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Edinburgh International Film Festival · 2019

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2019

Shorts

These films were shown in number of short showcases (indicated after the film in italics)

  • Image is Memory
  • Bridging the Gap
  • Film is Resistance!
  • Satellites
  • Scotland - Acceptance
  • Scotland - Generations
  • Time Passes Me
  • Youth Shorts: Exploring Boundaries
  • Youth Shorts: New Visions - This showcase was a contest for filmmakers, aged 14 to 25, with films announced on the day

Programme

63 films · 3 reviews

Jump to a film

Afronte

A stirring portrait of Victor Hugo, the activist whose self-organised community brings together Afrofuturist thinking, radical identity politics and anti-colonialist activism to create a place of visibility and positivity for queer people of colour in Brazil.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2017; Director: Bruno Victor, Marcus Azevedo)

Film is Resistance!

Ajo

In order to escape from an arranged marriage, spirited teen Zana formulates an ingenious escape plan.

(Country: Kosovo; Year: 2018; Director: More Raca)

Constellations

Alien Culture

West London, 1979: Two brothers of British-Asian identity navigate the complex challenges brought to the fore by the racial tensions rife within society.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2018; Director: Iesh Thapar; Writer: Iesh Thapar; Stars: Matt Bhar, Neil D'Souza, Reiss Kershi, Elijah Khan, Sagar Radia, Aled ap Steffan, Matt Bhar, Neil D'Souza, Reiss Kershi, Elijah Khan, Sagar Radia, Aled ap Steffan)

Satellites

Altsasu (Kaixo Txiki)

In the Basque town of Altsasu, a mother copes with the Spanish state’s controversial and lengthy imprisonment of her son and six other young people.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Eoin Wilson)

Bridging The Gap

...And So We Start Again

Sound and image overlap to delirious effect in this dreamlike meditation upon the transience of memory, and the slow drift of passing time.

(Country: Japan, US; Year: 2019; Director: Ei Toshinari, Duy Nguyen; Stars: Motonori Toshinari, Mihoko Toshinari, Derek Miao, Marie Miao, Chloe Ao Miao, Tom Thom)

Image is Memory

Anna At The Cemetery

Why is Anna so obsessed with cemeteries?

(Country: US, Canada; Year: 2019; Director: Eduardo Lucatero)

Youth Shorts: Exploring Boundaries

August Sun (Sol De Agosto)

Javier finds himself in his hometown of Buenos Aires. Following his father's death, he helps his ailing mother, who suffers from a bipolar disorder, in settling a legal dispute with her medical insurance.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2018; Director: Franco Volpi; Writer: Franco Volpi; Stars: Miguel Di Lemme, Silvina Sabater, Miguel Di Lemme, Silvina Sabater)

Time Passes Me

Belonging

A young boy questions his new environment and cultural identity following a family tragedy.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Rory Bentley; Writer: Rory Bentley; Stars: Oliver Bodur, Julia Cranney, Aliya Ali, Joanna Wake)

Scotland - Acceptance

Beside The Water, 1999-2004

An intensely powerful celebration of queer bodies and lives, and a rousing process of communal archiving that reclaims the stories and narratives of trans people that have been erased historically.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Finn Paul)

Film is Resistance!

Beyond the North Winds: A Post Nuclear Reverie

Hybrid documentary about the search for a man who mysteriously disappeared while investigating a Scottish nuclear reactor.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Natalie Cubides-Brady)

Satellites

Bin Day

An intimate portrayal of an old man that follows his daily routine.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Becky Manson)

Time Passes Me

A Black Hole Is A Black Hole In The Ground

An intimate immersion into the sensorial landscapes of a disparate cohort of youngsters, whose playful explorations offer a portal into their strange, ephemeral realities.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Sophia Feuer, Tyler Macri)

Image is Memory

Blood

A teenage boxing prodigy, torn between his feelings and fierce family loyalties, has a panic attack minutes before his big fight.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Christos Kardana; Stars: Sonny Hardy, Trevor White, Elliot Barnes-Worrell, Katie Brayben)

Youth Shorts: Exploring Boundaries

Boys Night

Review preview for Boys Night

That the skies are Glaswegian grey does not make the eyes below them any less starry, or watery, nor does that overcast overshadow the microcosm below.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
Twelve-year-old Reese must brave the mean and marvellous streets of North East Glasgow to bring his drunken father safely home.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: James Price; Writer: James Price; Stars: Kyle Gordon, Cameron Jack, Kirsty Strain, Felicity Allen, Alan Mackenzie, Helen Curry, Melvin Jack, Jordan O'Hara, Conor McCarron, Kyle Gordon, Cameron Jack, Kirsty Strain, Felicity Allen, Alan Mackenzie, Helen Curry)

Full review

Scotland - Generations

By A Hair

In three days, Elodie is sitting an exam to get her beauty therapy diploma. Her father, Christophe, a butcher, would like more help from his daughter in the butcher shop. For now, Elodie has another problem: she must find a model – a model with hair – to pass her exam.

(Country: France; Year: 2018; Director: Yvonnick Muller, Lauriane Escaffre; Stars: Gregory Gadebois, Madeleine Baudot, Brigitte Mauger)

Youth Shorts: Exploring Boundaries

Catman's Greenock

In Greenock, on the west coast of Scotland, a curious creature leads us on a journey through the underside of a post-industrial town fallen on hard times.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: James K Beaton, Leo Bruges; Writer: James K Beaton, Leo Bruges, Shaun Shalom)

Satellites

Chopin

Experimental consideration of sound poet Henri Chopin.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2018; Director: Tris Vonna-Michel)

Radical Archives

Dark Road

In a confined community, two young men are drawn towards one another through their shared grief.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Rory Gibson; Writer: Rory Gibson)

Scotland - Acceptance

Duck Daze

Review preview for Duck Daze

This is a community that, one suspects, director Alison Piper understands well.

Jane Fae · 4 out of 5
Johnina gets revenge on her childhood abuser and the community that enabled him, with the help of a duck.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Alison Piper; Writer: Julia Taudevin; Stars: Daniela Nardini, Dolina MacLennan, Tam Dean Burn, Anna Hepburn, Lauren Malcolm)

Full review

Scotland - Acceptance

Edge Of Red

A non-linear short that follows a six-year-old as she tries to make sense of her identity and connection to spirituality.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Callie Mae Nichole Lyons; Writer: Callie Mae Nichole Lyons; Stars: Callie Mae Nichole Lyons, Simon Kigwana, Aniyah Harbin, Loraine Lyons, Jordan Wells, Charles Lyons, Nathaniel X. Smith, Orlando King, Javian King, Doris White, Robert Green, Jerald Vann, Quentin Porter, Jeff Hillman, Shameka Davis)

Haunting The Image

Educated

After a strange encounter with his seemingly benign teacher, an isolated school boy must decide how to negotiate this contentious and intriguing relationship.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Tom Nicoll; Writer: Tom Nicoll; Stars: Silvie Furneaux, Stephen McMillan, Jamie Michie, Silvie Furneaux, Stephen McMillan, Jamie Michie)

Scotland - Acceptance

The Egg And The Thieving Pie

A community police officer investigating a theft encounters some surreal animalistic exchanges.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Lola Blanche Higgins; Writer: Lola Blanche Higgins; Stars: Ian Cairns, Noma Dumezweni, Ralph Ineson, Gemma Jones, Anna Maxwell Martin)

Scotland - Acceptance

Enceindre

A study in of two 16th century fortified cities: Berwick, England and Pamplona in Navarre, Spain.

(Country: UK, Spain; Year: 2018; Director: Luke Fowler)

Radical Archives

Farmland

Sibling rivalry takes a deadly turn after the reading of a father's will.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Niamh McKeown; Writer: Niamh McKeown; Stars: Isobella Hubbard, Sarah Miele, Eilidh Fisher, Lewis Gribben, Alex Morrison)

Scotland - Generations

Fucked Like A Star

A meditation upon female-centred labour activities and the frequently unseen or undervalued nature of such toils. Set to the potent words of Toni Morrison, Saintonge implores us to look beneath the surface and to celebrate the narratives hidden therein.

(Country: US, Haiti; Year: 2018; Director: Stefani Saintonge)

Film is Resistance!

The Grab

In a relationship between a couple enacted in cyberspace, one partner becomes subject to ever more coercive demands.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Deva Palmier; Writer: Mandy Lee; Stars: Shaniaz Hama Ali, Amrou Al-Kadhi, Adam Lannon, Melissa Jean Woodside, Marcus Hutton)

Satellites

Hydebank

Situated in South Belfast, Hydebank Wood houses 94 young male offenders. Ryan is currently serving a 10-year sentence and has formed an unlikely bond with a flock of sheep currently living inside the prison walls.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Ross McClean)

Bridging the Gap

I Am TX

A lively night on the road with a punk trio of colour. They just want to play music, but constant curveballs are generated by the casual racism they encounter from their supposedly ‘woke’ peers.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Ryan Darbonne; Writer: Ryan Darbonne; Stars: Audrey Campbell, Jonathan Horstmann, Greg Williams, Audrey Campbell, Jonathan Horstmann, Greg Williams)

Constellations

I Remember Ashes (Vzpominam Na Popel)

A mischievous duo run amok in the Czech countryside.

(Country: Czech Republic; Year: 2019; Director: Graham Phillips Turner; Writer: Scott Sweitzer, Graham Phillips Turner; Stars: Gabriel Kibardin, Lucie Bohata)

Constellations

The Jarariju Sisters (Soeurs Jarariju)

In a polluted landscape, two teenage sisters plan to run away.

(Country: Switzerland; Year: 2019; Director: Jorge Cadena; Writer: Li Aparicio, Jorge Cadena; Stars: Rosa Jarariyu, Viviana Uriana Jarariyu, Yandris Uriana Jarariyu, Wilson Sapuana, Rosa Jarariyu, Viviana Uriana Jarariyu, Yandris Uriana Jarariyu, Wilson Sapuana)

Haunting The Image

Jealous Alan

Alan, Stuart and Angela are inseparable teenage misfits. When Alan discovers Stuart and Angela are secretly going out, he deviously foils their budding union.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Martin Clark; Writer: Martin Clark; Stars: Ryan Hunter, Jack Stewart, Elysia Welch, Ryan Hunter, Jack Stewart, Elysia Welch)

Scotland - Generations

Jupiter

As a comet threatens Earth, a shy teenage girl has to make a decision. Should she pursue her own path on Earth or follow her parents, members of a cosmic cult, in undergoing a fatal procedure that will lead to a higher existence on Jupiter?

(Country: Germany; Year: 2019; Director: Benjamin Pfohl; Stars: Greta Bohacek, Cosima Shaw, Kai Ivo Baulitz)

Youth Shorts: Exploring Boundaries

KG

A performative inhabitation of the empty, scarred streets of Athens, harnessing radical political energies both contemporary and historical. Accompanied by the remarkable improvisations of musician Zeena Parkins.

(Country: Greece; Year: 2018; Director: Cynthia Madansky)

Film is Resistance!

Lefty/Righty

A divorced rancher makes a last visit to his ailing father’s bedside, accompanied by his estranged six-year-old daughter.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Max Walker-Silverman; Writer: Max Walker-Silverman; Stars: Charlotte Delpit Hacke, Marty Grace Dennis, Sam Engbring, Greg Hope, Hagen Kearney, Harry Kearney, Lewis Pullman)

Constellations

Let's Roll

A teenager defies her mother by training in secret for a town’s dangerous tradition to try and live up to her brother’s past successes.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Chris Thomas; Writer: Allan MacLeod; Stars: Jethro Aukin, Joe Birch-Scanlan, Amy Bowden, Joel James Davison, Cameron Fraser, Nish Nathwani, Zara Ramm, David Seymour)

Scotland - Acceptance

The Line

Drama highlighting the crucial importance of women’s agency over their own bodies and the power of community organisation.

(Year: 2018; Director: Melisa Resch; Writer: Melisa Resch; Stars: Bex Taylor Klaus, Hayley Law, Jason Stuart, Toy Lei, Siya)

Constellations

Lucky Star

1980s Glasgow: As his family disintegrates around him, the only thing on eight-year-old Jonjo’s mind is getting his prized He Man figure for Christmas.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Russell Davidson; Writer: Russell Davidson; Stars: Amy Manson, Gerard Miller, Adam Mitchell, Sheila Grier, Cal Macaninch)

Scotland - Generations

Monument

A tapestry of beautifully observed images and fragments of sound. Everyday moments are presented as both delicate and precious, and a parallel is drawn between the wonder at the advent of early cinema and the birth of a child.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Tom Chick; Stars: Peter Jewell, Denna Cartamkhoob, Bruno Cartamkhoob Chick)

Image is Memory

Moth

Moth follows eight-year-old Mabil as she escapes the troubles of her family through her vivid daydreams and imaginary moth friend.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Ewa Luczkow)

Time Passes Me

My Name Is Anik

How many stories can one language hold? A Kurdish grandmother and her granddaughter set off on a journey to reclaim their once-banned mother tongue.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Bircan Birol)

Bridging the Gap

Nefertiti

The experiences of Nefertiti, a young sight-impaired woman, as she navigates the challenges of both the physical and emotional world around her.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Valerie Schenkman; Writer: Valerie Schenkman; Stars: Maria Huyghue, Eric Wright, Nefertiti Matos)

Constellations

Nefta Football Club

Review preview for Nefta Football Club

Nefta Football Club scores thanks to the charisma of its two young stars.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
In the south of Tunisia, two football-fan brothers bump into a donkey lost in the middle of the desert on the border of Algeria. Strangely, the animal wears headphones over its ears.

(Country: France; Year: 2018; Director: Yves Piat; Stars: Eltayef Dhaoui, Mohamed Ali Ayari, Lyes Salem, Hichem Mesbah)

Full review

Youth Shorts: Exploring Boundaries

Never Actually Lost

An experimental archive film, exploring how we forget and how we remember. Suffering from dementia, Audrey attempts to recount stories behind her rich archival library of home video, shot in and around Glasgow.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Rowan Ings)

Scotland - Generations

One, Yellow, You Will Marry A Handsome Fellow

What if you could pull your long-forgotten memories from the hazy past and hold them again in your hands? Three adults are asked to play a childhood game and remember their early dreams and desires. As they step into the past, they look again at their hopes for the future.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Ted Fisher; Writer: Ted Fisher; Stars: Katrine Haagh Thuesen, Lucas Ray, Mango Sheridan, Tomas Sheridan, Jennifer Williams, Katrine Haagh Thuesen, Lucas Ray, Mango Sheridan, Tomas Sheridan, Jennifer Williams)

Time Passes Me

Pirate Boys

The queer traces within the writing of Kathy Acker provide a framework through which to revel in the subversive and empowering act of gender experimentation.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2018; Director: Pol Merchan; Stars: Del LaGrace Volcano, Eric Llaveria, Henri Steeg)

Film is Resistance!

A Portrait Of The Artist Angus Fairhurst

Artist Fairhurst’s Dada provocations aggregated in the piece ‘Gallery Connections’ in which he mischievously connected telephone calls between the major galleries of London, rendering them the helpless target of his surreal joke.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Saam Farahmand; Writer: Daniel Kanaber; Stars: Ferdinand Kingsley, David Whitney, Graham Vanas, Joseph Capp, Olivia Morgan, Jack Daw)

Satellites

Red Film

Critiques the pressures on women to conform and consume.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Sara Cwynar)

Radical Archives

Rooftop Refugee

A comedy that follows Martha as she attends her daughter Kylie's annual summer performance. The event is thrown into chaos by Mehdi, a young Syrian refugee boy who is threatening to jump from the school rooftop.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Alexandra Brodski; Writer: Alexandra Brodski, Rebecca Martin; Stars: Ammar Haj Ahmad, Cameron Campbell, Neil D'Souza, Emma Davies, Brooke Haynes, Tylan Hernandez, Lorraine Hilton, Dino Kelly, Vince Leigh, Nick Malinowski, Anya McKenna-Bruce, Mimi Ndiweni, Madeleine O'Sullivan, Emmanuel Owusu-Boachie, Omar Tibi)

Time Passes Me

The Sea Runs Thru My Veins

The concept of personal happiness is explored through the oral testimonies of four individuals, whose journeys navigate and intersect migrant, political and queer narratives.

(Country: Germany, France, Greece, Portugal; Year: 2018; Director: Zara Zandieh; Stars: Llanquiray Valioska Painemal Morales, Sabuha Salam, Amir Zandieh, Neomi Ilan)

Film is Resistance!

Second Generation

The structural power of language and the continued reverberations of colonialism are inferred through a series of typewritten letters between parted lovers.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2019; Director: Miryam Charles; Stars: Thuy Hang Duong, Eliza Bonnel)

Image is Memory

Short Round-Up

In 1983, Adilman auditioned to play the role of Indiana Jones’ intrepid sidekick in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Not having made the grade, Nobu now searches for all the other youngsters who auditioned.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2018; Director: Nobu Adilman; Writer: Nobu Adilman; Stars: Nobu Adilman)

Constellations

Souvenir

Documentary featuring interviews with seamen's widows.

(Country: Germany, Netherlands; Year: 2019; Director: Miriam Gossing, Lina Sieckmann)

Haunting The Image

The Spirit Keepers Of Makuta'ay

Travels through villages on the east coast of Taiwan, where nature, colonisation and population migration merge to create a unique spiritual landscape.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2019; Director: Lin Yen-Chao; Writer: Lin Yen-Chao)

Haunting The Image

Stalker

In the remote forests of the Scottish Highlands, an ageing stalker sets his wits and grit against a young poacher, who is taking the heads of his best stags.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Christopher Andrews; Stars: Sean McGinley, Martin McCann, Ewan Mitchell, Brid Brennan)

Scotland - Generations

Temple Of Truth

Collage of repurposed archive material drawn from the Chicago Film Archives.

(Country: US, Germany, Italy; Year: 2018; Director: Giuseppe Boccassini)

Radical Archives

That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore

Can Lindsay's love for husband Paul sustain her through the trauma of his brain injury, which leaves him in a perpetual loop of joke telling?

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Hannah Currie)

Bridging The Gap

Toli Toli

Evocation of a forgotten past told through a song that was part of a children's game on an island of Guadeloupe.

(Country: Guadeloupe; Year: 2018; Director: Minia Biabiany)

Haunting The Image

Vertical Shapes In A Horizontal Landscape

Vignettes from a Super 8 road trip to Derek Jarman’s cottage in Dungeness. The resonant elements uncovered in the landscape offered in celebration of Jarman’s fiercely independent creative vision.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: Mark Jenkin)

Image is Memory

Vivir Bailando

When Cari (79) became a widow, she lost both the love of her life and her dancing companion. But she is a phenomenal woman who bounces back with wit, make-up and music. On meeting Vicente (80) she gets a second chance at teenage love, even if it means living in isolation.

(Country: UK; Year: 2019; Director: Inma de Reyes)

Bridging the Gap

Wax And Feathers

The filmmaker searches for a tangible sense of his father in fragments of memories and dreams.

(Country: UK, Cyprus; Year: 2018; Director: Marios Lizides)

Satellites; Time Passes Me

Winter Bees

Cinema as self-reflection. A disorientating year spent in a faraway place is charted, reflected upon and elucidated through the process of image-making.

(Country: Austria, Japan; Year: 2018; Director: Josephine Ahnelt)

Image is Memory

Yulia & Juliet

Yulia and Juliet, both 16, are locked up in a closed juvenile detention centre. Despite their circumstances, they feel like they can take on anything together. They’re in love. Nothing can hurt them when they’re together.

(Country: Netherlands; Year: 2018; Director: Zara Dwinger; Stars: Sara Luna Zoric, Dylan Jongejans, Dionne Verwey, Agnes Montecinos Muñoz)

Youth Shorts: Exploring Boundaries

Zero

After a mysterious electromagnetic pulse renders the world’s technology useless, a young girl finds herself isolated and alone with only her father’s strict set of rules to keep her alive.

(Country: UK; Year: 2018; Director: The brothers Lynch; Stars: Bella Ramsey, Nigel O'Niell, Danny Shooter, James Oliver Wheatley)

Youth Shorts: Exploring Boundaries