THE PARTING GLASS

  • Gasparilla International Film Festival Unveils 2019 Feature Film Competition Lineup

    The Hummingbird Project
    The Hummingbird Project

    The 2019 Suncoast Credit Union Gasparilla Int’l Film Festival taking place from March 19th – 24th in Tampa Bay, Florida, announced the 31 films on the Feature Film Competition Lineup. The festival will kick-off its 13th year with The Hummingbird Project starring Alexander Skarsgård, Jesse Eisenberg, Salma Hayek; and close with Family starring Taylor Schilling, Bryn Vale, Brian Tyree Henry.

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  • Documentary Films on David Crosby and Beto O’Rourke to Open and Close 2019 Sun Valley Film Festival Lineup

    David Crosby in David Crosby: Remember My Name
    David Crosby in David Crosby: Remember My Name

    The 2019 Sun Valley Film Festival will open with the documentary David Crosby: Remember My Name with director A.J. Eaton attending, and close with the HBO documentary Running with Beto directed by David Modigliani. The festival will screen two world premieres documentaries Apollo: Missions to the Moon and Hostile Planet: Mountains. 

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  • Santa Barbara International Film Festival Unveils 2019 Film Lineup

    Diving Deep:The Life and Times of Mike deGruy
    Diving Deep:The Life and Times of Mike deGruy

    The 34th Edition of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival taking place from January 30 to February 9, 2019, will feature 63 world premieres and 59 U.S. premieres from 48 countries, along with tributes with the year’s top talent, panel discussions, and free community education and outreach programs. The 34th Festival Poster was unveiled, again created by Barbara Boros who has designed the SBIFF poster each year for 16 years, this year highlighting Butterfly Beach.

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  • 2019 Palm Springs International Film Festival to Screen 223 Films, Opens with Kenneth Branagh’s ALL IS TRUE

    All is True 
    All is True 

    The 30th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will open with All is True directed by Kenneth Branagh on Friday, January 4,  and close with Ladies in Black, directed by Bruce Beresford on Sunday, January 13. The Festival will screen 223 films from 78 countries, with a focus on cinema from France, India and Mexico, Premieres, Talking Pictures, Book to Screen, Special Presentations, FLOS: Foreign Language Oscar Submissions, Gay!La, Local Spotlight, Modern Masters, True Stories, World Cinema Now, a 30-film retrospective of selections from past festivals and more.

    In All is True, Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench and Ian McKellen star in Branagh’s intimate, revelatory portrait of William Shakespeare in the last act of his life. His career over, he returns to his home in Stratford-upon-Avon to encounter old ghosts, old loves, and his resentful family. Branagh is expected to attend. 

    Ladies in Black, set in Sydney in 1959, Oscar®-nominated writer/director Bruce Beresford takes us back to the heyday of glamorous upscale department stores, when a concierge met you at the door and clerks wore gloves. The film from Lumila Films stars Julia Ormond, Angourie Rice, Rachael Taylor, Ryan Corr, Shane Jacobson and Alison McGirr. Beresford, Ormond, Taylor and McGirr are expected to attend. 

    30th Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Lineup

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  • Mill Valley Film Festival Announces Full Lineup, Opens with U.S. Premieres of A PRIVATE WAR and GREEN BOOK

    [caption id="attachment_31408" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]Green Book Green Book[/caption] The Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF) will showcase a diverse lineup of 204 films with 45% of all film directed by women, for the 41st edition of the festival, from October 4 to 14, 2018. The Festival will open with a double header –  the U.S. Premiere of  A Private War, starring Rosamund Pike, and Green Book starring Mahershala Ali.

    Opening Night – U.S. Premieres of A PRIVATE WAR and GREEN BOOK

    Opening night kicks off Thursday, October 4 with the U.S. Premiere of Aviron Pictures’ A Private War, starring Rosamund Pike as Marie Colvin, one of the most celebrated war correspondents of our era, and Universal Pictures’ Green Book, a sharply observed drama, inspired by real-life events, featuring Mahershala Ali as a classically trained Black jazz piano prodigy Dr. Don Shirley on a 1962 concert tour of the American South. Director Matthew Heineman and Rosamund Pike will be in attendance for A Private War and Oscar® winner Mahershala Ali and director Peter Farrelly for Green Book. Centerpiece Presentation – ROMA MVFFs 2018 Centerpiece presentation, ROMA, is the most personal project to date from Academy Award®-winning director and writer Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Gravity). ROMA follows Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a young domestic worker for a family in the middle-class neighborhood of Roma in Mexico City. Delivering an artful love letter to the women who raised him, Cuarón draws on his own childhood to create a vivid and emotional portrait of domestic strife and social hierarchy amidst political turmoil of the 1970s. Attending will be director/writer Alfonso Cuarón.

    Closing Night – IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK

    MVFF41 will close with the Bay Area premiere of IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK, Barry Jenkins’ much anticipated follow up to his Oscar winning MOONLIGHT (MVFF39). Jenkins will be present for the screening. The film, based on James Baldwin’s novel of the same name, was adapted by Jenkins’, and follows a pregnant African-American who sets out to clear her fiance’s name after he is falsely imprisoned. The Closing Night Party following the film will be held at Elks Lodge in San Rafael.

    Spotlights

    MVFF41 will bestow a number of Spotlights throughout the Festival including: honoring rising star Amandla Stenberg for her work in The Hate U Give; Joel Edgerton for his work directing and co-starring in Boy Erased; Karyn Kusama for her directorial effort Destroyer; esteemed actor Richard E. Grant for his performance in Can You Ever Forgive Me?; acclaimed actress Maggie Gyllenhaal for The Kindergarten Teacher; and acknowledge Paul Dano and Carey Mulligan for their creative collaboration on Wildlife.

    Tribute – Pawel Pawlikowski

    Academy Award winning Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski (Ida) will receive a special Tribute from the Festival to celebrate his latest film Cold War, a star-crossed romance set during 1950s Cold War in Poland. Pawlikowski will be present for the awards presentation and an onstage conversation following the film.

    Special Presentation – BEAUTIFUL BOY

    The Festival will present a Special Presentation screening of Beautiful Boy with Academy Award nominated actor Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name), Academy Award Nominated actress Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone), and Academy Award nominated Belgian director Felix van Groeningen (The Broken Circle Breakdown).

    Behind the Screens – Panels | Master Classes | Workshops

    The Festival will present another strong slate of Panels, Master Classes, and Workshops to supplement the outstanding film programming and to continue the discussion for Festival attendees. They include: back for a second year, the Mind The Gap Summit will again feature an extraordinary lineup of thought leaders and creatives in film and tech for a full day intensive to help work and share ideas as the Festival advocates gender equity in film; the annual State of the Industry panel will feature leaders of the independent film world to talk about the current pulse of the independent film community; the From Scene to Screen For Teens workshop, facilitated by Tom Franco and Iris Torres, will allow teenage participants the chance to workshop scenes from Gerrard Conley’s memoir Boy Erased; the Crowdfunding to Build Independence workshop teaches filmmakers the essentials for engaging their audience at every stage of their project; Tom Schlesinger will facilitate the workshop The Heroine’s Journey Onscreen Dramedy, a dive into utilizing the Heroine’s Journey for storytelling; the Medical Marijuana panel, following a screening of Weed the People will focus on the medical uses of marijuana and the many benefits to utilizing cannabis to treat a host of ailments; 420: Welcome The Waldos will illuminate the story behind the origins of the term 420; and finally, Graphic Novel Writing for Teens, is a hands-on workshop following the screening of the film Virus Tropical, and will introduce students to the work of several cartoonists and guide them through the process.

    MVFF Music

    MVFF Music returns for a fourth year with a diverse series of concerts at the Sweetwater Music Hall. Nine nights of live music include performances by artists featured in MVFF films, as well as local, national, and international musicians. Musicians include: Freddy Jones Band, Jarvis Cocker introducing Jarv is…, Holly Near with Tammy Hall and Jan Martinelli, Michael Franti, Black Zeppelin, the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, Half Pint, and Honus Honus.

    ¡VIVA EL CINE!

    MVFF’s ¡Viva El Cine! Initiative showcases prize-winning Spanish Language and Latin American films that seek to engage and embrace our Spanish speaking and loving audiences. Highlights in this section include: Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma from Mexico, Birds of Passage from Columbia, El Ángel from Argentina, Richard Levien’s Collisions featuring Mexican American characters, Ernesto from Cuba, Too Late to Die Young from Chile, and The Silence of Others from Spain.

    Active Cinema

    Once again the MVFF’s Active Cinema initiative will showcase film’s power to inspire people to take action to create positive change. Screenings throughout the Festival support the grassroots activism of the filmmakers and engage with the work of the special guests, co-presenters and partners. Highlights include: Charm City in association with Ritter Center; From Baghdad to the Bay in association with the international Rescue Committee, Horizons Foundation, LGBT Asylum Project and Human Rights Watch; Harvest Season in association with La Luz Center; Stay Human in association with Do It For The Love; Time For Ilhan in association with Marin County Young Democrats; Who Killed Lt. Van Dorn? In association with Investigative Reporting Program at the Graduate School of Journalism, UC Berkeley and the Center for Investigative Reporting; Wild DaZe in association with Wildlife Works; and the Active Cinema Hike, a free networking in nature event.

    Mind The Gap Award – Stacy L. Smith

    Mind The Gap, MVFF’s gender equity initiative, amplifies and champions work by women filmmakers, who are changing the narrative that shapes the culture. The Festival is committed to programming 50/50 by 2020 – 50% women directors across all Festival sections by 2020. As part of Mind The Gap this year, the Festival will give Stacy L. Smith the Mind the Gap Award for Visionary Leadership. Smith is a visionary leader in the movement towards gender equity in the film industry. She is an associate professor at USC Annenberg and Founder and Director of the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the leading think tank globally studying issues of inequality in entertainment. Smith will receive the Mind the Gap Award during the Mind the Gap Summit on Saturday, October 6 where she will also present some of her most recent work.

    Focus | Black Is

    MVFF’s Focus Black Is will showcase emotionally and socially resonant films that explore what it means to be Black in the contemporary world. Films in this Focus include: the co-opening night film Green Book; The Hate U Give; the Closing Night film If Beale Street Could Talk; Little Woods; Long Time Coming: A 1955 Baseball Story; and Obey.

    Focus | Teens & 20’s

    The Festival’s Focus Teens & 20’s, is a focus on young adult films about that defining – and sometimes challenging – post-adolescent/pre-adult time of life. Films in this Focus include: the short program 5@5 The Way It Is; Angst; the Special Presentation Beautiful Boy; Ben is Back; The Hate U Give; Rafiki; The Silent Revolution; Too Late to Die Young; and Virus Tropical.

    Focus | Queer-ish

    Diverse stories of queer representation found in a wide, genre-twisting array of films will be showcased in the Festival’s Focus Queer-ish. Films in this Focus include: Alifu The Prince/ss; El Ángel; Border; Joel Edgerton’s Spotlight presentation film Boy Erased; Richard E. Grant’s Spotlight presentation film Can You Ever Forgive Me?; The Favorite; From Baghdad to the Bay; Holly Near: Singing For Our Lives; The Parting Glass; and Rafiki.

    Focus | Animation Nation

    An assemblage of gorgeous, entertaining, and occasionally kooky animation fiction and non-fiction films from around the globe highlight the Focus Animation Nation. Films in this Focus include: the short program 5@5 Circle Game; The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales; Chris The Swiss; Coco; Seder-Masochism; A Ton O’Toons; Virus Tropical; and Zootopia.

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  • Terry Gilliam, Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer and More Guests Confirmed for Karlovy Vary International Film Festival

    [caption id="attachment_30282" align="aligncenter" width="1204"]Terry Gilliam, Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer and More Guests Confirmed for Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Terry Gilliam, Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer[/caption] Among the guests coming to the festival, the 53rd Karlovy Vary IFF will welcome Director Terry Gilliam, actor Anna Paquin and director Stephen Moyer, actor Rory Cochrane, Actor Caleb Landry Jones, Romain Gavras and producer John Lesher.

    TERRY GILLIAM TO PRESENT THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE IN KARLOVY VARY

    Director Terry Gilliam will personally appear at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival to present his new film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which had its premiere at this year’s festival in Cannes. The Man Who Killed Don Quixote faced many trials and tribulations and was many years in the making. Eighteen years ago, the original shoot starring Johnny Depp and Jean Rochefort was halted after just six days. The series of catastrophes that halted the project, which Gilliam had spent ten years preparing, was later the subject of Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe’s documentary Lost in La Mancha (2002), which was shown at the 37th KVIFF. But the legendary director did not give up on his dream and now, eighteen years later, he can present his film to the public. Cynical advertising director Toby comes across his nearly forgotten student film and sets out for the place where he had filmed his adaptation of Cervantes’s famous novel. He discovers that his film project has forever changed the hopes and dreams of a small village. He meets a confused shoemaker who is convinced that he is Don Quixote and that Toby is his Sancho Panza. Soon, Toby finds himself prisoner of the old man’s bizarre fantasies, and it becomes more and more difficult to discern fact from fiction. Over the course of his comical and surreal adventures, Toby is forced to face up to the tragic consequences of his film. Gilliam’s film stars Adam Driver, Jonathan Pryce, Olga Kurylenko, Stellan Skarsgård and Joana Ribeiro. Terry Gilliam, one of the most distinctive contemporary directors in the world today, gained fame as a member of the famous comedy troupe Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and along with Terry Jones he co-directed several of the Pythons’ feature film projects. His best known solo outings as director include The Fischer King (1991, nominated for a Golden Globus for director), Twelve Monkeys (1995), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) and The Brothers Grimm (2005). In 2006, Terry Gilliam visited the KVIFF to personally present his film Tideland (2005).

    OSCAR-WINNING ACTOR ANNA PAQUIN AND ACTOR/DIRECTOR STEPHEN MOYER TO BE GUESTS AT THE KARLOVY VARY FESTIVAL

    Among the guests coming to the festival, the 53rd Karlovy Vary IFF will welcome actor Anna Paquin and director Stephen Moyer, who will present The Parting Glass along with screenwriter, and co star Denis O’Hare, and producer Cerise Hallam Larkin. Moyer currently stars in FOX/MARVEL’S “The Gifted”.“The Parting Glass” is Moyer’s feature film directorial debut. Paquin will next be seen in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, a crime drama for Netflix, and is starring in and Executive Producing Flack, directed by Peter Cattaneo. O’Hare was most recently nominated for an Emmy Award for his performance on the acclaimed series This Is Us and will next be seen in the feature films Late Night, The Goldfinch and Swallow.

    ACTOR RORY COCHRANE WILL PRESENT FILM HOSTILES

    The film Hostiles will be presented at KVIFF by american actor Rory Cochrane, known to audience primarily for the television series CSI: Miami. Rory Cochrane recently starred in the critically acclaimed film Black Mass opposite Johnny Depp, and portrayed the real-life character ‘Stephen Flemmi’. Before this, Rory was honored as a member of the ensemble cast of the 2012 Oscar-winning Best Picture Argo, directed by and starring Ben Affleck. Cochrane shared in several accolades, including a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Motion Picture Ensemble, for his role as one of six American Embassy staffers trapped in Iran after the 1979 embassy takeover. His more recent film credits include another true-life drama Parkland, and the horror thriller Oculus, which premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. Upcoming, he stars in the independent war drama Soy Negro and The Most Hated Woman in America, Netflix’s drama feature starring Melissa Leo and produced by Elizabeth Banks (Pitch Perfect). Born in New York, Cochrane spent much of his childhood in England, eventually returning to Manhattan to study at the La Guardia High School of Performing Arts. His first notable role was as Jeff Goldblum’s character’s son in the drama Fathers and Sons. His early film roles also include Slater, the young stoner in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, Billy Mack Black, the crazed tattooed killer in Love and A 45 and Lucas in Empire Records. His subsequent film credits include The Low Life and Dogtown for director George Hickenlooper; Joel Schumacher’s Flawless, with Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Robert De Niro; The Prime Gig with Vince Vaughn and Ed Harris; Hart’s War, opposite Colin Farrell and Bruce Willis; A Scanner Darkly which reunited him with Richard Linklater; Michael Mann’s Public Enemies, with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale; Passion Play, with Bill Murray and Mickey Rourke; and Bringing Up Bobby, with Milla Jovovich.

    WORLD PREMIERE OF IN-COMPETITION “TO THE NIGHT” TO BE PRESENTED BY ACTOR CALEB LANDRY JONES

    Actor Caleb Landry Jones, whom audiences will recognize from the series Twin Peaks and Breaking Bad or from the film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, will be at the festival to present the in-competition film To the Night. Caleb Landry Jones started out with small film roles, after which he got the chance to appear in several episodes of Breaking Bad (2009–10) and Twin Peaks (2017). In 2011, he appeared as one of the mutants in X-Men: First Class, which was followed by appearances alongside Tom Cruise in the thriller American Made (2017), in the horror movie Get Out (2017), which won an Oscar for Best Screenplay, and in the widely acclaimed Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017).

    DIRECTOR ROMAIN GAVRAS TO PRESENT HIS FILM “THE WORLD IS YOURS”

    Romain Gavras has been making films since he was young, when he began directing shorts. He co-founded the cinematic group Kourtrajmé, which focused on recording Paris’s hip-hop scene. He has also shot numerous music videos that have been viewed by millions of people – for instance for M.I.A., Kanye West and Jay-Z – and for which he has been nominated for the Grammy Awards. His video for M.I.A.’s “Bad Girls” won two MTV awards in 2012 and was also nominated for a Grammy. Gavras is also a respected director of commercials. In 2010, he made his feature-film debut with Our Day Will Come starring Vincent Cassel. The son of the famous director Costa-Gavras, Romain Gavras will appear at the 53rd KVIFF to present The World Is Yours (Le Monde est à toi, 2018), a gag-filled comedy that surprised audiences at this year’s festival in Cannes and that features such actors as Isabelle Adjani and Vincent Cassel.

    OSCAR-WINNING PRODUCER TO PRESENT “HOSTILES”

    The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is proud to welcome as one of its guests producer John Lesher, who won an Oscar for Birdman (2014) starring Michael Keaton. With over 25 years years of experience, John Lesher is an Academy Award-Winning Producer, having worked on Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Birdman”. In addition to that, Lesher produced “Hostiles”, starring Christian Bale, “Black Mass”, starring Johnny Depp, “Fury”, starring Brad Pitt and “End of Watch” starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Lesher has “White Boy Rick” and “The Beach Bum” in post production both starring Matthew McConaughey. Prior to producing, Lesher founded Paramount Vantage in addition to being president of the film group at Paramount Pictures and before that Lesher was a partner at Endeavor and UTA. John Lesher has produced numerous successful films, including the Brad Pitt wartime drama Fury (2014) and the biographical crime drama Black Mass (2015) with Johnny Depp. At this year’s festival, Lesher will present the latest film by director Scott Cooper, Hostiles, starring Christian Bale and Rosamund Pike. Karlovy Vary audiences may remember Cooper thanks to his Crazy Heart (2009), which was shown at the 45th KVIFF.

    PRODUCER GREG SHAPIRO TO AGAIN VISIT KVIFF

    Producer Greg Shapiro, who won a Best Picture for director Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, will make his fourth appearance at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Shapiro also collaborated with Bigelow on the critically-acclaimed Zero Dark Thirty (2012) and produced Daniel Espinosa’s Child 44 (2015), which was filmed in the Czech Republic. He is currently completing several films, including Serenity with Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey and Richard Says Goodbye with Johnny Depp.

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  • Edinburgh International Film Festival Reveals Full 2018 Program incl. World Premiere of THE PARTING GLASS

    [caption id="attachment_29393" align="aligncenter" width="1200"]THE PARTING GLASS THE PARTING GLASS[/caption] Artistic Director Mark Adams today unveiled details of the program for the upcoming Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), taking place next month between 20 June to 1 July. This year the Festival will screen around 121 new features, including 21 world premieres, from 48 countries across the globe. Highlights include the long-anticipated Disney-Pixar animation INCREDIBLES 2, Q&A and IN PERSON events with guests including the award-winning English writer and director David Hare, the much-loved Welsh comedian Rob Brydon and star of the compelling Gothic drama THE SECRET OF MARROWBONE, actor George MacKay, as well as the Opening and Closing Gala premieres of the previously announced PUZZLE and SWIMMING WITH MEN. This year’s People’s Gala will be the World Premiere of Stephen Moyer’s directorial debut, THE PARTING GLASS, starring Melissa Leo, Cynthia Nixon, Denis O’Hare, Anna Paquin (who also produces), Rhys Ifans and Ed Asner. Mark Adams, EIFF Artistic Director, said: “EIFF prides itself on offering films and events that entertain, challenge, provoke, illuminate and excite and 2018 is no exception! From the best of up-and-coming British filmmakers to striking new cinema from around the world, we offer something for everyone: from rare access to filmmakers, live events to experience and the opportunity to see films that may never appear in the country again. We remain one of the world’s most venerable and acclaimed film festivals and are delighted to be able to offer audiences the chance to see some of the most exciting and innovative new film talent, in a setting steeped in history.” This year’s BEST OF BRITISH strand includes exclusive world premieres of Simon Fellows’ thriller STEEL COUNTRY, featuring a captivating performance from Andrew Scott as Donald, a truck driver turned detective; comedy classic OLD BOYS starring Alex Lawther; the debut feature of writer-director Tom Beard, TWO FOR JOY, a powerful coming-of-age drama starring Samantha Morton and Billie Piper; oddball comedy-drama EATEN BY LIONS; striking debut from writer and director Adam Morse, LUCID, starring Billy Zane and Sadie Frost; Jamie Adams’ British comedy SONGBIRD, featuring Cobie Smulders and Haifaa al-Mansour’s MARY SHELLEY, with Elle Fanning taking on the role of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. Audiences can also look forward to a special screening of Mandie Fletcher’s delightfully fun rom-com PATRICK. This year the AMERICAN DREAMS strand will offer audiences the chance to delve deep into some of the very best new films from American independent cinema including: UNICORN STORE, the directorial debut of Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson in which she stars alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Joan Cusack; the heart-warming HEARTS BEAT LOUD starring Nick Offerman; glossy noir thriller, TERMINAL, starring and produced by Margot Robbie; the engaging comedy HUMOR ME from Sam Hoffman, starring Jemaine Clement and Elliott Gould; IDEAL HOME in which Paul Rudd and Steve Coogan play a bickering gay couple who find themselves thrust into parenthood; 1980s set spy thriller starring Jon Hamm, THE NEGOTIATOR; and PAPILLON, starring Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek. The EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES strand, supported by James and Morag Anderson, will feature a wonderful selection of new films that are powerfully visionary and passionate about storytelling. Notable features include touching drama NEVER LEAVE ME highlighting how young Syrian lives have been affected by war; freewheeling Euro romp TULIPANI: LOVE, HONOUR AND A BICYCLE; actor-turned-director Mélanie Laurent’s fourth feature DIVING, the thought-provoking WHAT WILL PEOPLE SAY by writer-director Iram Haq; the wonderfully weird CHARLIE AND HANNAH’S GRAND NIGHT OUT; French ensemble comedy C’EST LA VIE! and the brooding and atmospheric drama THE SECRET OF MARROWBONE starring George MacKay, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Mia Goth and Matthew Stagg. This year’s WORLD PERSPECTIVES strand offers audiences a fascinating snapshot of developing world-cinema themes and styles from talented filmmakers from around the world. Highlights include acclaimed epic Chinese drama AN ELEPHANT SITTING STILL; award-winning South American drama THE HEIRESSES; powerful political drama NO. 1 CHUNG YING STREET; GIRLS ALWAYS HAPPY, an unflinching but darkly funny tale of a Chinese mother and daughter and Brazilian comedy LOVELING. For lovers of the land down under there’s also raucous Aussie comedy FLAMMABLE CHILDREN (SWINGING SAFARI) starring native icons Kylie Minogue and Guy Pearce; THE BUTTERFLY TREE starring Melissa George and Ben Elton’s THREE SUMMERS starring Robert Sheehan and set at an Australian folk music festival. This year’s EIFF program features a diverse selection of new DOCUMENTARIES which reflect the ability of documentary film to inspire and challenge audiences. There is a strong musical theme that runs through this year’s films from WHITNEY, the much-anticipated documentary about the life and times of superstar Whitney Houston; GEORGE MICHAEL: FREEDOM – THE DIRECTOR’S CUT narrated by George Michael himself and ALMOST FASHIONABLE: A FILM ABOUT TRAVIS directed by Scottish lead-singer Fran Healy. Audiences will be inspired by the creativity of Orson Welles in Mark Cousins’ THE EYES OF ORSON WELLES; HAL, a film portrait of the acclaimed 1970s director Hal Ashby; LIFE AFTER FLASH, a fascinating exploration into the life of actor Sam J. Jones the topical POSTCARDS FROM THE 48% will also screen followed by a Q&A with director David Wilkinson, who travelled the UK to meet people from all sides of the BREXIT debate. As the sun sets, audiences will be able to journey into the dark and often downright strange side of cinema, with a selection of genre-busting edge-of-your-seat gems including: the gloriously grisly psychosexual romp PIERCING starring Mia Wasikowska; the world premieres of Matthew Holness’ POSSUM and SOLIS staring Steven Ogg as an astronaut who finds himself trapped in an escape pod heading toward the sun; dark and bloody period drama THE MOST ASSASSINATED WOMAN IN THE WORLD and the futuristic WHITE CHAMBER starring Shauna Macdonald. The country focus for the Festival’s 72nd edition will be Canada and is supported by Telefilm Canada. FOCUS ON CANADA will allow audiences to take a cinematic tour of the country and its culture, offering insight as well as entertainment, from filmmakers new and already established. Selected by EIFF’s 2018 Young programrs are also a range of titles that explore the experiences of First Nations youth including INDIAN HORSE in which a young boy becomes a star ice-hockey player and KAYAK TO KLEMTU where a determined young girl, played by the charismatic Ta’kaiya Blaney, sets off to kayak the Inside Passage in British Colombia. The strand will also showcase a number of shorts in SPOTLIGHT ON CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN SHORT FILMS, a powerful combination of short fiction, documentary and animated films that focus on the central social, political and ethical issues prevalent within contemporary Canada. Audiences are also invited to attend a number of talks in the Festival’s free lecture stand, Reel Talk, including: INTRODUCTION TO FILM STUDIES: FEMALE DIRECTORS IN AMERICAN CINEMA that will shine a spotlight on the acclaimed and ground-breaking female directors who shaped American cinema; Frank Cogliano and David Silkenat of the University of Edinburgh will record a live episode of their show Whiskey Rebellion, offering context for the history of paranoia in American politics and film, before answering questions from the audience in PARANOIA AND POLITICS IN AMERICAN FILM and FROM ROMERO TO GET OUT, OR: HOW HORROR HELPED WAKE ME UP TO THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE which will explore the power and importance of the horror genre. Audiences can look forward to four programs of short animation as part of the Festival’s dedicated ANIMATION strand, supported by Emperor and the Culture & Business Fund Scotland. The McLaren Award for Best New British Animation will return once again with two varied programs showcasing some of the most highly-anticipated new short animations from the UK and there will also be a special retrospective of unique talent Elizabeth Hobbs, the award-winning indie animator running as part of Anim18, a celebration of British animation taking place across the UK. The world of experimental film is once again uncovered in the Festival’s ever-popular BLACK BOX strand. A selection of short and feature-length films that push the boundaries of visual communication will screen including the world premiere of PIG FILM, taking a look at the future of film, and a range of experimental short films from Canada that foreground the material properties of 16mm. Also, as part of this year’s FOCUS ON CANADA, the BLACK BOX strand will feature a special screening of short films by Joyce Wieland. This year’s EIFF SHORTS will offer a thrilling showcase of the finest brand-new short films from across the globe including DREAM IMAGES; OPTICS; RESISTANT BODIES; SPECTRES; FIRECRACKER, celebrating the vibrant state of UK shorts; KALEIDOSCOPE drawn from the thriving Scottish short film scene and THE YOUNG & THE WILD, handpicked by the EIFF Young programrs. New in 2018 will be the inaugural NEW VISIONS program, introducing glowing new voices aged 14-25 from across Scotland to submit their newest works to EIFF’s newly developed short film competition for young people. A number of special events will take place throughout the Festival including JAWS in Concert, a screening of Steven Spielberg’s seminal blockbuster with John Williams’ iconic score played live by the RSNO,a screening of the much-loved LOCAL HERO followed by a Q&A with writer director Bill Forsyth in conversation with Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh’s Artistic Director, David Greig as well as an early preview of the upcoming season of the popular BBC Alba series BANNAN. Prior to the Festival on 27 May audiences will also have the chance to experience the vampire underworld in EIFF PLAY: BLADE, an immersive cinema experience built around a screening of the trailblazing comic-book adaptation of BLADE, in partnership with Hidden Door andThe List, in collaboration with New Media Scotland, and supported by Sir Ewan and Lady Brown. Continuing RETROSPECTIVE LIVE! – MONTEREY POP, DA Pennebaker’s brilliant concert film, will be played as if it were a real live gig as part of Summerhall’s brand new 10-day series, Southern Exposure. Specially selected to showcase the very best in world cinema for younger audiences and the young at heart, FILM FEST JUNIOR boasts two UK Premieres, VITELLO and ZOMBILLENIUM as well as an exclusive preview of PRINCESS EMMY. As previously announced, the Festival’s expanded youth strand, The Young & the Wild will offer a range of masterclasses offering careers advice for filmmakers aged 15-25 years old, along with events and screenings for schools, as part of Scotland’s Year of Young People 2018 celebrations and supported by Baillie Gifford. The 2018 EIFF Young programrs, a group of 15-19 year olds who have curated their own shorts strand, The Young & the Wild, have also selected a number of films within this year’s program which are badged accordingly in the Festival brochure.

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