Film fest showcases University talent

The 70th Edinburgh International Film Festival is set to feature several exciting collaborations with the University.

Student curations, short films, special talks and a retrospective of award-winning graduates will shape the lively programme of cinematic events taking place in the city from 15 – 26 June.

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2016 programme

Acclaimed graduates lauded

Will Anderson and Ainslie Henderson’s award-winning animations will be celebrated at the first major retrospective of their work.

The Edinburgh College of Art graduates’ debut film, The Making of Longbird, won a series of accolades including a BAFTA for Best Short Animation. It was first shown as part of ECA’s 2011 Degree Show.

The filmmaking duo are now firmly established internationally, and the event will reflect on their inventive body of work.

Student showcase

Students from the MSc in Film, Exhibition and Curation will present a programme of short films from UK film academies.

The shorts cover a range of personal stories, with characters seeking to push beyond apparent dead ends to exceed expectations.

Film and TV graduate Siri Rødnes has directed Grimm Street, a short film about the imaginative world of a teenage girl.

Frederik Subei, a graduate from ECA and Screen Academy Scotland’s MA Film Directing course, has created a documentary about the lives of refugees in the jungle. Transit Zone has been shown in festivals nationally and internationally with notable acclaim.

Award winning Isabella, directed by Film and TV graduate Duncan Cowles and animator Ross Hogg is up for the McLaren Award for New British Animation.

Archive screening

The University’s film archives will be delved into at a special event looking at Revel, Edinburgh College of Art’s fancy dress extravaganza which has been running for more than 100 years.

The event will feature rare footage of the party – which still takes place today – from 1936, 1945 and 1946. Highlights include giant paper sculptures of lobsters, dance recitals and a giant haggis.

Curator Rachel Hosker will talk the audience through the footage, placing the films and the colourful art school tradition in context.

Academic insight

Academics and students will host public events throughout the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Dr Pasquale Iannone will explore the use of colour in films, focussing on some of cinema’s most innovative contemporary filmmakers, including Claire Denis, Wes Anderson and Nicolas Winding Refn.

Tutor and course organiser Martine Pierquin will deliver an illustrated lecture on the 1980s and 90s French film movement, Cinéma du look. The event is linked to Look Again, EIFF's retrospective celebration of the distinct visual style.

Film & TV tutor Tracey Fearnehough’s film Strawberry or Vanilla premieres at EIFF this year. The documentary observes the changing seasons from the vintage ice-cream van on North Berwick seafront.

David Cairns’s new film, The North Leach Horror is a short sci-fi-horror-comedy following the exploits of a deranged scientist called Whitsuntide.

Course for film lovers

The University's Centre for Open Learning will host An Insight into the Edinburgh International Film Festival, a ten-day short course allowing participants the chance to analyse and discover the range and depth of the Festival’s film programming.

Flourishing relationship

In 2015 the University signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Centre for the Moving Image – which incorporates the Edinburgh International Film Festival and Filmhouse.

The agreement underlined a commitment to extend the intellectual and artistic reach of both organisations through collaborations involving programming, research and outreach initiatives.