.jpg)
The world's longest continuously running film festival opened in Edinburgh on Wednesday.
Now in its 62nd year, the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has been moved to June from its usual August date, seemingly because things can get just a little busy in August with the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe. This year EIFF will truly be the only show in town.
The 2008 EIFF will showcase an eclectic mix of 142 feature-length films from 29 countries, including 113 new features of which 15 are world premieres, 14 are international premieres, 6 are European premieres and 72 are UK premieres.
EIFF has a number of distinctive sections. The Document section aims to show compelling true-life stories from around the world and includes renowned masters such as Werner Herzog, who will be in Edinburgh for the UK premiere of his film Encounters at the End of the World , which promises to be a typically quirky look at Antarctica.
Hannah McGill, EIFF Artistic Director, commented on the 19 films on offer in the Document section: "It's an incredibly diverse array of work from a set of extremely talented film-makers – the new as well as the known. To present celebrated experts in their field alongside less familiar names is precisely what we strive for throughout the Festival."
The Mirrorball section presents music videos from around the world. EIFF finds itself here branching into the live music medium by presenting up and coming indie band British Sea Power who will screen their videos and perform new material deep underground in Edinburgh's caves.
There are also retrospectives at the EIFF, including on Jeanne Moreau, the legendary French actress who appeared in many classic films of the 50s and 60s and found international stardom in Truffaut's Jules et Jim before later going on to be an accomplished director and screenwriter in her own right. The other retrospective this year is on Shirley Clark the American avant–garde pioneer.
This is the inaugural year of the Under the Radar section that celebrates the raw and the weird in the spirit of the cult movie. It features such offerings as the premiere of Crack Willow , a shocking interpretation of the outcomes of social decay as seen by local Edinburgh award winning film-maker Martin Radich.
And for more mainstream tastes there's always the Galas, offering the glitzy red carpet treatment for some much anticipated features, opening and closing with two world premieres of British films. John Maybury's period romance The Edge of Love (with actors Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller in attendance) is the opener and Vito Rocca's old fashioned comedy Faintheart closes proceedings.
Other highlights include: the new Pixar title WALL·E screening as the Family Gala; Shane Meadows' Somers Town and Duane Hopkins' Better Things , both in the British Gala section.
In addition to all of this, EIFF offers unique opportunities for interaction including panel discussions, workshops and in person dialogues with some of the great film-makers.
Feeds