British crime thriller Hyena will have its world premiere as the opening night gala of the 68th Edinburgh Film Festival on Wednesday, June 18.
It will join eight other British films in competition for the Michael Powell Award - six of which are world premieres.
The film reunites director Gerard Johnson with Peter Ferdinando, who played the lead in his debut feature Tony which received its world premiere at EIFF in 2009.
Ferdinando plays Michael Logan in the film - which has already been picked up by Metrodome in the UK - as an anti-hero for our times: a natural predator and a complex mix of high-functioning addict and corrupt police officer. But his dark world is evolving thanks to a recent influx of ruthless Albanian gangsters.
The film also stars Stephen Graham, MyAnna Buring, Neil Maskell, Elisa Lasowski and Richard Dormer.
EIFF artistic director Chris Fujiwara said: “We’re excited to be opening the festival with the World Premiere of Hyena. It’s a powerful and beautifully directed thriller that clearly establishes director Gerard Johnson as a major talent in British filmmaking. It’s also an exceptional example of the kind of film that our festival has traditionally supported: a work in which a director of artistic integrity takes a vigorous and imaginative approach to the renewal of a film genre.”
The film's producer Stephen Woolley, said: “I vividly recall seeing the World Premiere of The Long Good Friday in 1980 at EIFF and presenting my first production The Company of Wolves there in 1984. The design of Wolves was heavily influenced by Michael Powell’s Black Narcissus. So to bring Gerard Johnson’s dark London crime thriller HYENA to the festival to compete for the Michael Powell Award completes a perfect thirty year circle.”
HYENA Director Gerard Johnson, said: “My first feature Tony had its World Premiere in Edinburgh in 2009, that same year I won a Trailblazer Award for future talent. It feels right to say thank you and return with my new film Hyena and for it to open this prestigious festival is a huge honour.”
Nominated several times previously, and twice a Michael Powell Award recipient, Gillies Mackinnon returns to EIFF with the World Premiere of Castles In The Sky, the story of visionary Scottish engineer and developer of radar, Robert Watson-Watt, played by Eddie Izzard.
Greyhawk, the debut feature from Guy Pitt, will receive its UK Premiere at the Festival. Starring Alec Newman, the film follows a withdrawn, blind ex-soldier who loses his beloved guide dog on an infamous housing estate. World Premiere Hide And Seek is directed by Joanna Coates and is a study of a modern attempt at living a utopian ideal. Brighton-set romantic comedy My Accomplice - the directorial debut of Charlie Weaver Rolfe - will receive its world premiere.
Celebrating Dylan Thomas' centenary, EIFF will host the World Premiere of Set Fire To The Stars, a drama following Thomas battling his demons in 1950s New York. Featuring Celyn Jones as Thomas and Elijah Wood as John Malcolm Brinnin, and an accomplished original score by Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals), the film is co-written and directed by Andy Goddard.
UK Premiere A Practical Guide To Spectacular Suicide, directed by Graham Hughes, is a poignant comedy telling the story of a young man who wants to kill himself and starts a blog charting his plans.
Uberto Pasolini, director of Machan and producer of The Full Monty and Palookaville, presents a tale of life, love and the afterlife in Still Life, which will receive its UK Premiere. Eddie Marsan stars as a council worker charged with finding the next of kin of those who have died alone.
Delving into the tragic real-life case of an Asian teenager brutally murdered in his cell in a UK young offenders institution by a racist fellow inmate, We Are Monster, directed by Antony Petrou, is another title set to receive its world premiere.
As announced in December, the prize money for the Michael Powell Award will be increased to £20,000 this year. The 2014 Michael Powell Award will be presented at the EIFF Awards Ceremony on Friday 27 June at Filmhouse.
