In August of every year over 1 million visitors pour into the heart of Scotland's
capital city
with a view to sampling an array of fine whiskey and eclectic culture. The
Edinburgh Festival
is one of the most important cultural events on the world calendar. The
Drambuie Edinburgh Film
Festival, which runs concurrently, has run alongside the main festival programme
for 50 years,
making it the oldest international film festival in the world (Cannes celebrates
its 50th
birthday in 1997).
While DEFF is primarily a festival for the public, it is also a major focal
point for British
film. Many new talents are discovered here and the New British Expo (NBX)
shows almost every
British feature made in the previous year (making it the most comprehensive
showcase of British
film in the world).
The programme for the 1996 DEFF spans 50 years of cinema, every conceivable
genre, and
premieres dozens of films, both British and international. One of the highlights
is undoubtedly
the "Scene by Scene" events at which the public comes face-to-face
with filmmakers
deconstructing their own illusions. Last year the Coen brothers took part
and loved it so much
they asked to be invited back. This year David Cronenberg presents "Crash",
Bernardo Bertolucci
looks at both "The Conformists" and his latest film "Stealing
Beauty", Peter Greenaway offers
his insights on "The Pillow Book" and the cinematographer Henri
Alekan discusses his
ground-breaking work on Jean Cocteau's "La Belle et Bete" ("Beauty
and the Beast") which
screened at the very first Edinburgh Film Festival in 1947.
A strong documentary programme augmented by a retrospective "Great
Moments in Documentary History" is complemented by Rosebud, the showcase
for new and innovative cinema, while Foster's "Mirrorball" lets
the wild child of cinema - the music video - take the main stage. The official
Drambuie Edinburgh Festival Programme shouts the festival's desire to be
"the most passionate, the most knowledgeable, the most discriminating
festival anywhere." I look forward to moving beyond "Dragonheart"
- the opening night film - into the flickering light of this ambitious -
and not so little - celebration of cinema.
Copyright 1994-2008 Film Scouts LLC
Created, produced, and published by Film Scouts LLC
Film Scouts® is a registered trademark of Film Scouts LLC
All rights reserved.