Edinburgh International Film Festival
EIFF Review: The Justice of Bunny King
There’s a housing crisis in many countries around the world but few can match New Zealand when it comes to the current rate of inflation. Whilst the Kiwis have been widely praised for the handling of the pandemic, during the same period house prices have gone up by well over 20%. Despite cooling measures introduced …
EIFF Review: Skies of Lebanon
There’s never a dull moment in Lebanon. It’s sometimes good, sometimes bad, but life is never boring. With a civilisation dating back to the seafaring Phoenicians, its location in the Levant region bordering the Mediterranean Sea has afforded it a uniquely diverse culture. Beirut has long been a multicultural city, at one time or another …
EIFF Review: The Man Who Sold His Skin
Every refuge is an individual, with their own unique history and life experiences. There’s a distinct difference between economic migrants and someone seeking humanitarian protection. The vast majority of asylum seekers don’t want to leave their homeland but are forced out by conflict, torture, persecution etc. Often triggered or sponsored by the countries they try …
EIFF Review: Stop-Zemlia
The classroom can be a lonely and miserable place when you’re an outsider, standing on the sidelines while everyone else seems to be having so much fun. School is a happy time for many but lots of teenagers struggle with the challenges transitioning between childhood to adulthood can bring. The number of adolescents dealing with …
EIFF Review: Walk With Angels
Children routinely go missing in South Africa. About one every five hours on average according to official statistics, but the true picture is likely to be much worse. This can be for many reasons. They may have run away from home, fleeing violence or something worse, or been kicked out for one reason or another. …
EIFF Review: Even Mice Belong in Heaven
Thanks to the likes of Disney, Ghibli and Pixar, as well as smaller studios such as LAIKA and Cartoon Saloon, animation has become an integral part of mainstream cinema. Whilst the films we see on the big screen are mostly CGI or 3D, there continues to be a small but noticeable number of stop-motion movies …
EIFF Review: The Beta Test
Breaking into the film industry is far from easy. Independent filmmakers can spend years and years trying to get their big break. Often making a number of shorts in the hope that they’ll impress enough to secure funding. Take Jim Cummings, for example. Despite releasing his first debut feature back in 2010 it took eight …
EIFF Review: The Gig Is Up
As long as there has been the concept of ownership, workers have been abused and exploited by their employers. Whilst slavery might well now be illegal in most of the world, that doesn’t mean to say that slave labour or the equivalent of indentured servitude doesn’t still exist. Indeed, whilst the industrial revolution and technological …
EIFF Review: The Bright Side
Comedians are often depicted as being happy on the outside, crying on the inside. Going on stage and making people laugh night after night has to take a psychological toll. It’s an inherently lonely profession and rates of depression, anxiety, alcoholism etc are much higher than most other careers. The sad clown paradox is alive …
EIFF Review: Pig
It’s fair to say that over the years Nicolas Cage has garnered a reputation for being a man on the edge. The internet is full of memes and compilation videos of the American letting rip. Indeed, this ‘craziness’ seems to have now almost become expected of him in a career which is prolific, to say …