edinburgh international film festival Tagged Articles at Cinematical

A few international film festivals have announced their jury heads today, so here's a roundup, plus other fest circuit news:

• Chinese auteur Wong Kar-Wai (2046) will be replacing the late Anthony Minghella as the head of the jury at this month's Shanghai International Film Festival. Minghella, who died in March, will be honored by the fest, which runs June 14-22. Other jury members include filmmaker Bille August and Joan Chen, who once starred in a film co-written by Wong (1986's E nan).
• Actor Danny Huston (Children of Men) will head the Michael Powell jury at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, which runs June 18-29. He and others, including actress Joely Richardson and filmmaker Iain Softley, will be voting for the winner of the prestigious Michael Powell award. Last year's winner was Anton Corbijn's Control.
• Italian film critic Gian Luigi Rondi has been invited to be the new president of the three-year-old Rome Film Festival following a political shakeup that caused the resignation of former president Goffredo Bettini. Rondi was the artistic director of the Venice Film Festival between 1983 to 1986 and currently heads Italy's version of the Academy Awards, the David di Donatello Awards. He has so far declined that he will accept. The 2008 festival will run October 21-31.
• Jean-Luc Godard may be boycotting the Tel Aviv Student Film Festival, but other French filmmakers are set to attend another event, the Tel Aviv French Film Festival, which begins June 10. Those scheduled to appear include Alexandre Arcady, Diane Kurys and Laetitia Masson. Popular films set to screen include The Secret of the Grain and Love Songs, my review for which you can read here.

Festival season is well upon us, as two significant film fests have already winded down and announced their awards. Neither has the prestige of Venice, Telluride or Toronto, each of which Cinematical will soon be covering in depth, but they are great, rather regional events. Edinburgh, which will be moving to an earlier Summer slot starting in 2008, had a number of UK premieres and even surprised audiences with a special screening of The Kingdom. The Sarajevo Film Festival concentrates on South European filmmakers -- this year was apparently well-populated with Turkish cinema -- and is aided by the support of famous actors and directors like Jeremy Irons, who headed the feature competition jury this year, and Steve Buscemi, who received a special honorary award.

Two top prizes at Edinburgh went to Anton Corbijn's debut, Control, about Joy Division singer Ian Curtis. The film premiered at Cannes, where our own James Rocchi called it surprisingly, "well-crafted, sympathetic and good." It also won a Special Mention at that festival. Corbijn is reportedly also surprised by his film's achievement and success. In Edinburgh, Corbijn picked up the Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film and Sam Riley, who stars as Curtis, received the PPG Award for Best Performance in a British Film. The winner of the Standard Life Audience Award, which is voted on by festival-goers, was Paul Taylor's We Are Together (Thina Simunye). Supposedly the documentary, about a South African orphanage, just barely edged out Pixar's Ratatouille -- and nothing against the animated film, but I'm glad to see a less-known film get recognized here. Other awards went to Jennifer Vinditti's Billy the Kid (Sky Movies Best Documentary Award), which Monika reviewed at Hot Docs, Lucia Puenzo's XXY (Skillset New Directors Award), and the shorts The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island, Dog Altogether, Soft, Final Journey, Ottica Zero, Breadmakers, How to Save a Fish From Drowning and Over the Hill.

It is unfortunate that Cinematical can't be present at all the world's film festivals. For instance, none of us will be covering this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival, which starts next Wednesday and runs through August 26. Sure, it isn't as well known as Sundance, Cannes, Toronto, Telluride, or Venice, but Edinburgh is the longest continually running film festival in the world (Venice and Cannes are both technically older). And it does have its share of prestigious premieres and otherwise excellent programming. This year opens with the premiere of David Mackenzie's Hallam Foe, and the schedule includes Anton Corbijn's Control, Park Chan-wook's I'm a Cyborg, but That's Okay, Julie Delpy's 2 Days in Paris and André Téchiné's The Witnesses. For more of what's in store, check out our spotlight on the schedule, or check out the festival's website.

I would love to attend the EIFF, not just to check out the films but also to visit Scotland and see some of my heritage. Of course, I know from previous film festival experience that I probably wouldn't actually get in any sightseeing. It's too bad I have a scheduling conflict this year, but maybe next --even if I'm busy in August. Starting in 2008 the festival will take place June 18-29. I don't quite understand the reasons for the move --just that it is said to make "artistic and commercial sense" -- but the change will remove the festival from being part of the city's month-long arts festival. It also gets the fest away from being squeezed in right before Venice and Toronto. Apparently the programming will end up a little different as the new time frame will allow the EIFF access to other films. The most important thing I can think of about the move, though is that I may actually be free next June.

The fresh news from across the Atlantic today is the line-up announcement for the 61st Edinburgh International Film Festival, which begins next month. According to The Guardian, the fest was described at today's press conference as "a journey from dark obsession through to airy romance -- with a number of whip-lashing detours in-between." It starts with the premiere of David Mackenzie's voyeuristic stalker film Hallam Foe -- starring Jamie Bell and Sophia Myles. That's a pretty good opening bang -- Bell has got some great work under his belt, from his dancing Billy Elliot to his gun-loving Dear Wendy. When the festival wraps on August 26, it will be with Two Days in Paris, the Julie Delpy film that Erik Davis raved about in February.

In between is a mixture of old-news, big-name movies and interesting indie flavor. On the mainstream side of things, there's Ratatouille, Death Proof, A Mighty Heart and Knocked Up -- nothing new or particularly "oooh"-worthy since they've all hit theaters over here already. On the indie side of things, the pot is a little sweeter. There's Béla Tarr's The Man From London, starring Tilda Swinton, Andre Techine's film about AIDS in the 80's called The Witnesses, the interesting Selma Blair/Stellan Skårsgard film Waz, And When Did You Last See Your Father?, Anand Tucker's latest film about a son's memories of his dying father and Anton Corbjin's profile of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis -- Control. Topping off those more-intriguing morsels, there will be a rare UK appearance by John Waters, a retrospective on Anita Loos and interviews with directors like Stephen Frears. All in all -- it seems like a decent collection of films to suit any taste -- whether you like 70's post-punk tunes, a stoner who ensnares a cute and successful chica or some bloody death sadly free of Planet Terror.

The 60th (!) Edinburgh International Film Festival had its closing gala on Sunday night, and both audience and jury* awards were distributed. The biggest name scoring a trophy was Clerks II (mistitled Clerks 11 by Screen Daily -- innocent typo or glimpse of a very dark future?), which thumped Little Miss Sunshine in winning almost 80% of votes cast by the public, and taking home the Standard Life Audience Award (presented by none other than Sean Connery!). Jury awards, meanwhile, went to: Brothers of the Head, which just beat out the no-budget thriller London to Brighton for Best New British Film; Paul Andrew Williams (London to Brighton) for Best New Director; The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief, cinematographer Jake Clennell's "portrait of an Osaka night club with a staff of the city¹s top male escorts," which was named Best Documentary.

*The jury, by the way, was headed by John Hurt, and included such luminaries of film and criticism as ... Chrissie Hynde. I just thought you should know.