Doors to the Edinburgh International Film Festival reopened tonight with the UK premiere of acclaimed coming-of-age drama God’s Own Country. The festival, now in its 71st year, closes with the World premiere of unofficial Morrissey biopic England Is Mine.
Films set to screen in the city include Final Portrait, directed by Stanley Tucci and starring Geoffrey Rush as Swiss painter Alberto Giacometti; Cars 3, which continues the festival’s cosy relationship with Disney-Pixar; Kyra Segwick’s directorial debut Story of a Girl; Teenage Superstars, a new music documentary from Grant McPhee; and Kaleidoscope, directed by Rupert Jones and starring his brother Toby Jones.
The festival will also include talks from such film legends as Richard E. Grant, Lizzie Borden, Kevin Bacon, David Arnold, Bernard Hill and Tucci himself, whose screen credits include The Devil Wears Prada, The Lovely Bones and The Hunger Games franchise. As always, there will also be a host of retrospective screenings, allowing audiences to see the likes of Videodrome, The Terminator, Withnail & I and Escape from New York, amongst others.
Award categories this year will remain the same, with the Michael Powell Award celebrating the best of British. The contenders in that field are Daphne, England Is Mine, God’s Own Country, Julius Caesar, Kaleidoscope, The Last Photograph, London Symphony, The Marker, My Pure Land, The Pugilist, Romans and That Good Night. Other categories are Best International Feature, the Audience Award and the Award for Best Performance in a British Feature.
It’s set to be an exciting festival, spreading across multiple venues across the city and taking time to look back on its long history. If it’s anything like years gone by, then there’ll be lots to discover as the festival pushes undiscovered films to the fore, allowing audiences in Edinburgh a chance to take a chance on something and hopefully be rewarded for their curiosity.
The Edinburgh International Film Festival runs from June 21-1 July 2017. edfilmfest.org.uk
Jamie Neish | @JamieNeish
