If the Edinburgh International Film Festival were a woman, she’d be coming up on retirement now – but, at 59, the old lady is showing little signs of flagging. In fact, this year’s festival is one of the strongest of recent years – and set to pack more star quality than last year’s.
Opening the festival this year is the world premiere of Richard E Grant’s semi-autobiographical debut feature about a young man growing up in Swaziland. The cast certainly packs a punch with Gabriel Byrne, Miranda Richardson and Julie Walters among the stars. There will also be an onstage interview with Grant on Thursday August 18th.
British films to look out for include heart-warming Scots comedy On A Clear Day, Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean’s tweenie fantasy Mirrormask.
While, films holding promise from over the Pond include Sundance hits such as quirky comedy Thumbsucker and the moving Junebug.
Other hot tickets this year are sure to include Joss Whedon’s Serentiy – a continuation of his short-lived TV show Firefly, which gets it’s world premiere - and the international premiere of George A Romero’s Land Of The Dead.
Last year was a bit of a let down in terms of red carpet stars – but this year there’s plenty to get excited about. There are interviews with Romero, Whedon, Grant along with Oscar winner Anthony Minghella. Peter Mullan and Billy Boyd are likely to be on hand for the screening of On A Clear Day, adding some home-grown glitz.
Don’t worry if you haven’t been able to snag tickets for your favourite film. There’s still a chance. Extra screenings are added as the festival runs and each screening has a ‘returns’ queue (from half an hour beforehand) where you might get lucky.
We’ll be bringing you daily reports and reviews of what’s hot and what’s not, so remember to check back regularly.
For our reviews, click here. For our EIFF coverage visit iofilm.co.uk/festivals/edinburgh.
For the official EIFF site, click here
