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Edinburgh International Film Festival

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Edinburgh International Film Festival
Edinburgh International Film Festival logo
Edinburgh International Film Festival logo 2024
StatusActive
GenreFilm festival
Date(s)15 - 21 August 2024
FrequencyAnnually
VenueSummerhall, The Cameo, Edinburgh
Location(s)Edinburgh
CountryScotland
Years active77
Inaugurated1 June 1947 (1947-06-01)
Websitewww.edfilmfest.org

The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), established in 1947, is the world's oldest continually running film festival.[1][2][3] EIFF presents both UK and international films (all titles are World, International, European, UK or Scottish Premieres), in all genres and lengths. It also presents themed retrospectives and other specialized programming strands.

History

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Early years

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The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) originated as the International Festival of Documentary Films and was opened by John Grierson, founder of the British documentary movement. [4] The International Festival of Documentary Films was presented by the Edinburgh Film Guild alongside the 1947 Edinburgh International Festival.[5] Key figures in this initiative were the Guild's Norman Wilson and the film journalist and wartime civil servant, Forsyth Hardy.[6] The second Festival, in 1948, opened with Robert J. Flaherty's Louisiana Story. In 1949, The Festival planned to screen the double Academy Award winner Bicycle Thieves as the highlight of the third Festival but the film was given UK distribution and the distributors pulled it from the Festival. [7]

1952 marked a shift from documentary programming and the festival included Le Plaisir and Death of a Salesman, and the Duke of Edinburgh attended the opening of this sixth Festival. [8] The Festival was expanded in 1954 and showcased films and events at the Cameo cinema and other cinemas around Edinburgh, and John Huston also agreed to serve as Honorary President. [9]

1960s and 1970s

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The late Sixties saw Hollywood films showcased, mainly from independent studios, for example AIP. Film critic John Russell, reviewed these changes for the London Times and wrote: [10]

Last year the Edinburgh Film Festival was radically remade: out with drably conservative features and solid documentary, in with Roger Corman, international underground and the young idea. The idea was not only young, but good. By choosing to lay the festival’s main accent on specialist weeks devoted to a particular country or school and on retrospectives of the sort of film-maker rarely so honoured over here, the organizers immediately gave it a new twist, and removed it from the regular rat race, in which too many festivals chase too few films of any real merit

— John Taylor Russell, Edinburgh Goes Pop, The Times (23 August, 1969)

Director Murray Grigor recruited two undergraduates at University of Edinburgh, Lynda Myles and David Will, who had written an article published in The Scotsman criticising the Festival's programming as conservative. Wills and Myles were credited bringing influence from French film theory and American cinema. [11] They worked with British theorist and filmmaker Peter Wollen and introduced film retrospectives, educational and publishing events to the festival. Peter Stanfield writes that this changed the festival saying "as of 1968-69 the Festival was no longer a purveyor of middlebrow film fare; from the onwards it would assume an innovative, oppositional face, offering a platform for cultish directors and a window for some of the most exciting developments in international filmmaking." [11] The EIFF was funded by grants from the Scottish Film Council and Edinburgh Cooperation and, at the time, had no industry sponsorship.

In 1970 the Festival continued to show international films from Eastern and Western Europe including The Rain People and Five Easy Pieces. Cult films were also screened including the work of Monte Hellman, whose work the EIFF called "self-conscious" and "schematic" in the 1970 programme. [12] In 1975, the EIFF showcased the work of Jonathan Demme, screening The Hot Box, Caged Heat and Crazy Mama because "Demme sought to subvert the traditional conservative values of the genre! (written in the EIFF 1975 programme). [13] However, the decision of the EIFF to screen exploitation films was met with criticism and local magistrates responsible for passing films as suitable for public screening took offence to the violence in Bloody Mama, for example, and allowed it only one screening. [11]

The EIFF, under the guidance of Lynda Myles, Laura Mulvey and Claire Johnston, championed the screening of female directors and was the first of its kind in Europe to screen a variety of different films showcasing the lives, histories and work of women. This was known as "The Women's Event" organised by Myles, Johnston and Mulvey at the 1972 Festival.[14]

In 1977 the EIFF founded the Edinburgh International Television Festival as a five-day event including the MacTaggart Memorial Lecture presented by Max Ophuls. [15]

1980s

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Director Jim Hickey took over the Festival in 1981 and inherited a financial deficit, meaning his budget was £31,000 instead of the £75,000 the previous year, and the 1981 Festival was to run for nine days instead of a fortnight. Hickey decided that he would screen Abel Gance's five-hour long film Napoleon, and this was shown as the 1981 Festival's closing performance to drum up interest and publicity.

The Edinburgh Filmhouse was under reconstruction and when opened, the main auditorium would make a 285 seating capacity venue available for the EIFF. On the 15th February 1982, the main auditorium was opened to the public. The Filmhouse and the EIFF were financially linked for administration purposes, and the Scottish Film Council said it could not bail out the Filmhouse and that other sources of financial aid would need to be found.

The 1982 Festival opening film was E.T. The Extra Terrestrial screening at the Playhouse. The first week of this Festival also included the Scotch Reels event in which there were discussions and screenings of Scottish films, and the programmes were selected by Colin McArthur, who also convened the organising group. This event, discussing Scottish film, continued at the 1983 Festival but was renamed New Images of Scotland.

The 1984 Festival opened with the premiere of the film Comfort and Joy screened at The Playhouse. The EIFF executive was now made up of Professor Colin Young as Chairman, Murray Grigor as Vice-Chair, Film, Jane Cousins, Vice-Chair, Television, and others. Jim Hickey remained Director of the Festival, as well as director of the Filmhouse. Financial negotiations for the Filmhouse development were ongoing and the Duke of Edinburgh agreed to open the completed Filmhouse in July 1985.

The 1986 Festival marked the EIFF's 40th anniversary and the Scottish Television produced a film Hooray for Holyrood which included archival footage and interviews from those who had been associated with the EIFF. The main event at this Festival was a three-day conference on Cultural Theories and Practices associated with the Notion of a Third World Cinema, organised in association with the British Film Institute.

In 1988, the financial situation regarding the co-administration of the EIFF and the Filmhouse was ongoing and an outcome was eventually reached. The two bodies would separate by the end of the year but each would share the debt of both organisations. Being separate organisations required separate administration and therefore different directors. Jim Hickey was made Chairman of the Filmhouse, John Crichton remained Director of the Filmhouse. David Robinson was appointed Director of the EIFF, and Colin Young remained the Festival's chairman.

In past editions, a number of awards were developed by the festival. These included The Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film (selected by a jury), the Audience Award, and the Best International Feature Award (selected by a panel of judges). There were previously several awards given for short films.

The artistic director from September 2006 to 2010 was Hannah McGill, previously a film critic and cinema columnist for The Herald newspaper.[16] Her predecessor, Shane Danielsen, served from 2002 to 2006.[17] Tilda Swinton, Robert Carlyle and Seamus McGarvey were honorary patrons.[18] In December 2009, Hannah McGill collected the prestigious Talkback Thames New Talent Award at the Women in Film and Television Awards.[19]

Following McGill's departure, a new format was announced in December 2010 with no artistic director and a series of guest curators led by producer James Mullighan.[20]

The Festival returned to a more conventional format in 2012 under artistic director Chris Fujiwara, who stepped down in 2014.

In 2014, the film critic/programmer Mark Adams – who had been Chief Film Critic for Screen International; Director of Cinema at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), and Head of Programme Planning at the National Film Theatre – took over as Artistic Director. He decided to step down in late 2019 after heading five editions.[21] The festival was cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As of June 2021, the festival board introduced its newest creative director, Kristy Matheson, who formerly served as Director of Film at Australia's national museum of screen culture, ACMI.

In October 2022, the festival's organiser, the Centre for the Moving Image, went into administration.[22] The festival’s main venue, Edinburgh’s celebrated Filmhouse cinema, also closed in 2022. CMI released a statement explaining that: “The charity is facing the perfect storm of sharply rising costs, in particular energy costs, alongside reduced trade due to the ongoing impacts of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis. The combination and scale of these challenges is unprecedented and means that there was no option but to take immediate action.”[23]

In March 2023, it was announced that the festival would return in a special one-year iteration as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, running from 18–23 August 2024. Screen Scotland also supported the festival, who took on the festival brand after the administration of the Centre for the Moving Image. The 2023 programme was led by Programme Director Kate Taylor, with Kristy Matheson leaving the role. Details of the programme, which included 36 features films, of which 24 were new, were published in July 2023.[24]

In July 2023, Screen Scotland facilitated the recruitment of Chairperson Andrew Macdonald to lead the establishment of a new company to run the festival.[25]

In November 2023, Paul Ridd, a long-term acquisitions executive at Picturehouse Cinemas, was named as the new Director of the festival.[26]

In January 2024, it was announced that the festival would return from 15–21 August 2024.[27]

The festival will open with the UK premiere of Nora Fingscheidt's Orkney-set drama The Outrun starring Saoirse Ronan.[28] The film is based on Amy Liptrot's 2016 memoir, The Outrun.

Spanning 7 days, the relaunched festival is set to honour 70+ years of festival history, showcasing the very best talent in filmmaking in a re-energised format that is rooted in a local Scottish context whilst embracing the international diversity of creative expression.

The festival is poised to accelerate the discovery of new talent through the inauguration of two major competitions, The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence and a competition for Shorts, with significant prize-money awarded to the filmmakers.[29]

Direction

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Murray Grigor was appointed director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 1967 and under his directorship Festival organisers could now select films.[6] Linda Myles was director of the Festival from 1973 to 1980,[30]. In 1981 Jim Hickey was appointed as festival director. In 1988, David Robinson was made festival director.

Venues

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During the festival's early years, screenings took place at various cinemas and other venues across the city, including the New Victoria in Clerk Street, the Playhouse in Leith Walk, the Odeon in Lothian Road and the Central Hall, Tollcross.[31] In 1958, it acquired its own base at 3 Randolph Crescent, a Georgian town house with its own cinema.[32] In 1979, it moved to the Edinburgh Filmhouse, which remained its base until its closure in 2022. Other recent venues have included Fountainpark Cineworld, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, and the VUE Cinema at the Omni Centre.

EIFF Awards (historic and present)

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  • The Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film, with a £20,000 cash prize
  • The Award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film
  • The Award for Best International Feature Film, with a £10,000 cash prize
  • The Award for Best Documentary Feature Film, with a £10,000 cash prize
  • The McLaren Award for Best New British Animation
  • The Award for Best Short Film
  • The Award for Creative Innovation in a Short Film
  • The Award for Outstanding Individual Contribution to a Short Film
  • The Audience Award
  • The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence[33] (2024-)
  • Best Short Film[34] (2024-)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Scotland Hosts the World's Longest Running Film Festival". Scotland.com. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
  2. ^ "WebFilmFest.com – Your Online Source for Film Festivals". WebFilmFest.com. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
  3. ^ "Filmhouse – Edinburgh International Film Festival". lastminute.com. Archived from the original on 12 April 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
  4. ^ "History | Edinburgh International Film Festival". staging.edfilmfest.org.uk. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  5. ^ "Film Attractions. Big Programme of Documentaries". The Glasgow Herald. 23 August 1948. p. 2. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  6. ^ a b McArthur, Colin, "The Rises and Falls of the Edinburgh International Film Festival", in Dick, Eddie (ed.) (1990), From Limelight to Satellite: A Scottish Film Book, British Film Institute / Scottish Film Council, pp. 91 - 102, ISBN 9780851702810
  7. ^ "Share Your Memories of EIFF - Edinburgh International Film Festival Memories". www.edfilmfestmemories.org. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  8. ^ "Selected Originals - EDINBURGH FESTIVAL OPENS". British Pathé. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  9. ^ French, Philip (19 May 2007). "An affair to remember". The Spectator. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  10. ^ Taylor, John Russell (23 August 1969). "Edinburgh Goes Pop". The Times.
  11. ^ a b c Stanfield, Peter (7 October 2008). "Notes Toward a History of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, 196977". Film International. 6 (4): 62–71. doi:10.1386/fiin.6.4.62. ISSN 1651-6826.
  12. ^ Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) programme (1970)
  13. ^ Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) programme (1975)
  14. ^ Hayward, Susan (2002). Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts (2 ed.). Routledge. p. 115. ISBN 9781134587902. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  15. ^ "Festival History - The TV Festival". 8 May 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2024.
  16. ^ Gillian Bowdtich (17 May 2009). "Hannah McGill: The Glamour Girl of the Pictures". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 18 May 2009. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
  17. ^ Shane Danielson (10 August 2006). "Five Years' Hard Labour of Love". The Times. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
  18. ^ Tim Cornwell (28 April 2009). "Oscar Nominee is Edinburgh Film Festival's Latest Patron". The Scotsman. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
  19. ^ "EIFF Artistic Director Hannah McGill Wins Award at Women in Film and Television Awards". Filmhouse. 4 December 2009. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
  20. ^ Brian Ferguson (22 December 2010). "Film Festival promises big changes as new producer is announced". The Scotsman. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
  21. ^ Ferguson, Brian (16 December 2014). "Mark Adams to head up Edinburgh Film Festival". The Scotsman. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  22. ^ Jack Ewing (6 October 2022). "Edinburgh film festival and cinemas cease trading". BBC News. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  23. ^ Pulver, Andrew (6 October 2022). "Edinburgh film festival shuts down as organisers call in administrators". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  24. ^ Pulver, Andrew (6 July 2023). "Edinburgh film festival announces lineup after seeing off closure threat". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  25. ^ Scotland, Screen (24 July 2023). "Andrew Macdonald appointed to form and chair new Edinburgh International Film Festival for 2024 and beyond". Screen Scotland. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  26. ^ Ntim, Zac (15 November 2023). "Edinburgh Film Festival: Picturehouse Acquisitions Head Named Director". Deadline. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  27. ^ Scotland, Screen (17 January 2024). "Edinburgh International Film Festival announces new competition and dates for 2024 edition". Screen Scotland. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  28. ^ "The Outrun to open the 77th edition of EIFF". Edinburgh International Film Festival. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
  29. ^ "Edinburgh International Film Festival". Edinburgh International Film Festival. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  30. ^ Lloyd, Matt (1 February 2013). "Hero Worship: Lynda Myles". Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  31. ^ Festival City. Edinburgh: Scotsman Publications. 2009. pp. 9–19. ISBN 978-1-85983-739-9.
  32. ^ Bruce, George (1975). Festival in the north: the story of the Edinburgh Festival. London: Hale. p. 194. ISBN 0-7091-5061-X.
  33. ^ "Edinburgh International Film Festival launches Sean Connery award". BBC News. 14 February 2024. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  34. ^ Scotland, Screen (17 January 2024). "Edinburgh International Film Festival announces new competition and dates for 2024 edition". Screen Scotland. Retrieved 24 April 2024.

Further reading

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  • Hardy, Forsyth (1992), Slightly Mad and Full of Dangers: The Story of the Edinburgh Film Festival, Ramsay Head Press, Edinburgh, ISBN 9781873921012
  • McArthur, Colin (1990), "The Rises and Falls of the Edinburgh International Film Festival", in Dick, Eddie (ed.), From Limelight to Satellite: A Scottish Film Book, British Film Institute / Scottish Film Council, pp. 91 - 102, ISBN 978-0851702810
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