TWENTY-five world or international premieres and 68 UK premieres will be taking place at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, which yesterday unveiled its full programme.
With it having previously been announced that Scottish movie, Hallam Foe, is to open the festival, new artistic director, Hannah McGill, yesterday revealed that Julie Delpy’s romantic comedy, Two Days in Paris, is to close it.
The festival, now in its 61st year, is taking place next month, between the 15th and 26th.
But the programme announcement – to a packed Cinema One at the Filmhouse, in the capital – was partly overshadowed by news of the death of a former artistic director, Penny Thomson, who lost a long battle against cancer.
Thomson – film producer, restaurant reviewer and talent spotter – had been director between 1992 and 1994. She had died on Monday evening. Among her many involvements, she was was a member of the BAFTA Scotland committee.
Other highlights of the festival include Anton Corbijn’s Control, Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park, Michael Winterbottom’s A Mighty Heart, Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, and the new Pixar title, Ratatouille.
Guests taking part in onstage talks will include directors John Waters, Judd Apatow, Stephen Frears and Mike Leigh, and actors Samantha Morton, Chris Cooper and Bob Hoskins.
