Edinburgh International Film Festival

Edinburgh International Film Festival

Edinburgh International Film Festival

Edinburgh International Film Festival logo 2015
Status Active
Genre Film festival
Date(s) Two weeks in June
Frequency Annually
Venue Edinburgh Filmhouse, Fountainpark Cineworld, Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Odeon Lothian Road
Location(s) Edinburgh
Country Scotland
Years active 69
Inaugurated June 1, 1947 (1947-06-01)
Website
edfilmfest.org.uk

The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is an annual fortnight of cinema screenings and related events taking place each June. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival.[1][2][3] The EIFF presents both UK and international films (all titles are World, International, European or UK Premieres), in all genres and lengths. It also presents themed retrospectives and other specialised programming strands. The 2016 edition was the Festival's 70th.

Origin and scope

The first festival, a programme of documentaries, was presented by the Edinburgh Film Guild alongside the 1947 Edinburgh International Festival, takes place in June each year. At the time, Cannes and Venice were the most significant annual film festivals. Over the subsequent years, the programme expanded to include fiction films and experimental work in addition to documentary. In 2008, the film festival moved from its traditional August slot to June.[4]

The film festival shows a range of feature-length films and documentaries as well as short films, animations and music videos. A jury awards The Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film while the audience can vote for the Audience Award, and a panel of judges adjudicates the Best International Feature Award. There are also several awards given for short films.

The artistic director from September 2006 to 2010 was Hannah McGill, previously a film critic and cinema columnist for The Herald newspaper.[5] Her predecessor, Shane Danielsen, served from 2002-2006.,[6] Tilda Swinton, Robert Carlyle and Seamus McGarvey are honorary patrons.[7] In December 2009 Hannah McGill collected the prestigious Talkback Thames New Talent Award at the Women in Film and Television Awards.[8]

Following McGill's departure a new format was announced with no artistic director and a series of guest curators led by producer James Mullighan.[9]

The Festival returned to a more conventional format in 2012 under artistic director Chris Fujiwara, who stepped down in 2014.

The current Artistic Director is Mark Adams, who joined EIFF in January 2015.

Other key figures are CEO Ken Hay, Deputy Artistic Director Diane Henderson; Head of Industry and Talent Development Holly Daniel, Animation Programmer Iain Gardner, Shorts Programmer Lydia Beilby and Senior Programmer Niall Fulton.

Venues

Edinburgh Filmhouse is the festival's home. The festival uses a range of other cinemas and venues across the city including Fountainpark Cineworld, Edinburgh Festival Theatre and the Odeon.

Film categories

The 68th edition of the festival in 2014 also contained the following country focus and retrospective strands:

EIFF Awards

References

  1. ↑ "Scotland Hosts the World's Longest Running Film Festival". Scotland.com. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
  2. ↑ "WebFilmFest.com - Your Online Source for Film Festivals". WebFilmFest.com. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
  3. ↑ "Filmhouse - Edinburgh International Film Festival". lastminute.com. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
  4. ↑ "Edinburgh International Film Festival". Edinburgh-History.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
  5. ↑ Gillian Bowdtich (2009-05-17). "Hannah McGill: The Glamour Girl of the Pictures". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
  6. ↑ Shane Danielson (2006-08-10). "Five Years' Hard Labour of Love". The Times. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
  7. ↑ Tim Cornwell (2009-04-28). "Oscar Nominee is Edinburgh Film Festival's Latest Patron". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
  8. ↑ "EIFF Artistic Director Hannah McGill Wins Award at Women in Film and Television Awards". Filmhouse. 2009-12-04. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
  9. ↑ Brian Ferguson (2010-12-22). "Film Festival promises big changes as new producer is announced". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2010-12-27.
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