Eye For Film >> Festivals >> EIFF >> 2008 >> Document

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2008

The EIFF started off as a documentary film festival in 1947, and this year's documentary strand is particularly strong. They say; "Honouring our history as a documentary festival, we still seek out the most intriguing real-life stories from all over the world."






View other Edinburgh International Film Festival Films by strand: Black Box, British Gala, Director's Showcase, Gala, Mirrorball, Night Moves, Retrospecive: Jeanne Moreau, Retrospective: Shirley Clarke, Rosebud, Shorts, Under The Radar

Paradise Paradise
Paradise and Mechanical Love
Alone In Four Walls (Allein In Vier Wänden) (Country: Germany; Year: 2007; Director: Alexandra Westmeier; Writer: Alexandra Westmeier)
Inside a juvenile Russian reform school.
Full Review
UK Premiere
Angels In The Dust (Country: South Africa; Year: 2007; Director: Louise Hogarth; Writer: Louise Hogarth; Stars: Marion Cloete, Con Cloete), Official Site, Trailer
Documentary about a wealthy, privileged family who build a community for children whose lives have been devastated by HIV/AIDS.
Full Review
UK Premiere
The Art Star And The Sudanese Twins (Country: New Zealand; Year: 2007; Director: Pietra Brettkelly; Writer: Pietra Brettkelly), Official Site
An artist's obssessive attempt to adopt twins in Darfur.
Full Review
UK Premiere
Cafe De Los Maestros (Country: USA; Year: 2008; Director: Miguel Kohan; Writer: Miguel Kohan, Gustavo Santaolalla)
A celebratory film about the maestros of tango.
Full Review
UK Premiere
Document Shorts (Year: 2008)
Glimpses of the weird and wonderful, the heartbreaking and hilarious, from real lives all over the world. Featuring: Bergeronnettes (Alicia Van Assche), Bullet Proof Vest (May Lin Au Yong) I Shot The Mayor (or: Plan B) (Astrid Bussink), Kredens (Jacob Dammas), Living On The Landing (Podestleben) (Sandra Budesheim, Sabine Zimmer), Plane Days (Benjamin Kracun, Ewan McNicol), Pull, The (Andy Blubaugh), Valley of the Goats (Leon Dean).
War Child War Child
War Child and Obscene
Dreams With Sharp Teeth (Country: USA; Year: 2007; Director: Erik Nelson; Writer: Erik Nelson; Stars: Harlan Ellison, Robin Williams, Neil Gaiman, Peter David, Ronald D. Moore, Josh Olson, Tom Snyder)
Fiercely intelligent and ubiquitous writer Harlan Ellison is put under the lens by Robin Williams.
UK Premiere
Encounters At The End Of The World (Country: US; Year: 2007; Director: Werner Herzog; Stars: Werner Herzog), Official Site, Trailer
The infamous director Werner Herzog visits the Antarctic, determined not to make a movie about penguins.
Full Review
UK Premiere
Fairytale Of Kathmandu (Country: UK, Ireland; Year: 2007; Director: Neasa Ni Chianain), Official Site
Following an admired writer to his spiritual home in Nepal leads to a difficult discovery.
Full Review
UK Premiere
Jesus Christ Saviour (Jesus Christus Erlöser) (Country: Germany; Year: 2008; Director: Peter Geyer; Writer: Klaus Kinski; Stars: Klaus Kinski)
Klaus Kinski (so immortally captured in Werner Herzog's My Best Fiend) gives a showstopping performance with a defiant monologue.
Full Review
International Premiere
Mechanical Love (Country: Denmark; Year: 2007; Director: Phie Ambo)
Artificial Intelligence and the Uncanny Valley, androids that we can love bookend the story.
Full Review
UK Premiere
Fairytale Of Kathmandu Fairytale Of Kathmandu
Fairytale Of Kathmandu and Scottish Short Documentary Award Screening
The New 10 Commandments (Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Nick Higgins, Kenny Glenaan, Douglas Gordon, Irvine Welsh, Mark Cousins, Tilda Swinton, Sana Bilgrami, Alice Nelson, Doug Aubrey, David Graham Scott, Anna Jones), Official Site
Celebration the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declarations of Human Rights interpreted through the prism of Scotland today.
Obscene (Country: USA; Year: 2007; Director: Daniel O’Connor, Neil Ortenberg)
Documentary about Barney Rosset, who challenged obscenity laws most famously in the case of Lady Chatterley's Lover.
Full Review
European Premiere
The Order Of Myths (Country: USA; Year: 2008; Director: Margaret Brown), Official Site
Using dual Mardi Gras parades, The Order of Myths delves into cultural exploration and integration in a community still stuck in tradition.
Full Review
European Premiere
Pageant (Country: USA; Year: 2008; Director: Ron Davis, Stewart Halpern), Official Site
An in-depth look at drag queens in preparation for the Miss Gay America.
Full Review
International Premiere
Paradise (Paradiset) (Country: Sweden; Year: 2007; Director: Jerzy Sladkowski)
The story of wallpaper and marriage in a house on a lake in Sweden.
Full Review
UK Premiere
Jesus Christ Saviour Jesus Christ Saviour
Jesus Christ Saviour and Encounters At The End Of The World
Scottish Short Documentary Award Screening (Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: See individual reviews.)
Collection of Scottish short documentaries.
Full Review
sleep furiously (Country: UK; Year: 2007; Director: Gideon Koppel)
Rural Wales faces change from all sides as the population ages.
Full Review
World Premiere
Three Miles North Of Molkom (Country: UK; Year: 2007; Director: Robert Cannan, Corinna Villari-McFarlane), Official Site, Trailer
Spiritual fulfilment meets simple-minded satisfaction in a clash of ideologies.
Full Review See: news from the 2008 Edinburgh International Film Festival
, Q&A about Three Miles North Of Molkom
UK Premiere
To See if I’m Smiling (Lirot Im Ani Mehayechet) (Country: Israel; Year: 2007; Director: Tamar Yarom)
Candid revelations about things seen and done in the Israeli military.
Full Review
UK Premiere
Very Young Girls (Country: US; Year: 2007; Director: David Schisgall)
An examination of young girls as they are duped, tricked and coerced into selling themselves for sex in a surprising, and people-focussed film.
Full Review
UK Premiere
Three Miles North Of Molkom Three Miles North Of Molkom
Three Miles North Of Molkom and The Order Of Myths
We Went To Wonderland (Country: China, UK; Year: 2008; Director: Xiaolu Guo)
'Wonderland' - an interesting nickname for the West. Xiaolu Guo's documentary of her parent's first visit to Europe from China.
UK Premiere
War Child (Emmanuel Jal: War Child) (Country: USA; Year: 2008; Director: Christian Karim Chrobog; Stars: Emmanuel Jal), Official Site
A rising hip-hop star uses his music to raise awareness about his homeland’s ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Full Review See: Tribeca 2008 Diary: Day 1 and 2
UK Premiere
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