CULT films that combine edgy, new film talent and low budgets are to be celebrated by a new category at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
‘Under the radar’ is to comprise six movies – all premieres, including two at world level – and was partly inspired by the appearance at last year’s festival of ‘cult filmmaker’, John Waters.
Says the EIFF – which is, this year, taking place in June: “The festival has selected films which deploy low budgets to imaginative effect and range from being variously kitsch, gory, disturbing and hilarious.
“They break boundaries of both art and entertainment, drawing in elements of experimental video and gallery art as well as subversive comedy and extreme genre cinema.”
And one of the films to be screened is by Edinburgh College of Art graduate, Martin Radich. ‘Crack Willow’ is his first feature and is described as “a shocking and highly original interpretation of the psychological effects of social decay”.
Radich is a previous EIFF ‘Best short film’ winner.
Adds artistic director, Hannah McGill: “The term, ‘cult cinema’, has become mere marketing-speak in recent years. With this new section, we want to re-animate the spirit of the truly cult-worthy ‘midnight movie’, by showing films that take real risks with their ideas, their aesthetic choices and their humour.
“This is a diverse section, but it is all the work of filmmakers with vision, creativity, and balls – figuratively speaking, of course, as two of them are women. They are highly-appropriate discoveries for a festival that has in the past welcomed many of the great cult innovators, among them Sam Fuller, John Waters, George Romero and Roger Corman.”
