The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is renowned for unearthing the best in new cinema. It has a reputation of screening a remarkable range of British and international cinema, providing a springboard for many famous films. Taking place between June 17-28 in several cinemas across the heart of the Scottish capital, is large in scope whilst still retaining an intimate feel.
Some of the highlights of this year’s festival include:
Amy
From BAFTA award-winning director Asif Kapadia, Amy tells the incredible story of six-time Grammy-winner Amy Winehouse – in her own words.
Featuring extensive unseen archive footage and previously unheard tracks, this strikingly modern, moving and vital film shines a light on the world we live in, in a way that very few can.
Rough Road Ahead
This is the story of Ruby and Martin, a love story in the year 1967. Accused of “impending sexual degradation” the two youngsters are locked up in juvenile institutions and have to endure through a season in hell.
Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD
Future Shock! The Story of 2000AD: A documentary that tells the story of 2000AD, the unsung cult hero of the comics industry. This film will celebrate and pay respect to the comic and explore its importance and influence on contemporary pop culture.
Through in-depth interviews with the creators, writers, artists and fans of the last 35 years, we will tell the story of how this irrepressible, independent weekly comic has survived to have such a widespread cultural impact, not only on the international comics industry but also in film, art and literature.
Chuck Norris vs Communism
In 1980s Romania, thousands of Western films smashed through the Iron Curtain opening a window into the free world for those who dared to look. A black-market VHS racketeer and a courageous female translator brought the magic of film to the people and sparked a revolution.
The Lesson
Nadezhda is a high school English teacher near Sofia. Stunned by a theft report by one of her students she is determined to find the culprit and punish him. As this episode unravels at work, her personal life changes drastically. She is notified by a bailiff that the bank is about to seize her house and put it on auction due to overdue mortgage payments. Determined to keep her life afloat and her house she will do everything she can to get the money before it’s too late. Her personal and professional life will converge as she goes against all the lessons she teaches her students.
Last Days in The Desert
Ewan McGregor is Jesus – and the devil – in an imagined chapter from his forty days of fasting and praying in the desert. On his way out of the wilderness, Jesus struggles with the devil over the fate of a family in crisis, setting for himself a dramatic test.
Under Milk Wood
Under Milk Wood veers away from the traditional, literal reflection of Thomas’ original work and instead explores some of the more visceral elements of the funny, filthily fluid and magical dreamscape of the work whilst staying faithful to Dylan Thomas’s original text.
Narcopolis
Narcopolis is a fast thriller set in a futuristic city where the manufacture and use of all recreational drugs is legal. An elite unit, created by an over-stretched police force, works to keep the black market dealers off the streets and the licensed drug companies rich.
When Frank Grieves (Elliot Cowan), police officer and former addict, is called to investigate an unidentifiable corpse, he finds himself pulled into a world infected with corruption and in which the only person he can rely on is himself.
The Legend of Barney Thomson
Barney Thomson is an awkward barber who inadvertently stumbles into serial murder, with both absurd and macabre consequences. When a series of accidental events causes Barney’s dark fantasies to become reality, his uninteresting life suddenly gets very complicated, as he enters the grotesque and comically absurd world of the serial killer. Complicating matters further, Barney’s mother Cemolina has a secret of her own, causing a bloody and comedic chain of events. While Barney clumsily tries to cover his and his mothers tracks, the police inspector Holdall fights his own battles within his inept homicide department as he tries to solve the crime of the century. A black comedy of errors unfolds as the police try to capture the murderer at large.
Love and Mercy
Love and Mercy presents an unconventional portrait of Brian Wilson, the mercurial singer, songwriter and leader of The Beach Boys. Set against the era-defining catalogue of Wilson’s music, the film intimately examines the personal voyage and ultimate salvation of the icon whose success came at extraordinary personal cost.
For more information regarding the festival, visit the website.
