Yahoo News Edinburgh Film Festival Reveals Lineup And Official Venue Partners For 2023 Edition
Christian Petzold’s Afire and Celine Song’s Past Lives are among the titles set to screen at this year’s scaled-down Edinburgh International Film Festival (Aug 18-23), which is being mounted as part of Edinburgh’s wider cultural Festival.
The full programme announced includes 24 feature films, five retrospective titles, and a five pic short film programme. Five feature films will be presented as World Premieres, including the opening film Silent Roar. The festival closes with British Iranian filmmaker Babak Jalali’s well-received Sundance pic Fremont.
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The festival also today announced its new venue partners. Vue Edinburgh Omni and Everyman Edinburgh at the St James Quarter will host indoor festival screenings while the Old College Quad at the University of Edinburgh will be the site for a weekend of outdoor screenings titled Cinema Under the Stars.
Edinburgh had previously been based out of the Edinburgh Filmhouse cinema, which was sold to a commercial operator earlier this year. The cinema and the festival both closed down when their owner, the Centre for the Moving Image (CMI) appointed administrators late last year. In December, Screen Scotland, a national funding body, announced that it had acquired the intellectual property rights to the festival.
Elsewhere, the festival will host an American independent cinema retrospective featuring four films made by “rebellious filmmaking” voices in the 1980s and 1990s. The festival will also host a retrospective screening of Shane Meadows’ Dead Man’s Shoes, which had its World Premiere at EIFF in 2004.
This year’s event is the first organized by the new Programme Director, Kate Taylor. Taylor took over the post from Kristy Matheson, who is now heading the BFI’s LFF.
Discussing her first edition, Taylor said: “With this year’s vivid film selection the EIFF programme team has favoured the bold, drawn to filmmakers with searching perspectives and style to burn. Designed for an eclectic spectrum of film fans, and defined by a love of independent cinema, this compact programme shines a light on new talent, and offers a smashing six-day journey for the EIFF’s passionate audiences.”
Check out the full lineup below:
OPENING NIGHT: SILENT ROAR | Dir. Johnny Barrington | World Premiere | UK | A teenage tale of surfing, sex and hellfire set in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. From the lopsided charm of Louis McCartney’s Dondo, to Ella Lily Hyland’s turn as crisp-chomping Sas, to Hannah Peel’s soaring score, Silent Roar from debut feature filmmaker, Johnny Barrington is a film infused with mystic charisma.
CLOSING NIGHT: FREMONT | Dir. Babak Jalali | USA | A stylish deadpan dramedy about an insomniac Afghan woman unable to dream the American dream. Weaving deadpan humour and poignancy into a sensitive immigrant tale, Fremont is anchored by the moving breakout performance of Anaita Wali Zada. She is joined here by the perpetually off-kilter Gregg Turkington and Jeremy Allen White, star of The Bear.
MAIN FEATURE PROGRAMME (in alphabetical order)
AFIRE | Dir. Christian Petzold | Germany | Winner of Silver Bear at the Berlinale | A pretentious young writer embarks on a much-needed writing retreat in a seaside cottage with his best friend. To the surprise of the duo, they arrive to find the mysterious Nadja (Paula Beer), staying at their place. On the horizon forest fires burn. The latest film from Christian Petzold (Phoenix, Barbara) comments on the subjectivities of passion with the same piercing soberness it uses to touch upon themes of insecurity and creative struggle.
ART COLLEGE 1994 | Dir. Liu Jian | People’s Republic of China | Gnarly animation and slacker humour reign, in this Chinese punk comedy as a pair of art-student anti-heroes are set for revenge when their canvas is vandalised. Liu Jian (Have a Nice Day) is a director with attitude, and in this partly autobiographical film – featuring cameos from fellow directors Jia Zhangke and Bi Gan – his acerbic humour and social critique are leavened by a deep affection for outcasts.
CHOOSE IRVINE WELSH | Dir. Ian Jefferies | World Premiere | UK | From his early days in Leith to his times in London, San Francisco and Miami, iconoclast author Irvine Welsh has always had a restless mind and a particular genius for capturing the dynamics, language and sheer buzzing energy of life. In a documentary rich with personal archive material, iconoclast author Irvine Welsh relays his own story and philosophy with characteristic wit, while a roll call of admirers including Iggy Pop, Martin Compston, Danny Boyle, Bobbie Gillespie, Gail Porter, Rowetta, and Andrew Macdonald share their passion for his work.
CHUCK CHUCK BABY | Dir. Janis Pugh | World Premiere | UK | Amid the neon lights of a chicken packaging factory, two women, played by Louise Brealey (Brian & Charles, Sherlock) and Annabel Scholey (The Split), fall in love. Together, the duo rediscover the joys of living, finding in their beloved community of fierce, independent working-class women the strength necessary to overcome small-town prejudice. Mixing big laughs, romance tropes, and musical elements, Janis Pugh’s vibrant directorial debut tells a modern love story that is as refreshing as it is heartwarming.
FEMME | Dirs. Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping | UK | A homophobic gang attack causes drag artist Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) to retreat into himself, until a chance encounter with Preston (George MacKay), the gang’s leader, points him in the direction of revenge. A taut character study of the disguises of masculinity, Femme sets the stage for two of our most malleable young actors to deliver career-peak performances. In their debut feature writer/directors Sam H. Freeman (This is Going to Hurt, Industry) and Ng Choon Ping have crafted a tense, stylish thriller about desire and self-loathing.
IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE? | Dir. Ella Glendining | UK | Driven by a yearning to find herself in others, Glendining guides us through vital debates on many of the stigmas surrounding disability. A smart, honest and beautifully illuminating documentary, the film not only raises key questions on issues of inclusion but also makes space for a conversation about how isolating it can be to not see yourself reflected in the masses that surround you.
JORAM | Dir. Devashish Makhija | India | Tough questions of land development and indigenous rights fuel this tense thriller featuring a woman hellbent on revenge. Following a violent incident, Dasru (Manoj Bajpayee) and his wife have left rural Jharkhand to struggle in the big city. But when they are recognised by someone from their past, Dasru must go on the run with their three-month-old baby. Director Devashish Makhija (Ajji, Bhonsle) delivers intense genre filmmaking with heart-stopping moments of peril, while bringing piercing intelligence and empathy to the globally resonant struggles of indigenous people displaced.
KILL | Dir. Rodger Griffiths | World Premiere | UK | Twisted grief and paranoia run through the veins of this gritty Scottish thriller. A hunting trip turns deadly when three brothers (Daniel Portman, Calum Ross and Brian Vernel) plot to take out their abusive father (Paul Higgins; Line of Duty, The Thick of It). The darkest of takes on the daddy issues drama, Rodger Griffiths’ debut feature coaxes star-making performances from an exceptional cast of Scottish talent and blends consideration of toxic masculinity with the grit of classic thrillers.
ORLANDO, MY POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY | Dir. Paul B Preciado | France | An electrifying work of fiction/non-fiction, a polyphonic retelling of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, imagining a world bursting with Orlandos: an array of trans performers embodying one of literature’s most famous charcters, and giving accounts of their own lived experience. From beautifully composed tableaux to the ultimate waiting room song, this angry, witty, stylish and hugely energising rallying cry for trans liberation is one of the most remarkable films you’ll see this year.
PASSAGES | Dir. Ira Sachs | France | Despite being married to artist Martin (Ben Whishaw), filmmaker Tomas (Franz Rogowski) impulsively spends a night with teacher Agathe (Adèle Exarchopoulos). After this dalliance starts growing into something deeper, romantic chaos reigns. In their newest collaboration, Ira Sachs (Frankie, Love is Strange) and his co-writer Mauricio Zacharias capture the mayhem of intimacy and the emotional havoc that a charming narcissist can wreak in a love triangle that makes for the thorniest and horniest film of the year.
PAST LIVES | Dir. Celine Song | USA | A moving examination of South Korean diaspora told through a delicate tale of Nora (Greta Lee, Russian Doll), and first love Hae Sung (Teo Yoo, Decision to Leave). A classic immigrant tale in the making, Celine Song’s directorial debut is one of those rare films able to balance on its expertly crafted tightrope the woes of diaspora and the magical possibilities of reinvention.
PROPERTY | Dir. Daniel Bandeira | Brazil | An unsparing, politically twisted new take on the home-invasion horror genre that will surprise and disturb. Traumatised by an encounter from her past, Tereza (Malu Galli) has become a recluse. Hoping to ease her anxiety, her husband buys a state-of-the-art armoured car to transport her to their family country estate. Unbeknownst to them, the unfairly dismissed estate workers have decided to take matters into their own hands. Writer-director Daniel Bandeira creates a taut, anxiety-laden thriller, shot by cinematographer Pedro Sotero (Bacurau).
RAGING GRACE | Dir. Paris Zarcilla | UK | Joy (Max Eigenmann, Kargo), an undocumented Filipina cleaner, finds that a job caring for a country house and its bed-bound owner (David Hayman) may be too-good-to-be-true when she suspects that her boss is being slowly poisoned. In this smart, gothic debut that takes us through several genres, twists and turns, Paris Zarcilla thrillingly conveys that colonialism is not just the ghost that haunts the mansion, but a vivid force of the present that permeates British society. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at SXSW Film Festival.
SHOWING UP | Dir. Kelly Reichardt | USA | Michelle Williams and Hong Chau star in Kelly Reichardt’s (Certain Women, First Cow) intimate drama exploring artmaking, creativity and resilience. Reichardt has a unique way of focusing attention — a precise, subtle and fractiously human style of cinema — and it’s a pleasure to witness one of the greatest working filmmakers on top form.
SUPERPOSITION | Dir. Karoline Lyngbye | Denmark | A couple and their young son choose to move to a remote cabin in the Danish Forest for an experiment in off-grid living, with no human contact for a year. When they encounter another family in the forest, identical to themselves in almost every way, the fabric of their identities faces a test. Shot with elegant use of reflections and doubling, Superposition is a stylish slice of speculative realism, for those who dig their dilemmas Freudian and their chillers existential.
THE FIRST SLAM DUNK | Dir. Takehiko Inoue | Japan | Exhilarating basketball action meets teenage guts in this anime adaptation of a world-popular manga series by Takehiko Inoue. Quick-tempered Ryota and his high-school underdogs must dig deep, and search inside themselves, in a game against the established basketball champions which plays out thrillingly through flashbacks and in near real-time.
THE LYNDA MYLES PROJECT: A MANIFESTO | Dir. Susan Kemp | UK | Launch event and Screening | Celebrating a driving force in film culture, in Scotland and beyond, the Festival is delighted to host the launch of The Lynda Myles Project, a collaboration between Mark Cousins, Susan Kemp, and curatorial collective Invisible Women, that asks: how might we rebuild Edinburgh’s film culture, reimagining ideas and aesthetics, with Myles in mind?
Following a discussion event to introduce the project we will be presenting a preview screening of Susan Kemp’s remarkable documentary-in-progress The Lynda Myles Project: A Manifesto, an intimate and insightful portrait of Myles, and an essential work of cinephile activism, where feedback from audiences will be welcomed.
THE STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE | Dir. Hope Dickson Leach | World Premiere | UK | The gothic glory of Edinburgh replaces London in Hope Dickson Leach’s Scottish cinematic retelling of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novella, originally created as a live hybrid performance with the National Theatre of Scotland. Emphasising themes of capitalistic greed and unscrupulous social ascension, this interpretation is sure to echo with audiences attuned to the current political climate. Plus, it offers a rare chance to see Edinburgh in all of its shadowy glory on the big screen.
TRENQUE LAUQUEN (PARTS 1 AND 2) | Dir. Laura Citarella | Argentina / Germany | From Argentinian auteur Laura Citarella, what begins as a mystery soon deepens into an odyssey of literary romance, queer kinship, meditations on landscape, and creature-feature sci-fi, via many shaggy-dog diversions. Across twelve chapters, over two feature-length parts (presented at EIFF as a single screening with an interval), director Laura Citarella, of the El Pampero Cine collective (La Flor), keeps it compelling and creates a deeply absorbing cinema of enigmas.
UNGENTLE | Dirs. Huw Lemmey & Onyeka Igwe | UK | Histories of British espionage and male homosexuality intertwine in a mid-length film narrated by Ben Whishaw. Artist, writer and podcaster Huw Lemmey (Bad Gays) collaborates with artist filmmaker Onyeka Igwe (No Archive Can Restore You) on this 16mm film whose story could be ripped from the pages of John Le Carré, but whose approach is an alchemic queer blend of imagery and language. The film packs a dizzying amount of wit, insight and poignancy into its 37 minutes.
YOUR FAT FRIEND | Dir. Jeanie Finlay | UK | Celebrated documentarian Jeanie Finlay (Sound It Out, Seahorse) turns her camera on Aubrey Gordon, self-defined fat activist, and creator of the incisive, must-share blog Your Fat Friend. Filmed over six years, the film charts the evolution of Gordon’s work and creates a casually intimate portrait of the intersection between private and public life, illustrating the structures of anti-fat bias that damage, through the prism of Gordon’s illuminating critique and lived experience as a queer fat woman. Winner of the Audience Award at Sheffield Doc/Fest.
RETROSPECTIVE SPECIAL
DEAD MAN’S SHOES | Dir. Shane Meadows | UK | Shane Meadows’ gripping and grisly revenge thriller world premiered at EIFF 2004. Now it’s back in town. If Trainspotting made UK filmmaking cool in the 1990s, Dead Man’s Shoes did the same in the early-2000s, the poster and soundtrack suddenly ubiquitous, and the performance of co-writer Paddy Considine, becoming iconic. Almost two decades on, Dead Man’s Shoes is still a riveting watch and its influence continues to resonate with filmmakers and audiences.
RETROSPECTIVE: Rebellious voices in American Indie Cinema
DRYLONGSO | 1998 | Dir. Cauleen Smith | 25th Anniversary screening | USA | A restored treasure of 1990s DIY filmmaking celebrating Black female creativity. Art student Pica (Toby Smith) spends her long afternoons roaming the neighbourhood to photograph what she calls an ‘endangered species’: young Black men. Making her work even more urgent is a serial killer who stalks the same streets in search of young lives to take. The vibrant debut of acclaimed artist Cauleen Smith (who presented H-E-L-L-O, at Collective, Edinburgh, in 2022) harnesses its protagonist’s endless charisma to comment on racial politics, the strictures of the art world, and the importance of community.
LIFE IS CHEAP… BUT TOILET PAPER IS EXPENSIVE | 1990 | Dir. Wayne Wang | Hong Kong / USA | Trailblazing independent filmmaker Wayne Wang presents a wild ride into pre-handover Hong Kong. In an oeuvre that spans The Joy Luck Club, Smoke and Last Holiday, pioneering Asian-American director Wayne Wang has never sat still creatively, and this film stands up and stands out as a supremely anarchic, scatological flex of in-your-face sensory cinema. Presented in partnership with Cinema Rediscovered.
TOKYO POP | 1988 | Dir. Fran Rubel Kuzui | USA / Japan | A New York City punk meets a Tokyo rocker in this restored pop gem. Bleach blonde punk Wendy (Carrie Hamilton) travels to Tokyo on a whim and ends up finding inspiration and pop stardom with Hiro (Diamond Yukai), a similarly frustrated musician trying to break through. Directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui, who later went on to make the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, Tokyo Pop tenderly depicts the clash of two youth cultures rooted in standing up to the man.
VARIETY | 1983 | Dir. Bette Gordon | 40th Anniversary Screening | USA | Part alternative neo-noir, part a reversal of Alfred Hitchock’s Vertigo, Bette Gordon’s feminist class about a woman (Sandy McLeod) who takes a job as a ticket-seller in a porno theatre, is inspired by the director’s own wanderings around late-night New York City and showcases the skills of an assembly of icons of the 1980s cool avant-garde: written by punk author Kathy Acker, shot by Living in Oblivion director Tom DiCillo, with music by composer John Lurie, and co-starring Will Patton, Luis Guzmán and photographer and activist, Nan Goldin. Presented in partnership with Cinema Rediscovered.
SHORT FILMS
ANIMATION SHORT FILMS | At the heart of this programme of extraordinary animation work from the UK is a contemplation on the curious condition of being human – how we govern our emotions, navigate knotty relationships, connect to our surroundings, and find the strength to reject others’ perceptions and live as our true selves. This year’s selection includes new work by EIFF 2022 Powell and Pressburger award winner Ainslie Henderson (Shackle) and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK winner Lawrence Chaney voicing the main character in Holly Summerson’s Living With It.
BLACK BOX ARTISTS’ SHORT FILMS | Centralising tactility, collaboration and playfulness, these short films by artists interrogate photochemical film as repository for experience and memory. The dynamic current running through the programme is the boundless visual and conceptual possibilities within contemporary artisanal, small-gauge filmmaking practice. Offering a mode of image making as a politically charged, collaborative endeavour, these eight works reimagine aesthetic possibilities through the quietly radical acts of close-looking, collaboration and care.
BRIDGING THE GAP DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILMS | Six short documentaries from Scottish Documentary Institute’s talent development initiative Bridging the Gap, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. A collection of films showcasing those fearless outsiders whose journeys across borders, conflict and time offer inspiring and thought-provoking stories of acceptance, reconciliation and love.
SCOTTISH SHORT FILMS | A selection of short films from filmmakers born or based in Scotland, reflecting the current face of the nation. From the absurd to the poignant, this programme showcases the challenges impacting all generations whether that be in relation to geography, circumstance, grief or good old family dynamics. Across writers, directors, producers, on-screen talent and crews, this exciting mix of films represents the amazing variety of filmmaking talent coming out of Scotland today. This screening is supported by Edinburgh Napier University’s Screen Academy Scotland.
CINEMA UNDER THE STARS: OUTDOOR SCREENINGS
Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th August. A weekend of dreamy and eclectic outdoor screenings in the scenic surroundings of the Old College Quad at The University of Edinburgh. This year we mix family-friendly titles with artists’ film, a live soundtrack to a classic, a wuxia-influenced double-bill, and some cracking new films, in a programme set to make your heart sing. Includes collaborations with Edinburgh International Festival, Alchemy Film & Arts and Hippodrome Silent Film Festival (HippFest).
All screenings are ticketed, priced as Pay What You Can, starting at £2. Further information can be found on our website.
The Electrical Life of Louis Wain | Dir. Will Sharpe | Benedict Cumberbatch plays the eponymous painter of wide-eyed cats, in this love letter to creativity and misunderstood genius. Director Will Sharpe’s magnificent ode to oddity will pull at the whiskers of your heart.
Everything Everywhere All At Once | Dirs. Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert | This multi-Oscar®-winning film creates an unclassifiable meld of action, sci-fi, drama, comedy and romance, with award-winning performances from Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Hero | Dir. Zhang Yimou | This big-screen action epic is a riot of colour and design and features a stirring soundtrack by Oscar®-winner Tan Dun – also composer of Buddha Passion, the opening concert of the Edinburgh International Festival.
The Lego Movie | Dirs. Christopher Miller, Phil Lord | Fighting the tyrannical hands of capitalism has never been so awesome!!! A host of stars build an homage to the creative power of imagination that is as inspirational as it is fun. Plus, it features one of cinema’s all-time catchiest songs.
Spotlight Screening | Let the Canary Sing | Dir. Alison Ellwood | UK, USA | The poster girl for the 1980s, Cyndi Lauper, tells her story in this in-depth documentary. Taking a bird’s-eye view of the pop singer’s rebellious upbringing and voiced by Lauper herself, Alison Ellwood’s new documentary repositions the singer not as a pop culture artefact but as an artist in a state of constant reinvention, a life-long feminist who has always stood up for others.
Parasite | Dir. Bong Joon-Ho | A sharp commentary on class inequality neatly delivered as a skin-tingling thriller. Features a stirring soundtrack by Jang Jae-il – also composer of Trojan Women, which is being staged as part of this year’s Edinburgh International Festival.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish | Dir. Joel Crawford | Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) has just one of his nine lives left. Our hero embarks on a mighty quest to try restoring his feline privileges.
Spotlight screening | Safety Last! ft. Live Accompaniment | Dirs. Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor | On the centenary of its release, a classic of the silent era, presented with live musical accompaniment by acclaimed Scottish silent film pianist Mike Nolan. Featuring a nerve-rackingly funny performance by the “King of daredevil comedy” Harold Lloyd. This screening is presented in partnership with HippFest, Scotland’s first and only festival dedicated to silent filn.
Spotlight screening | Scrapper | Dir. Charlotte Regan | UK | Charlotte Regan’s debut feature about the reunion between a father and his young daughter. Georgie (Lola Campbell) is perfectly happy refusing to accept that her mom has passed away. She makes do by herself in her mum’s flat, with some light hustling and some help from the neighbours. That is, until her estranged dad Jason (Harris Dickinson; Triangle of Sadness, Where the Crawdads Sing) shows up to, like, take care of her or something. Slowly, tenderly, they find their footing with each other as they reconcile Georgie’s grief and Jason’s embrace of fatherhood.
Spotlight screening | The Wool Aliens (And Other Films) | Dir. Julia Parks | UK | Four gorgeous short films by artist Julia Parks, each a 16mm portrait of community action and the natural environment, created during a residency in Hawick in the Scottish Borders.. This screening – which includes the shorts The Wool Aliens, Tell Me About The Burryman, Burnfoot Grows and All Flesh Is Grass – will be preceded by a performance by musician Miwa Nagato-Apthorp. Presented in association with Alchemy Film & Arts.
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