Six of the best films to catch at this year's festival
by Amber Wilkinson
Andrea Arnold will take part in an in-person event Photo: Courtesy of EIFF
The 78th edition of Edinburgh International Film Festival begins tomorrow night with the UK premiere of Sundance winner Sorry, Baby and runs until August 20. Here are some of the highlights you can catch at this year's festival.
Zodiac Killer Project Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute
A timely dissection of the true crime film genre which British director Charlie Shackleton was prompted to make as the result of a failed attempt to make his own movie about the infamous Zodiac Killer. The result is, in essence, an essay film that interrogates the look and techniques of these films as well as taking a long hard look at their arguably dubious ethics and the way they manipulate the viewer. In addition to being a razor sharp assessment that also acts as a guide to Shackleton's own approach to this sort of material, there's also a considerable amount of humour running through this film's veins. It probably won't stop you watching true crime but it might make you think a lot more about how you're being steered as you do. Screenings: Filmhouse, Aug 15 & 17; Vue Omni Centre, Aug 15 & 16.
Dossier 137 Photo: Fanny de Gouville/Courtesy Cannes Film Festival
Richard Mowe writes: With a background of the 2018 Paris Yellow Vests protests director Dominik Moll delivers an absorbing account of how a French internal affairs officer (a pitch perfect performance from Léa Drucker) who attempts to uncover precisely the involvement her colleagues had in the serious injuries to a 20-year-old protestor. With his writing partner Gilles Marchand, Moll avoids any of the obvious dramatic tropes, preferring instead to follow what would have been the police’s own procedures, demonstrating what a totally thankless task such investigations can turn out to be. Screenings:15 Aug, 16 Aug, 19 Aug, 20 Aug – all Filmhouse.
Never mind Irish whimsy, this is Irish grit as described by director Brendan Canty in his debut feature which won’t win any plaudits from Tourism Ireland but will surely put him on the ladder as a talent to watch with a debut feature that is touching, compelling and full of humanity. Set in the director’s hometown of Cork it is essentially a coming-of-age story in which Daniel Power’s Christy, a foster youngster, finds himself on the mean streets after getting into a fight at his place of abode. Canty expanded the characters from his 2019 short film and each one is now sharply etched. Screenings: Vue Omni Centre, 15 Aug; Cameo, 15 & 18 Aug; Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, National Galleries, 16 Aug.
Jennie Kermode writes: Irene (Michaela McManus) wants her daughter back. Robbed of her in this universe and driven by her grief to stop at nothing, she acquires a machine and goes skipping through the multiverse hoping to find a world where the girl is still alive. Each time she fails, she copes with her frustration by killing the man who murdered her. The trouble is that she has now done this more times than she can remember, and it has done nothing to assuage her pain. Her relentless pursuit has left her isolated and stripped her of her humanity. Only when she meets a teenage runaway with troubles of her own does she glimpse the possibility of change, and then full recognition of the practical dangers of her predicament comes crashing in. Driven by a powerful central performance, this is a small budget science fiction film shot with the style and energy of a blockbuster, and an affecting study of bereavement. Read what directors Matthew McManus and Kevin McManus had to say. Screenings: Cameo, Aug 16; Filmhouse, Aug 17, Vue Omni Centre, Aug 17
Cutting Through Rocks
Cutting Through Rocks Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute
We'll be bringing you a full review soon of this engaging documentary about an unusual blossoming of feminism in a remote corner of Iran. Sara Shahverdi's attempts to be the first woman from her village to become elected to the council is just the tip of a feminist campaign that takes on the patriarchy big and small. Sara is a remarkable individual, whether we're watching her lock horns with her greedy brothers or trying to encourage young women to aim for a better life than child marriage. Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni show that the road she has chosen is far from simple but they also show her incredible drive to keep on going no matter what. Screenings: Cameo, Aug 18, Filmhouse, 19 Aug; Vue Omni Centre, Aug 19 & 20.
Andrea Arnold is taking part in an in-person event on August 19 (for which tickets are still available. Even if you don't go along to that, you shouldn't miss the chance to see this tense Glasgow-set thriller. Anchored by an intense central performance by Kate Dickie, it tells the story of an isolated CCTV operator who becomes obsessed with a man (Tony Curran) she spots on one of her screens. An exercise in creeping dread, the woman's motives are only gradually revealed and the whole film is drenched in the gritty realism of working-class Glasgow. It's also interesting from a film history point of view in that it was part of the Advance Party project, which saw Lone Scherfig and Anders Thomas Jensen create characters around which three directors, including Arnold, would build a story. The second film in the trilogy was Morag Mackinnon's Donkeys but the third, Copenhagen by Mikkel Nørgaard was never made. He has, however, been making waves back in Scotland recently, directing Netflix's Department Q. Screening: Cameo, Aug 19
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