For 50 weeks of the year, Edinburgh is home to a cracking castle, disproportionately large numbers of English people and reams of tartan-emblazoned tourist tat. But for two weeks in June, the Scottish capital is also scene of one of the world’s biggest film festivals.
The slate for this year’s event, which runs from June 18-29, was announced today, with new movies from Keira Knightley, Werner Herzog, Shane Meadows and Pixar’s latest all part of the line-up.
Opening the festival will be Edge of Love — a classy-sounding effort starring a raft of British eye candy, including Knightley and Sienna Miller, as well as the frankly-rather-creepy-looking Cillian Murphy as the poet in love with them both (greedy bugger).
Closing the festivities, meanwhile, is the world premiere of Faintheart — a Viking re-enactment comedy that came together through the magic of MySpace. Spaced co-creator Jessica Hynes stars.
Some of the other interesting films showing at the festival include Pixar’s robo-themed effort Wall•E, Shane Meadows‘ new pic Somers Town, and a pair of documentaries from two of the best in the business: the Antarctic-set Encounters at the Edge of the World from Teutonic genius Werner Herzog and Errol Morris‘ Standard Operating Procedure — about the use of torture by U.S. troops in Iraq.
Lightening the mood will be special screenings of Spielberg’s weep-tastic classic E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial and Robert Zemeckis‘ Back To The Future, all held out in the crisp, open Scottish air.
Saving the best ’til last, stop-motion animation legend Ray Harryhausen — who’s work bringing plastercene creatures to life on Clash of the Titans, Jason and the Argonauts and the Sinbad films made him a household name — will be showing up for a special Q&A session.
Check out the full selection on the Edinburgh International Film Festival website.
