Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Edinburgh International Film Festival

The 2011 Edinburgh International Film Festival has unveiled a fresh programme mix for its 65th year. The festival is always a major cultural highlight of my year and this year is packed with screenings, new events, collaborations and innovative film experiences. The selection of films looks like the most exciting for the last several years at least.

The festival this year runs from 15 - 26 June and the programme includes:

• Thought-provoking ideas: screenings, debates and events that explore the power of film in topics such as conflict and science
• Experimental events: 24-hour debates, cinema recreations in public spaces, ‘Cineconcerts’ with live music, and live video game performances
• Distinctive collaborations: screening the film favourites of some of the most creative minds in film, music and the arts, plus partnerships with the pioneers of the film and digital world
• Cinema experiences: outdoor screenings, gallery exhibitions and a bike powered mobile cinema

It looks like it's going to be a brilliant festival so if you're in Edinburgh in June make sure you try to get along to some films!

2 comments:

Howard of Belvedere Mountain Express said...

I think you’re putting a bit of a positive spin on EIFF 2011. The general consensus seems to be that it is a bit of a fiasco this year, due to a lack of proper curation and direction. Also there doesn’t seem to be any discount this year for buying several tickets, and there is no way I’m going to pay nine pounds to see any film. To be fair, some of the more obscure ones are only six pounds, but so far I don’t think it’s looking great this year. I only got the brochure today, and have not yet studied it in detail, but not many films for less than £9 have jumped out at me so far.

Sorry to counteract your enthusiasm, but you know I always am a glass-half-empty kind of person!

Crafty Green Poet said...

Hi Howard, I think that the fact that the Film Festival has got rid of the red carpet celebrity focussed element to concentrate on documentaries etc is great. I also genuinely think the programme looks incredibly good this year. As for price, yeah its expensive but so much better value than the Book festival where one pays £10 to hear an author do a marketing pitch for their book, which they then expect you to buy (at least another £7.99). To make it more worthwhile, what I do with the Film Festival is concetrate on the obscure films which are unlikely to come back (I object to paying festival prices for a film that will get general release the week after the festival is over!)