LLC at the Edinburgh summer festivals 2018 - part one
This summer sees dozens of Film, Book, International and Fringe festival events featuring our staff, students and alumni. Here's what's happening during the Edinburgh International Film Festival (20th June to 1st July).
This year, Edinburgh celebrates its 71st anniversary as a world-leading festival city and the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) is proud to play its part.
The action begins with the opening of the Edinburgh International Film Festival on Wednesday 20th June 2018, and finishes with the closing of the Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe on Monday 27th August.
In this first part of our coverage of LLC at the festivals, we focus on the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) which runs from 20th June to 1st July 2018, with associated events - including three days of free outdoor screenings - starting on 15th June.
LLC at Edinburgh International Film Festival
Following her highly successful public lecture on Women in Iranian Cinema in this year’s Edinburgh Iranian Film Festival, Dr Nacim Pak-Shiraz will be in conversation with multi-award winning actress, Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, on Monday 18th June. An iconic face of Iranian cinema, Fatemeh is a jury member for this year’s EIFF, with whom Nacim (Head of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at LLC) has previously worked on panel discussions, Q&As and multiple Iranian film screenings.
Book tickets for Women In Iranian Cinema: Fatemeh Motamed-Arya on Eventbrite
Dr David Sorfa (Senior Lecturer and Reader in Film Studies at LLC) once again returns to EIFF to introduce a number of films and to hold Q&As with various directors and actors. Highlights include the introduction of two films as part of the Festival’s European Classics strand: Ingmar Bergman’s medieval existentialist drama ‘The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde inseglet)’ (1957); and Andre Tarkovsky’s mind-melting science fiction film ‘Solaris’ (1972).
Find out more about the European Classics strand on the EIFF website
‘Shorts: Where's Your Skirt?’ is a selection of recently completed films by students from the UK’s film academies, carefully curated and presented by students on the Film, Exhibition & Curation MSc programme at LLC. The showcase of seven short films on the theme of entering adulthood takes place at Cineworld on Sunday 24th June.
Building on the success of their ‘Timescapes’ events earlier this year, two of which ran as part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival, the MSc students are also delighted to bring you ‘Looking for Lucey’ as part of EIFF’s Unlocking the Archives and The Young and The Wild strands. Join them on Friday 29th June as they discuss the creative process of transforming the archive of pioneering film maker and scientist, Eric Lucey, into a cultural public event, and hear Tinderbox Orchestra perform an original score for the work as part of ‘Moving Music’ at Central Hall Auditorium.
Find out more about Shorts: Where's Your Skirt, Looking for Lucey and Moving Music on the EIFF website
The Confucius Institute is supporting the screening of the film ‘Girls Always Happy (Rou qing shi)’, including the attendance of writer, director, editor and lead actor, Yang Mingming, as part of the Festival’s World Perspectives strand. This is the UK premiere of the wonderfully bitter comedy drama about a mother and daughter in Beijing, screening in Mandarin with English subtitles.
Find out more about Girls Always Happy (Rou qing shi) on the EIFF website
Also look out for events featuring colleagues from Edinburgh College of Art (including the Scottish Documentary Institute), School of History, Classics and Archaeology, and the Centre for Research Collections during EIFF, including ‘Paranoia and Politics in American Film’, ‘Behind the Curtain: Women & EIFF’, ‘Interval and Instance: Time and focus in the films of Eric Lucey’, ‘Shorts: Bridging the Gap - Love’, and the Scottish premiere of ‘Time Trial’.
Looking forward to the August festivals
Over the coming months, we’ll be publishing articles on our contribution to the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh International Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe, all of which take place in August.
Annual events include the professional reading of our MSc in Playwriting students’ work at Traverse Theatre, the announcement of the James Tait Black Prizes for Fiction, Biography and Drama, and ‘From Shanghai with Love’, a fashion show and exhibition with the Donghua Edinburgh Centre for Creative Industries.
Of our special events for 2018, highlights include Celeste-Marie Bernier and Andrew Taylor on Frederick Douglass as part of the Book Festival’s Freedom and Equality series, and ‘What have children been reading?’ with the team behind the landmark exhibition ‘Growing Up With Books’ which runs at the Museum of Childhood over the festival months.
The Confucius Institute will also be supporting a delegation of five visitors to participate in Momentum - the Edinburgh Festivals’ International Delegate Programme.
Find out more about Growing Up With Books
Are you interested in studying film at LLC?
Choose from postgraduate programmes on the theory, aesthetics and philosophy of film, and the professional culture and practices of film exhibition and curation. We also offer PhD supervision.
Find out more about postgraduate study in film at LLC
Related links
Edinburgh International Film Festival
Edinburgh International Book Festival