EIFF
EIFF2010: Festival Roundup
Of the twelve days that comprised this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, I was in town for six, during which time I was able to sample a good cross- section of the festival’s programme, meet a lot of great people and attend a few quality parties. For those of us returning to the festival from [...]
Home from edinburgh but not for long. Next stop Sunnyside
I’ve been home for all of two days and am now, yet again waiting for a train to take me somewhere. This time to St Pancras so I can catch the Eurostar to Sunnyside of the Doc in La Rochelle. Edinburgh was over in a flash and was very much wall to wall training, pitching, [...]
EIFF2010: If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle
Eighteen-year-old Silviu is serving out the last few days of his four year prison sentence. Called away from his manual labour, Silviu finds an unexpected visitor waiting for him: his younger brother, bringing news that their mother has returned from Italy. His mother’s return catches Silviu off guard; it obviously wasn’t expected, and it obviously [...]
EIFF2010: Undertow
Undertow is very much one of those unusual film beasts, a story which sounds daft on paper but which works well on screen: in a tiny Peruvian fishing village, family man Miguel is visited by the ghost of his dead gay lover, who is unable to rest until he’s given a proper burial. Sentimental and [...]
EIFF2010: The Days of Desire
From the very beginning of József Pacskovszki’s The Days of Desire something about it becomes very clear: it is absolutely stunning to look at. Scenes are captured in long, fluid takes which recall not Bela Tarr, as the festival brochure claims (Tarr’s texture, his mood, are different, his interest elsewhere), but perhaps instead his main [...]
EIFF2010: Vacation!
Vacation! starts with a black and white, split-screen sequence in which Sugar, Lorelei, Donna and Dee-dee arrange, through a series of phone calls, to spend an impromptu week away together at a beach house. Cut to the opening credits, all loud music, vibrant colours, old fashioned fonts and handheld handycam footage. The tone boarders on [...]
EIFF2010: My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?
The last decade has been an interesting time for fans of Werner Herzog, the madman of world cinema who surely needs no introduction. During the last ten years, Herzog has made a number of great documentaries – including Wheel of Time (2003), Grizzly Man (2005) and Encounters at the End of the World (2007) – [...]
EIFF2010: And Everything Is Going Fine
Steven Soderbergh’s body of work has always presented something of a problem for critics, its sheer eclecticism eschewing any easy pigeonholing. Despite this, however, there has always been an identifiable thread – both visual and thematic – running through the films. Yet here, for perhaps the first time, he feels almost entirely absent, a ghostly [...]
EIFF2010: Return to Edinburgh
As I write, I sit eager with anticipation at the thought of returning to the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Last year I was lucky enough to have a short film screening in the festival, and although I won’t have anything showing this year, a trusty press pass goes a long way to making up for [...]
A Number 26
I know this is just a picture of a bus, a number 26 bus but it is just one of many, many sentimental reminders of my past connection with the city. I’m at EIFF in Edinburgh to take part in Doc Week – for interdoc and SDI. I’ll be pitching my film ORION in the [...]
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