The relaunched Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has announced a new selection of guests attending this year’s Festival in support of World and UK Premieres and events.
Newly announced to attend this year’s Festival are Damian Lewis and Kelly Macdonald who will present the World Premiere of Euros Lyn’s fresh reimagining of the vampire genre The Radleys.
Filmmaker Mark Cousins will attend the UK Premiere of his new award-winning documentary on Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham – A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things.
In attendance as part of the The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence will be Arash Rakhsha for the urgent documentary All the Mountains Give; Jack King for the powerful Yorkshire-set drama The Ceremony; Mary Jiménez and Bénédicte Liénard for the richly poetic Fugue; Will Seefried for the haunting queer drama Lilies Not for Me; Daisy-May Hudson for the stirring film Lollipop; Abdolreza Kahani for the subversive comedy drama A Shrine; Bryan Carberry for the clear-eyed take on artificial intelligence *smiles and kisses you*; Nina Conti for the absurdist comedy road movie Sunlight; Kelsey Taylor for the dark psychological thriller To Kill a Wolf; and Manuela Irene for the delicately moving Xibalba Monster.
Also in attendance for the Festival’s Out of Competition films will be filmmaker Sophie Fiennes for the immersive documentary Acting; Daniel Reisinger for the bittersweet comedy And Mrs, Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel for the Camera D’Or Winner, Armand; Ben Rivers for Bogancloch, about Jake Williams, a hermit living in the Scottish wilderness, Jake will also attend the Festival; Suzanne Smith and Sylvia Solf for their dance-filled South African documentary Joy Dancer; Polly Steele for the courageous documentary The Mountain Within Me, Greg Kwedar for the transcendent prison drama Sing Sing.
Previously announced guests include filmmaker Nora Fingscheidt and producer and actor Saoirse Ronan who will present the Opening Night UK Premiere of The Outrun; and Thelma Schoonmaker will present the inaugural Thelma Schoonmaker Prize for Short Filmmaking Excellence Competition Shorts as well as introducing a retrospective screening of Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell’s much loved classic I Know Where I’m Going! (1945) set on the Isle of Mull.
Filmmakers Carla J. Easton and Blair Young will be in attendance for the Festival’s Closing Night film, the World Premiere of the powerful new documentary Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland’s Girl Bands.
Master provocateur Gaspar Noé (Irreversible, Climax, Enter The Void) will attend the Festival for a special In Conversation event discussing his filmmaking career, ahead of presenting a special screening of Dario Argento’s horror masterpiece Suspiria (1977).
Writer, academic and former Edinburgh International Film Festival Director Lynda Myles will present Lynda Myles Celebrates: is a new special screening showcase for visionary cinematic work which this year is the World Premiere of Argentinian filmmaker Axel Cheb Terrab’s film Gala & Kiwi. Axel Cheb Terrab and the cast will also be in attendance.
Also attending as part of the Midnight Madness strand will be:- Kit Redstone and Arran Shearing for the enigmatic and unexpected King Baby, and Rachel Maclean for accompanying short film, DUCK; and James Clarke and Daniel Shephard for the adrenaline fuelled thriller Sunray: Fallen Soldier which stars a cast of former Royal Marine Commandos who will also be in attendance.
