The full programme for the 2018 Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has now been released with around 121 new features, including 21 world premieres, from 48 countries, screening between 20 June to 1 July.
As previously announced, the EIFF opens with “Puzzle” and closes with “Swimming With Men”. This year’s festival will also include Q&A and “In Person” events with writer and director David Hare, Welsh comedian Rob Brydon, actor George MacKay, and Anna Paquin.
Pacquin stars and produced this year’s People’s Gala film, “The Parting Glass”, which has its World Premiere at the EIFF. Tickets are only £5, offering audiences the opportunity to see a great new film at an accessible price.
The EIFF also continues its long-running association with Disney-Pixar with a screening of “Incredibles 2”.
There’s always a keen focus on British films at the EIFF and this year will be no exception with world premieres of Simon Fellows’ thriller “Steel Country”, where Andrew Scott plays a truck driver turned detective; “Two For Joy”, a coming-of-age drama starring Samantha Morton and Billie Piper, and oddball comedy-drama “Eaten By Lions”.
“Lucid” sees Billy Zane starring alongside Sadie Frost, and Elle Fanning takes on the role of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin in “Mary Shelley”. There’s also British comedy in the form of Jamie Adams’ “Songbird” and Mandie Fletcher’s rom-com “Patrick”.
Other features take on gay parenting (Paul Rudd and Steve Coogan in comedy “Ideal Home”), the war in Syria (“Never Leave Me”) and political tensions between Hong Kong and mainland China (“No. 1 Chung Ying Street“).
Brexit’s covered in “Postcards from the 48%” the screening of which is followed by a Q&A with director David Wilkinson, who talked to people across the UK about the EU referendum.
There’s a strong musical documentary component to this year’s EIFF programme, with the previously announced “Whitney”, “Almost Fashionable: A Film About Travis”, and “George Michael Freedom - The Director’s Cut” narrated by George Michael himself.
Kylie Minogue and Guy Pearce star in polarising Seventies set Australian comedy “Flammable Children (Swinging Safari)”, and Robert Sheehan appears in Ben Elton’s “Three Summers” set at an Australian folk music festival.
Filed under “strange” is the world premiere of “Solis” staring Steven Ogg as an astronaut who finds himself trapped in an escape pod heading toward the sun and bloody period drama “The Most Assassinated Woman in the World”.
The country focus for the EIFF’s 72nd edition will be Canada with titles that explore the experiences of First Nations youth selected by EIFF’s 2018 Young Programmers including ice-hockey drama “Indian Horse” and “Kayak to Klemtu”, where a young girl (Ta’kaiya Blane) sets out to kayak the rough waters of the Inside Passage in British Columbia.
The EIFF also includes a number of free cinematic lectures, various experimenta, four programmes of short animation, and a showcase of other new short films.
“Jaws” will screen to live accompaniment from the RSNO and writer-director Bill Forsyth will be in conversation with Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh’s Artistic Director, David Greig after a screening of “Local Hero” at the Lyceum.
Prior to the Festival, on 27th May audiences will also have the chance to experience the vampire underworld in “EIFF Play: Blade”, an immersive cinema experience built around a screening of the trailblazing comic-book adaptation of “Blade”.
Free classic films will be shown at the EIFF’s previously announced pop-up outdoor cinema event Film Fest in the City with Mackays (15 – 17 June) before the film festival begins in earnest.
“EIFF prides itself on offering films and events that entertain, challenge, provoke, illuminate and excite and 2018 is no exception!” said EIFF Artistic Director, Mark Adams. “From the best of up-and-coming British filmmakers to striking new cinema from around the world, we offer something for everyone: from rare access to filmmakers, live events to experience and the opportunity to see films that may never appear in the country again.”
EIFF tickets are on sale to Filmhouse Members now and go on sale to the public on Friday 25 May at 10am.