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Edinburgh International Film Festival · 2016

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2016

Documentaries

Programme

22 films · 11 reviews

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Becoming Zlatan (Den unge Zlatan)

Review preview for Becoming Zlatan

It isn't doing anything new, but it does do it well, and entertainingly.

Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
Documentary about Swedish football player Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

(Country: Italy, Netherlands, Sweden; Year: 2015; Director: Fredrik Gertten, Magnus Gertten; Stars: Leo Beenhakker, Hasse Borg, Fabio Capello, David Endt, Mido Ahmed Hossam Hussein, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ronald Koeman, Jari Litmanen, Luciano Moggi, Yksel Osmanovski, Marco van Basten, Andy Van der Meyde, Jan van Halst)

Full review

Brothers (Brodre)

Film about childhood and brotherhood.

(Country: Norway; Year: 2015; Director: Aslaug Holm)

Bugs

Head Chef Ben Reade and Lead Researcher Josh Evans from Nordic Food Lab are on a mission to investigate the next big trend in food: edible insects.

(Year: 2016; Director: Andreas Johnsen)

Burden

Illustrated with performance, private videos, and recollections from those who knew him, this detailed and innovative documentary looks at the life of the always provocative artist Chris Burden, whose work consistently challenged ideas about the limits and nature of modern art, from his notorious performances in the 1970s to his later assemblages, installations, kinetic and static sculptures, and scientific models.

(Country: US, UK, Sweden, Belgium; Year: 2016; Director: Richard Dewey, Timothy Marrinan)

Chicago Boys

Story of neoliberalism in Chile.

(Country: Chile; Year: 2015; Director: Carola Fuentes, Rafael Valdeavellano; Writer: Carola Fuentes, Rafael Valdeavellano; Stars: Sergio de Castro, Ernesto Fontaine, Ricardo French-Davis, Milton Friedman, Arnold Harberger, Rolf Lüders, Carlos Massad, Augusto Pinochet)

Cinema, Mon Amour

Story of a projectionist and his staff battling to save a cinema from closure.

(Country: Romania, Czech Republic; Year: 2015; Director: Alexandru Belc; Writer: Alexandru Belc, Tudor Giurgiu, Ilinca Micu; Stars: Cornelia Chelmu, Lorena Cosau, Gheorghe Purice, Victor Purice)

The First Monday In May

Review preview for The First Monday In May

For those who are living with a 19th century idea of what art is, dismissing fashion as trivial and frivolous, Bolton counters that sometimes "fashion is easier to understand than language itself."

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
An in-depth documentary about the creation of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's China: Through the Looking Glass exhibition and gala.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Andrew Rossi; Stars: Andrew Bolton, Anna Wintour, Baz Luhrmann, Wong Kar Wai, John Galliano, Rihanna, André Leon Talley, Jean Paul Gaultier, Riccardo Tisci, Guo Pei, Harold Koda, Karl Lagerfeld, Thomas Campbell, Maxwell K Hearn, Douglas Dillon)

Full review See: A conversation with Gay Talese on the seduction of film and fashion , Interview with Gay Talese about China: Through The Looking Glass

The Founders

Review preview for The Founders

An underdog story with bite, and a hymn to the equality movements of the 20th Century.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Story of the founders of the Ladies Professional Golf Association.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Charlene Fisk, Carrie Schrader; Writer: Dana Lee, Carrie Schrader, Maureen Simpson; Stars: Bella Lotz, Parker Sack, Bryn Vale, Louise Suggs, Caleb Messer, Marilynn Smith, Shirley Spork, Marlene Bauer Vossler)

Full review See: Interview with Carrie Schrader about the Founders

Gary Numan: Android In La La Land

Documentary into the synth-pop star.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 2016; Director: Steve Read, Rob Alexander; Stars: Gary Numan)

Harold And Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story

Tribute to storyboard artist Harold Michelson and film researcher Lillian Michelson. Though largely uncredited, they left an indelible impression on films like The Birds, The Graduate and Rosemary's Baby.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Daniel Raim; Writer: Daniel Raim; Stars: Lillian Michelson, Harold Michelson, Danny DeVito, Mel Brooks, Francis Ford Coppola, Gene Allen, James D. Bissell, Rick Carter, Stuart Cornfeld, Gabriel Hardman, Bill Krohn, Patrick Mate, Rión Michael, Anahid Nazarian, Norman Newberry)

Homo Sapiens

Review preview for Homo Sapiens

What happened here? Where did all the people go? This question might be asked as much of the settings as of the story they create.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Remnants of buildings constructed - then left behind.

(Country: Austria, Germany, Switzerland; Year: 2016; Director: Nikolaus Geyrhalter; Writer: Nikolaus Geyrhalter)

Full review

Lost In France

Review preview for Lost In France

This is like finding old photos in the cupboard, being prompted to remember.

Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
Story of a tour by musicians on the Chemikal Underground Records label.

(Country: Ireland, UK ; Year: 2016; Director: Niall McCann)

Full review

The Lovers And The Despot

Following the collapse of their glamorous romance, a celebrity director and his actress ex-wife are kidnapped by movie-obsessed dictator Kim Jong-il. Forced to make films in extraordinary circumstances, they get a second chance at love - but only one chance at escape.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Robert Cannan, Ross Adam)

Mom & Me (Mom And Me)

Documentary about men and their mothers.

(Country: UK, Ireland; Year: 2015; Director: Ken Wardrop; Writer: Ken Wardrop)

The Pretty Ones (Las Lindas)

Review preview for The Pretty Ones

This isn't just about how the opinions of others shape us but the "male gaze in my head" and how much our desire to conform comes from within, driven by some amorphous set of rules and a cycle of expectations and reinforcement.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
The director considers notions of 'femininity'.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2016; Director: Melisa Liebenthal; Writer: Melisa Liebenthal; Stars: Melisa Liebenthal, Victoria D'Amuri, Camila Magliano, Sofia Mele, Josefina Roveta, Michelle Sterzovsky)

Full review

Santoalla

Review preview for Santoalla

The directing duo show a sensibility for wider rural issues that mourns the loss of more than just one person.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Documentary about a conflict that arose between Dutch incomers to a small Spanish town and the traditions of the sole remaining residents.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Andrew Becker, Daniel Mehrer )

Full review

Shadow World

The shadow world of the global arms trade, where corruption, lies, and greed drive covert relationships between politicians, industry executives, military and intelligence officials, and arms dealers. Their aim: to perpetuate war in order to generate more profit, no matter what the human cost.

(Country: Belgium, US; Year: 2016; Director: Johan Grimonprez; Writer: Andrew Feinstein, Andrew Feinstein, Johan Grimonprez)

Sick (Bolesno)

Review preview for Sick

What marks her film out is a graceful empathy that helps us feel at least a little of what Ana is going through as well as see it.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Story of a woman who was locked up in a psychiatric hospital by her parents in a bid to 'cure' her of her homosexuality.

(Country: Croatia; Year: 2015; Director: Hrvoje Mabic; Writer: Hrvoje Mabic, Hrvoje Mabic; Stars: Ana Dragicevic)

Full review

Twice Upon A Time (Kan ya Ma Kan... Marratayn)

Review preview for Twice Upon A Time

Itani's film asks more questions than it answers. She sets herself an impossible task, the sharing of memories, shuffling through darkness to find a familiar pain and then release it.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 3 out of 5
The director, who fled Lebanon during the civil war, chronicles her friendship with a young Syrian facing the same spectre of conflict.

(Country: Lebanon, US, Qatar; Year: 2016; Director: Niam Itani; Writer: Niam Itani)

Full review

Under The Sun (V paprscích slunce)

A film about an ordinary family in Pyongyang.

(Country: Czech Republic, Russia, Germany, North Korea, Latvia; Year: 2015; Director: Vitaliy Manskiy; Writer: Vitaliy Manskiy)

Zero Days

Review preview for Zero Days

Good documentary finds an interesting story or is interestingly told - great documentary does both, and Zero Days is that.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
An investigation into Stuxnet and cyber security issues.

(Country: US; Year: 2016; Director: Alex Gibney)

Full review