Ah, Edinburgh. Home of hills, castles, Scottish people and one of the largest arts festivals in the world. Yep, the Edinburgh Fringe is the place to be during August if you’re in the vaguest way artistic. And, let’s face it, much of the music, theatre, comedy and god-knows what else that’s put on is can be generously described as only in the vaguest way artistic. Amongst all the arty insanity, the Edinburgh International Film Festival used to present some of the very best films from across the world whilst hosting a plethora of guests. But, under the leadership of Artistic Director Hannah McGill, the EIFF was determined to assert its independence away from the Fringe and moved to late June. So, in it’s second year of standing proudly on its own, has the Edinburgh International Film Festival managed to keep the attention?
There were certainly plenty of films to choose from. The cool, low budget sci-fi feature Moon is the directorial debut of Duncan Jones (formally known as Zowie Bowie) and stars Sam Rockwell as an astronaut stranded on a space station. With a healthy influence from American science-fiction films of the 70s this, the winner of the Best British Film at the EIFF, is worth checking out when its released in mid July. And if sci-fi’s not your thing, then there was some intense drama in Crying With Laughter, a really well put together Scottish film about a stand-up comedian with a dark past. Or how about brilliant documentary Isolation that delved into the shocking statistic that 25% of British soldiers who leave the service would at – some point – end up on the streets. There was also the chance to scour short films where you’d find Curtains, a dark and surreal fantasy that marks the co-directorial debut of Julian ‘The Mighty Boosh’ Barratt. Like all good festivals, there were plenty of different films to discover no matter what your taste. There were some good (experimental feature West Point rocked my socks), some bad (if I have to see another British film such as Running With Traffic in which everything is so depressing they may as hand razor blades out with the tickets, I am going to scream) and some things that were excitingly different: Future Cinema presented a preview screening of All Tomorrow’s Parties – a great documentary about the music festival – that including a secret gig by Mogwai, people dressed up as Redcoats and donkeys. I don’t usually get that at my local cinema. Unless they’re doing a very special offer I haven’t been told about…
And, of course, there is the chance to star spot. Sam Mendes attended the opening night for his film Away We Go, all the ladies (and quite a few men) swooned over Gael Garcia Bernal who came over for the film Rudy y Cursi and Alan Cumming looked delighted to be back in his home country. Of course, looming over everyone was the appearance of the EIFF patron Sir Sean Connery who presided over events such as the Closing Award Ceremony. He may be slightly frail nowdays, but he’s still Sir Sean Connery and, therefore, one of the coolest people on the planet. Yep, a visit to the EIFF is worth it just to catch a glimpse of the first – and best – James Bond (cue angry emails from George Lazenby fans….). Due to my exalted position as a venerable member of the press, I even managed to blag my into, I mean get invited to, some parties. The closing night party saw the booze flow freely at a beautiful church (even if it did finish rather early) whilst the Trailblazers party (hosted to celebrate new talent) saw the dancefloor fill up rather quickly. Of course the best party was the cheapest as Shane Meadow’s latest film Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee (the story of a roadie and his new rapper protégé) was celebrated with a ‘credit crunch’ party. Held in a little church hall, it not only boasted all the supermarket own brand booze you could want but had Paddy Consindine running about, whilst in character as the titular roadie. I’ll take that over a black tie and champagne do any day of the week. Though I would like still to be invited to black tie and champagne dos!
But even with the parties and special events, the EIFF manages to be really inclusive. The Edinburgh Filmhouse and Cameo (two of the main venues) boast late opening bars where you can go and chat to like-minded fans and the odd filmmaker or two. There’s a really nice vibe that’s compounded by the fact that – by moving out of the Fringe – everything seems so much more chilled out. It was certainly nice to be able walk round the streets without having somebody thrusting a leaflet for ‘The History of Marxism in mime’ – or some such nonsense – every 5 seconds. Whilst it may have reduced some of the press presence (Sir Sean gave the BBC a good kicking in one of his speeches wondering why there were so many crews at Glastonbury and hardly any at the festival) the move seems to have done the EIFF the world of good.
If you’ve avoided the Edinburgh International Film Festival because of the general monster that is the Fringe, then now’s the time to check it out once again. You can, gasp, even find some reasonable deals on hotel rooms. And if you’ve never checked it out before then it’s worth a trip for any film fan, even if it’s just to catch a glimpse of Sir Sean
You can find out more about the Edinburgh International Film Festival by visiting http://www.edfilmfest.org.uk/
Photo credit: Sir Sean Connery presenting at the Awards Ceremony at the Filmhouse, Edinburgh 28th June 2009 ©Margaret Drysdale/EIFF Edinburgh International Film Festival 2009