This year's Edinburgh International film Festival is hosting some fantastic gala events with exciting films that look set to attract worldwide acclaim.
The Runaways and Get Low
Barry Munday
(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Chris D'Arienzo; Writer: Chris D'Arienzo, Frank Turner Hollon; Stars: Mae Whitman, Judy Greer, Patrick Wilson, Colin Hanks, Malcolm McDowell, Missi Pyle, Chloë Sevigny, Jean Smart, Emily Procter, Cybill Shepherd, Christopher McDonald, Billy Dee Williams, Shea Whigham, Kyle Gass, Matt Winston)
A suburban man-child is forced to grow up.
International Premiere
The Dry Land
(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Ryan Piers Williams; Writer: Ryan Piers Williams; Stars: Ryan O'Nan, America Ferrera, Jason Ritter, Starwind, Kate Schroeder, Benito Martinez, Jeremiah Bitsui, Candice Costello, June Diane Raphael, Ethan Suplee, Zion Sandoval, Melissa Leo, Evan Jones, David Smith, Misty Upham)
A US soldier returning home from war struggles to reconcile his experiences abroad with the life and family he left in Texas.
International Premiere
The Extra Man
(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini; Writer: Robert Pulcini, Jonathan Ames, Shari Springer Berman; Stars: Katie Holmes, John C Reilly, Paul Dano, Kevin Kline, Alicia Goranson, Patti D'Arbanville, Cathy Moriarty, Jason Butler Harner, Marian Seldes, Celia Weston, Alex Burns, Justis Bolding, John Leighton, Rafael Sardina, Kevin Scullin)
An aspiring author forms an unusual friendship with an oddball older playwright.
International Premiere
Get Low
(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Aaron Schneider; Writer: C Gaby Mitchell, Chris Provenzano, based on a story by Aaron Schneider, Scott Seeke; Stars: Bill Murray, Robert Duvall, Lucas Black, Sissy Spacek, Gerald McRaney, Bill Cobbs, Andrea Powell, Shawn Knowles, Tomasz Karolak, Lori Beth Edgeman, Scott Cooper, Blerim Destani, Rebecca Grant, Jade Moser, Steven Stadler)
Heatwarming tale of redemption, partially based on the true story of a hermit who threw his own funeral... while he was still alive.
UK Premiere
The Good Heart
(Country: Denmark, Iceland, US, France, Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Dagur Kári; Writer: Dagur Kári; Stars: Brian Cox, Paul Dano, Isild Le Besco)
A barman tries to help a young homeless man by teaching him to be tougher, but finds his own nature changing in the process.
UK Premiere
Third Star and Heartbreaker
Heartbreaker (L'Arnacoeur)
(Country: France, Monaco; Year: 2010; Director: Pascal Chaumeil; Writer: Laurent Zeitoun, Jeremy Doner, Yoann Gromb; Stars: Romain Duris, Vanessa Paradis, Julie Ferrier, François Damiens, Héléna Noguerra, Andrew Lincoln, Jacques Frantz)
A professional gigolo has one week to stop a loving couple tie the knot in Monte Carlo.
UK Premiere
The Illusionist
(Country: UK, France; Year: 2010; Director: Sylvain Chomet; Writer: Sylvain Chomet, Jacques Tati)
A stage entertainer dedicated to a dying art finds his life transformed by a chance encounter with a young devotee.
UK Premiere
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? (My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done)
(Country: US, Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Werner Herzog; Writer: Herbert Golder, Werner Herzog; Stars: Willem Dafoe, Brad Dourif, Chloë Sevigny, Michael Peña, Michael Shannon, Loretta Devine, Udo Kier, Grace Zabriskie, Braden Lynch, Irma P. Hall, James C. Burns, Gabriel Pimentel, Candice Coke, Noel Arthur, Brian Sounalath),
Official Site
Two detectives try to work out how a young man came to kill his mother with a sword.
UK Premiere
The Rebound
(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Bart Freundlich; Writer: Bart Freundlich; Stars: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Justin Bartha),
Official Site,
Trailer
A young New Yorker finds himself smitten with the single mother next door, despite a challenging age difference.
UK Premiere
The Runaways
(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Floria Sigismondi; Writer: Floria Sigismondi; Stars: Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Scout Taylor-Compton, Michael Shannon, Alia Shawkat, Tatum O'Neal)
Rock biopic.
European Premiere
The Dry Land and The Rebound
Third Star
(Country: UK; Year: 2010; Director: Hattie Dalton; Writer: Vaughan Sivell; Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, JJ Feild, Tom Burke, Nia Roberts, Adam Robertson)
Four friends go on holiday to Barafundle Bay in this gentle, affectionate comedy with an unexpected end.
World Premiere
Thelma, Louise And Chantal (Thelma, Louise Et Chantal)
(Country: France; Year: 2010; Director: Benoît Pétré; Writer: Benoît Pétré; Stars: Jane Birkin, Caroline Cellier, Catherine Jacob, Thierry Lhermitte)
Three women discover shared passions and form a powerful bond as they go on a road trip together to an ex-boyfriend's wedding.
International Premiere
Toy Story 3
(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Lee Unkrich; Writer: Michael Arndt; Stars: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Michael Keaton, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, John Ratzenberger, Whoopi Goldberg, Wallace Shawn, Bonnie Hunt, Timothy Dalton, Laurie Metcalf)
When their owner grows up and leaves home, his toys have to adapt to a new way of life in a day care centre.
Gala Preview
World's Greatest Dad
(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Bob Goldthwait; Writer: Bob Goldthwait; Stars: Robin Williams, Daryl Sabara, Tom Kenny, Lorraine Nicholson, Geoffrey Pierson, Henry Simmons, Alexie Gilmore, Jermaine Williams, Toby Huss, Bruce Hornsby)
A comedy about a high school poetry teacher who learns that the things you want most may not be the things that make you happy.
European Premiere