Scottish films to star at EIFF

Scottish Screen has announced that 27 productions, supported by Scottish Screen Lottery funding, will have their world, international or UK premieres at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival.
This figure easily exceeds the representation of lottery-funded films in previous years and indicates the health of the film and television industry in Scotland.
The Michael Powell Award for Best New British Film features five Scottish participants.
One of the UK’s hottest new directors, Richard Jobson, brings his latest film, ‘The Purifiers’, a Scottish martial arts thriller, to Edinburgh, hot on the heels of his previous EIFF hit ‘16 Years of Alcohol’, which is due on general release soon.
Ken Loach’s long-awaited conclusion to his Glasgow trilogy, the multicultural, south-side-of-Glasgow romance ‘Ae Fond Kiss’ has its UK debut, while Eleanor Yule’s first feature film, ‘Blinded’, stars Peter Mullan in a tale of jealousy, passion and murder.
‘Dear Frankie’ has already had audiences in tears, receiving a 15 minute standing ovation, when the tough-but-tender tale screened in Cannes. A previous Michael Powell award winner Kenny Glenaan returns with ‘Yasmin’, the tale of a Muslim woman caught up in post-September 11 hysteria.
Short films are undergoing something of a rebirth at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival. A dedicated Scottish programme brings more local talent than ever before to the international audience. Among the highlights are premieres of the Tartan Shorts and New Found Land film-making schemes which will be broadcast on national television later in the year.
Steve McIntyre, Chief Executive of Scottish Screen, said: “This is an outstanding year for Scottish Screen supported productions and we are very proud of the range and diversity of the films. From the usual wonderful mix of Tartan Shorts through the latest crop of New Found Land longer dramas to our five feature films, there is certainly something there for everyone to enjoy. We are particularly pleased to have been involved with two outstanding documentaries, one of which, ‘And So Goodbye’ is eligible for the Saltire Grierson Award and the wonderful feature length documentary about the percussionist Evelyn Glennie, ‘Touch the Sound’, which is bound to be Festival 'must see'. And for the first time the important preservation work of the Scottish Screen Archive can be seen in the amazing collection of films by Margaret Tait, the Orkney based avant garde film artist. This is a very exciting year for Scottish Screen."
(GB)