mad Dog - his take on Liberia's recent civil war

The use of child soldiers is given a realistic and at times horrifying platform in French director Jean-Stéphanie Sauvaire’s depiction of the civil war that ravaged Liberia for over a decade until peace was declared in 2003. Sauvaire was familiar with…