Edinburgh Film Festival Programme 2009
Artistic Director Hannah McGill Reveals Impressive Line-Up
May 11, 2009
In her third year as Festival Director, Hannah McGill has unveiled an exciting and varied programme for 2009. Here are some of the highlights.
Away We Go Opens the Edinburgh Film Festival
Sam Mendes collaborates with writer Dave Eggars on this road movie about a thirty-something couple trying to find meaning in their lives. The twee trailer suggests those of a cynical disposition should bring their own sick bags, but Away We Go should win Mendes polite applause.
The Girlfriend Experience- Soderbergh Experiments with Porn Star Sasha Grey
Soderbergh revisits the lo-fi filmmaking style of Bubble with this tale of a $2000 an hour escort girl (Grey). Despite Grey’s presence, the only intimacy on show will be of the emotional kind as her moneyed clients bare their souls.
There is more angst in Rebecca Miller’s adaptation of her own novel The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, which boasts a stellar cast including Winona Ryder, Keanu Reeves, Julianne Moore, Alan Arkin and Robin Wright Penn.
If however you prefer movies about comfortable, well off people running for their lives, instead of talking about them, Jamie Blanks horror film Long Weekend should suffice as beautiful couple Jim Caviezel and Claudia Karvan find the natural world turning against them on a trip to the Australian coast.
Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker Finally Premieres in the UK
Already shown at the Venice Film Festival, The Hurt Locker may be Kathryn Bigelow’s best work yet, surpassing her vampire tale Near Dark (1987) or her 50’s biker movie The Loveless (1982 co-director Monty Montgomery). Jeremy Renner delivers a charismatic turn as a daredevil bomb-disposal expert. Ralph Fiennes appears briefly firing a machine gun and fans of cult TV show Lost may be interested to see Evangeline Lilly in a small role as Renner’s girlfriend.
Claire Denis, Shane Meadows and Darren Aranofsky
Claire Denis, one of the great directors of modern cinema, unveils her latest film 35 Shots of Rum, while Shane Meadows teams up with his favourite leading man Paddy Considine for the comedy Le Donk. Meanwhile there is also a Q&A with The Wrestler director Darren Aranofsky.
Genre Films: Black Dynamite and Argento’s Giallo
Scott Sanders Blaxploitation spoof Black Dynamite seems to have caught the spirit of 70’s Grindhouse far more effectively than Tarantino or Rodriguez could in either Death Proof or Planet Terror. Dario Argento has assembled an impressive cast for Giallo, including Oscar winner Adrien Brody, as a detective hunting a knife-wielding maniac in Italy.
Gremlins and The Howling director Joe Dante will be interviewed about his wonderful and currently undervalued career. Last seen directing the chilling Masters of Horror episode ‘The Screwfly Solution’ for television, Dante is deserving of a return to the mainstream. Dante’s mentor, Roger Corman is also awarded a retrospective and will be attending the festival.
Homegrown Scottish Talent
Andrea Arnold follows up her debut movie Red Road with another gritty piece, Fish Tank about a wayward 15-year-old girl with a passion for dancing. Meanwhile David Mackenzie (Young Adam) makes his Hollywood debut with Spread, starring Ashton Kutcher as a gigolo whose casual lifestyle falls apart when he falls in love.
Bill Forsyth also makes an appearance discussing his 80’s hits Gregory’s Girl (1981) and Local Hero (1983), as well as where he has been for the last decade or so. There is also a celebration of the life and work of Bill Douglas, including a screening of his 1986 film Comrades. The work of writer Peter McDougall is honoured with a screening of John Mackenzie’s great BBC film, Just a Boy’s Game (1979).
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