Edinburgh International Film Festival
In Association With FilmFour
13 - 24 August 2003

"Edinburgh's reputation now stands shoulder high with the likes of Canes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto and Sundance Film Festivals."
     Hotdog, July 2002

"As a showcase for new talent, both homegrown and international, the EIFF is unsurpassed."
     Academy BAFTA magazine, August 2002

No Beaches, No Starlets, No Prizes - No Longer
EIFF Logo Around fifteen years ago BBC Radio Scotland made a documentary on the Edinburgh International Film Festival. The title was "No Beaches, No Starlets, No Prizes" to illustrate the fact that, while a prestigious film festival, unlike Cannes and Venice Edinburgh did not quite offer the same kind of glitzy, glamorous celebrity ambience.

But styles have changed over the years and today a host of movie actors, directors and producers make their way to Edinburgh to promote their new films and take part in industry debates and networking events. In recent years such stars and starlets as Sean Penn, Sean Connery, Cate Blanchett, Jude Law, Pierce Brosnan, Ewan McGregor, Kate Winslet and Martin Scorcese have appeared at the Festival.

And there are now several awards presented for best British feature film and for new director, short film, animation and documentary as well as an audience-selected award for best film. Edinburgh's answer to the Palme d`Or in Cannes is the Michael Powell Award for best British film.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival has always been seen as a significant and serious festival to showcase films and film makers. It began as a documentary film festival in 1947 and it is still committed to promoting factual feature films as well as promoting the work of young, up and coming directors alongside internationally established names.

New Europe
The Artistic Director, Shane Danielsen, and his team of programmers have travelled the world, visiting other festivals and meeting movie makers to seek out new, intelligent, well crafted films. The 2003 programme is a rich and diverse feast of films offering 8 world premieres, 7 European premieres and around 70 UK premieres featuring an impressive and exciting lineup of new work from such directors as Clint Eastwood, Peter Greenaway, Mike Hodges and Oliver Stone. As a true international showcase representing 42 countries, fresh, innovative films from Tunisia, Lithuania, Brazil and Haiti will also be premiered. The Rosebud section highlights directors presenting their debut and second films.

New Europe A group of 23 international films are grouped under the title New Europe, each of which looks at national identity, politics and culture across Europe today. What does it mean in 2003 to be European and to live here.? The idea for this mini festival within the festival was conceived after US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, made a statement about the growing irrelevance of "Old Europe" following the lack of European support (France and Germany) of the US resolution for war.

As the Artistic Director and his team began to select films, a recurring theme was identified in which narratives investigated such timely, contemporary issues as nationalism, asylum seekers, immigrants and the boundaries which divide religious communities and social classes. The films in the New Europe section thus gives the Festival a particular focus and purpose, each reflecting in their individual ways, the times in which we live.

Scottish Films Too
Young Adam The opening Gala is Young Adam, directed by David Mackenzie and starring Ewan Macgregor, Tilda Swinton and Peter Mullan - selected not because it is a Scottish production but because it is regarded by the Festival as the finest British film released this year. It has already received high praise at Cannes. Based on the cult novel by Alexander Trocchi and set in the 1950s it follows the journey of a young drifter who finds work on a barge travelling between Glasgow and Edinburgh. With atmospheric music from David Byrne this is described as an elegant though disturbingly dark tale of murder, adultery and strange encounters.

Another Scottish film being premiered is the long awaited debut film by Richard Jobson, former punk musician with the Skids. Filmed in Edinburgh, 16 Years of Alcohol and starring Kevin McKidd, this is a semi-autobiographical elegy about wasted youth and their premature involvement with drink and sexual relationships. Beneath the anger and angst, it's essentially a love story with the lead character Frankie Mack trying to confront his past in order to move on to a more settled, secure future.

"It's a very visual story, much more of a dreamscape than a reality that anybody would recognise. My version of the Scottish landscape is different, a representation that you don't often see in film."
      Richard Jobson.

Crime Thrillers and Drama
Clint Eastwood's latest film as a director is Mystic River, a crime thriller based on the best selling novel by Dennis Lehane and starring Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon and Tim Robbins. The brutal murder of a child brings together three childhood friends after long separation, which recalls memories of the past as they each try and question their behaviour, morality and revenge.

Laurel Canyon Laurel Canyon also promises to be a strong drama, set in the Hollywood Hills above Los Angeles where middle aged rock-chick record producer (Frances McDormand), welcomes her conservative son (Christian Bale) and wife (Kate Beckinsale) to her home. The family encounter is one of conflict and cultural differences illustrating the ironic converse generation gap scenario.

A New Trilogy
Peter Greenaway The first of a new trilogy by veteran filmmaker, Peter Greenaway will also be screened at the EIFF. The Tulse Luper Suitcases - Part 1 is about a villain and his experiences of prison life. As always a Greenaway plot cannot easily be described in words; this is cinema as art, images, ideology, text, music - a visual tableaux. Peter Greenaway will be appearing in person at the festival as part of the Reel Life series of talks, taking part in a two hour retrospective looking back at his career as well as this new trilogy.

Other Reel Life interviews include Mike Hodges, director of such classic films as Get Carter with Michael Caine, Pulp and The Terminal Man. His new film, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, will be premiered at the Festival. With a fine cast - Charlotte Rampling, Malcolm McDowell and Ken Stott, this is a tough and atmospheric London gangland `film noir` thriller. The Director's Cut of The Terminal Man will also be screened for the first time.

The closing night film is American Splendor directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Bulcini which was a hit of this year's Sundance Film Festival and already regarded as the best American film of the year.

It's based on the true story of Harvey Pekar, a working-class hospital clerk who in his private life is an intelligent and creative comic-book artist. Poignant and humorous, part documentary and fiction, this promises to be an exceptionally unique and mesmerising narrative to close the 57th festival.

And There's More
The EIFF is more than just a presentation of new movies - there is a retrospective of the key figure in French cinema, Henri-Georges Clouzot [ 1907-1977], whose films include The Raven, [ 1943], depicting Nazi Occupation, which was initially banned and not shown until 1947. Other films include The Mystery of Picasso, a portrait of the artist, [ 1956] and his debut, The Murderer lives at Number 21, a serial killer thriller. [1942].

Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator Amongst other special events is a tribute to the talented Mr. Charlie Chaplin with the screening of a new documentary, The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin and also one of his great films, The Great Dictator.

Budding film makers can attend the Script Factory, a series of masterclasses, workshops and readings.

With special sections for Animation and Documentary films, music videos, the Black Box `artist as filmmaker` series, as well as lectures, debates and discussions, the EIFF is a true celebration of the movie world - from yesterday and today together with new experimental voices and ideas by the film makers of tomorrow.

Shane Danielsen sums up this year's programme very astutely -

"Many films are assembled - funny and tragic, harsh and beautiful, thrilling and profound. It's doubtful that you will adore every single one, but it's also highly unlikely that whatever your taste, you won't find some things to cherish, that will haunt your dreams and colour your days."




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