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Edinburgh International Film Festival 2005

The EIFF programme says: "Real life is, without question, stranger and more wondrous than any fiction you might care to dream up. Take a deep breath and dive head long into these exceptional new, non-fiction features and shorts from all over the world."

View other Edinburgh International Film Festival Films by strand: Black Box, British Gala, Directors' Showcase, Gala, Late Night Romps, Mirrorball, Retrospective: Michael Powell, Rosebud, Shorts, Special Events

Shakespeare Behind Bars Shakespeare Behind Bars
Shakespeare Behind Bars and Voices Of Iraq
The 3 Rooms Of Melancholia (Melancholian 3 Huonetta) (Country: Finland; Year: 2004; Director: Pirjo Honkasalo; Writer: Pirjo Honkasalo; Stars: Pirkko Saisio)
A portrait of children in war.
UK Premiere
The Aristocrats (Country: US; Year: 2004; Director: Paul Provenza; Stars: Robin Williams, Billy Connolly, Hank Azaria, Drew Carey, Eddie Izzard, Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Rock, Eric Idle, Gilbert Gottfried, Carrie Fisher.)
Documentary about a filthy joke, told by a succession of professional comedians.
Full Review
UK Premiere
Bata-ville: We Are Not Afraid of the Future (Country: UK; Year: 2005; Director: Karen Guthrie, Nina Pope; Writer: Karen Guthrie, Nina Pope; Stars: Karen Guthrie, Nina Pope)
Documentary about a shoemaker with big ambitions.
World Premiere
Before The Flood (Yan Mo) (Country: China; Year: 2004; Director: Yan Yu, Li Yifan; Writer: Yan Yu, Li Yifan)
Documentary charting the relocation of the people of Fengjie, a city that will shortly be submerged beneath the Yangtze river.
Full Review
UK Premiere
The Boys Of Baraka (Country: US; Year: 2005; Director: Rachel Grady, Heidi Ewing)
Disadvantaged kids from Baltimore are sent to boarding school in Kenya.
Full Review
International Premiere
The Boys Of Baraka The Boys Of Baraka
The Boys Of Baraka and Before The Flood
The Devil's Miner (Country: Germany/US; Year: 2005; Director: Richard Ladkani, Kief Davidson)
Documentary on the child miners of Bolivia.
Full Review
UK Premiere
The Devil And Daniel Johnston (Country: US; Year: 2005; Director: Jeff Feuerzeig; Writer: Jeff Feuerzeig; Stars: Daniel Johnston, Jeff Tartakov, Bill Johnston, Louis Black, Mabel Johnston)
Biographical documentary about an underground singer/songwriter extraordinaire.
Full Review See: Sundance Film Festival - Day 6
UK Premiere
Document Shorts 1 (Year: 2005)
Worldwide factual short films. Featuring: Beyond Iraq (Tom Eldridge), Border (Laura Waddington), Death Takes A Holiday (Richard Feld), Dimmer (Talmage Cooley), Fountain Of Youth (Daniel Vernon).
Document Shorts 2 ()
Second showcase of factual films from around the globe. Featuring: I Love My Yugo (Sarah Carne), The Intimacy Of Strangers (Ava Weber), No School No Pool (Evan Cunningham-Dunlop), Out At Sea (Christer John Avger), Over The Rainbow (Rag Yagnik), Viva Morrissey (Jonathan Miertschin).
Drummer Wanted (Country: US; Director: Miles Bender, Mark Woollen)
The downside of drummer auditions.
International Premiere
The Devil's Miner The Devil's Miner
The Devil's Miner and Tour De Force
Grizzly Man (Country: US; Year: 2005; Director: Werner Herzog; Writer: Werner Herzog; Stars: Werner Herzog, Timothy Treadwell, Amie Huguenard, Franc G. Fallico, David Letterman, Willy Fulton, Marnie Gaede, Marc Gaede, Sven Haakanson, Jewel Palovak, Val Dexter, Carol Dexter, Kathleen Parker)
Werner Herzog examines the psyche of Timothy Treadwell, a man who lived and died with bears.
Full Review
UK Premiere
Gunner Palace (Country: US/Germany; Year: 2004; Director: Michael Tucker, Petra Epperlein)
The day-to-day life of young American soldiers in Iraq.
Full Review
European Premiere
The Holyrood Files (Country: UK; Year: 2005; Director: Stuart Greig; Writer: Stuart Greig)
Expose of the building of the Scottish Parliament.
Full Review
World Premiere
Last Men Standing (Country: UK; Director: Sasha Maja Djurkovic)
Documentary exploration of pit closures - what happens to the kids of the last men standing?
UK Premiere
Mad Hot Ballroom (Country: US; Year: 2005; Director: Marilyn Agrelo; Writer: Amy Sewell; Stars: Tara Devon Gallagher, Madeleine Hackney, Rodney Lopez, Victoria Malvagno, Stacee Mandeville, Yomaira Reynoso, Allison Sheniak, Solomon Singer, Alex Tchassov, Vanessa Villalobos, Madeleine Hackney, Ann Reinking)
Competitive ballroom dancing for the ethnically diverse pupils of Washington Heights.
Full Review
UK Premiere
Saltire Society Award For Short Documentary Saltire Society Award For Short Documentary
Saltire Society Award For Short Documentary and Pucker Up
Not Just An Ugly Face (Country: UK; Director: Raj Yagnik)
The world gurning championships.
World Premiere
Our Brand Is Crisis (Country: US; Year: 2005; Director: Rachel Boynton; Writer: Rachel Boynton; Stars: Mauricio Balcazar, James Carville, Tad Devine, Stan Greenberg, Carlos Mesa, Carlos D. Mesa Gisbert, Carlos Morales, Evo Morales, Henry Oporto, Manuel Rocha, Jeremy Rosner)
Economic crisis in Bolivia.
International Premiere
Pucker Up (Pucker Up: The Fine Art Of Whistling) (Country: US; Year: 2005; Director: Kate Davis, David Heilbroner)
A competitive whistling documentary from Louisburg, North Carolina.
Full Review
European Premiere
Saltire Society Award For Short Documentary ( Arts: The Catalyst, A Difficult Case, The Autograph Hunters, Fight of Flight, Fine, Multi Story, Waiting For Happiness, Public: Private) (Country: UK; Year: 2004; Director: Simon Hynd, Alice Nelson, Grant McPhee, David Lumsden, Hazel Bailie, Gregor Marks, Gunhild Enger, Daniel Warren; Writer: Grant McPhee, Ed Broughton, David Lumsden, Hazel Baillie, Gunhild Enger)
A collection of the best of Scottish short documentaries from the last year competing for the Saltire Society Award
Full Review
Same Sex America (Country: US; Year: 2006; Director: Henry Corra; Stars: Eliza M. Skinner, Matthew Cummings)
Investigating gay marriage.
Full Review
International Premiere
Mad Hot Ballroom Mad Hot Ballroom
Mad Hot Ballroom and The Holyrood Files
Shakespeare Behind Bars (Country: US; Year: 2005; Director: Hank Rogerson; Writer: Hank Rogerson)
Murderers and rapists perform Shakespeare and learn forgiveness.
Full Review
International Premiere
Taimagura Grandma (Taimagura Baachan) (Country: Japan; Year: 2005; Director: Yoshihiko Sumikawa)
Documentary examining a vanishing way of life in Japan.
Full Review
UK Premiere
Three of Hearts: A Postmodern Family (Country: US; Year: 2004; Director: Susan Kaplan; Stars: Sam Cagnina, Steven Margolin, Samantha Singh)
Two bi-sexual men, one heterosexual woman... what could possibly go wrong?
European Premiere
Tour De Force (Country: Luxembourg; Year: 2004; Director: Antoine Prum, Boris Kremer; Writer: Antoine Prum, Boris Kremer; Stars: Georges Christen)
A strong man heads for Russia to build on his 23 Guinness Book of Records titles.
Full Review
UK Premiere
Voices Of Iraq (Country: US/Iraq; Year: 2004; Director: The People of Iraq; Writer: edited by Robin Russell, Martin Kunert, Stephen Marks)
Iraqis film each other. Americans edit it. The invasion is given the thumbs up.
Full Review
UK Premiere
The Aristocrats The Aristocrats
The Aristocrats and Grizzly Man
Where Is Iraq? (Country: Canada; Year: 2005; Director: Baz Shamoun; Writer: Baz Shamoun)
An Iraqi/Candian filmmaker tries to re-enter his homeland after 20 years of forced exile.
UK Premiere
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