Hannah McGill on the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2010
Fresh from announcing 2010’s Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) programme to the world’s press in her role as Artistic Director, it’s a tired, yet clearly enthusiastic, Hannah McGill who sits down to talk to me in the busy Filmhouse café.
“People think the launch is just the start of the Festival, but to us it’s the end of a year’s work,“ notes McGill, reaching for a much needed coffee. “Luckily people seem to like what they’ve seen, with ticket sales up 40% compared to last year.”
Leafing through the brochure, it’s a noticeably leaner, less flashy festival we see before us, the focus more on new films than celebrity guests.
“We rebranded to focus on discovery and my commitment is to finding new talent. Eighty-per-cent of the films will have talent with them, including Patrick Stewart, Rhys Ifans and Ugly Betty’s America Ferrera, but we’re focusing less on A-list actors from LA because it costs so much and I’d rather spend money on the filmmakers.”
What does McGill think is the best way to navigate through the programme? “There are two quite distinct approaches to choosing films at the EIFF. Some of the audience want to get a jump on their friends and see big films before they come out, like Toy Story 3, World’s Greatest Dad, Mr Nice and The Runaways. There are also those people who’s specific interest is in things they might not get a chance to see and who are happy to trawl for the strange little films Jackboots on Whitehall, which is a stunner. As a punter that’s where I’d want to spend my money.
“We’ve also got ways through the programme which suggests other films, and we have so many trailers on the website now and people can watch them for lots of films. Whether they’ve got distributors or not, filmmakers are cutting their own trailers and the majority are online. Once the catalogue is out you can buy that and it has much more detail on all the films, so you can read more in-depth about them.”
Locals keen to see Edinburgh on the big screen are spoilt for choice, with four films set and made in the city, including opening night animated film, 1950s-set The Illusionist. “Watching The Illusionist for the first time made me happy,” beams McGill, “It makes you feel warm towards your fellow humans and certainly towards Scotland. I had a real patriotic Scottish buzz, wanting to go up to people and say ‘it really does look like that, he wasn’t making it up'. The film wouldn’t have been set in Scotland had Sylvain not come to the EIFF with Belleville Rendezvous, fallen in love with the country and moved up here. So many people worked on it in Edinburgh over the years.”
Elsewhere, Outcast is an “extraordinary” British monster movie, “really good at social realism, while the supernatural side is done with verve: it’s properly scary. It’s an old-school British horror movie and it’s really moving in the way that An American Werewolf in London has that sad, emotional dimension, and any film which reminds me of that is worth seeing.”
Outcast also stars Edinburgh actress Hanna Stanbridge: “When I told the publicists I wanted her to be at the premiere they told me she lives on Morrison Street, so I think we might be in with a chance there.”
According to McGill, the intriguingly titled A Spanking in Paradise, set in the capital’s underworld, is “Very edgy and really honest about a side of Edinburgh you don’t see or hear much about. More and more I love the spirit and energy you get from truly independent films, when you can tell there’s not been a funder sitting on their shoulder going 'you can’t do that or you need a star in that role,' They made it for buttons, most of them didn’t get paid, but because of that it’s got the freedom to be what it is.”
Lost gem, 1977’s EIFF-set Long Shot, has been exhumed from the vaults and could have been the opening night film, had she had her way.
Perhaps the oddest “film” of the Festival is The Dunwich Horror, an audio-only, Scottish-made, movie for which the audience sits in a darkened cinema while monsters, crashes and bangs are heard around them: forget 3D, this is 0D.
But, I ask, isn’t it just a radio play? Laughing, McGill shakes her head: “No, because it’s in surround sound! Innes Smith is a brilliant stand-up comedian who got in touch and said we’ve made this film that’s experimenting with how much you can do with sound in a cinema space.
“Yes, it’s not that different from a radio play, but because it’s full of monsters and noises and crashes and bangs and because you’re in a space where it echoes around you, I think it’s going to be an interesting experience.”
Read the full transcript of this interview on www.reelscotland.com from tomorrow.
“People think the launch is just the start of the Festival, but to us it’s the end of a year’s work,“ notes McGill, reaching for a much needed coffee. “Luckily people seem to like what they’ve seen, with ticket sales up 40% compared to last year.”
Leafing through the brochure, it’s a noticeably leaner, less flashy festival we see before us, the focus more on new films than celebrity guests.
“We rebranded to focus on discovery and my commitment is to finding new talent. Eighty-per-cent of the films will have talent with them, including Patrick Stewart, Rhys Ifans and Ugly Betty’s America Ferrera, but we’re focusing less on A-list actors from LA because it costs so much and I’d rather spend money on the filmmakers.”
What does McGill think is the best way to navigate through the programme? “There are two quite distinct approaches to choosing films at the EIFF. Some of the audience want to get a jump on their friends and see big films before they come out, like Toy Story 3, World’s Greatest Dad, Mr Nice and The Runaways. There are also those people who’s specific interest is in things they might not get a chance to see and who are happy to trawl for the strange little films Jackboots on Whitehall, which is a stunner. As a punter that’s where I’d want to spend my money.
“We’ve also got ways through the programme which suggests other films, and we have so many trailers on the website now and people can watch them for lots of films. Whether they’ve got distributors or not, filmmakers are cutting their own trailers and the majority are online. Once the catalogue is out you can buy that and it has much more detail on all the films, so you can read more in-depth about them.”
Locals keen to see Edinburgh on the big screen are spoilt for choice, with four films set and made in the city, including opening night animated film, 1950s-set The Illusionist. “Watching The Illusionist for the first time made me happy,” beams McGill, “It makes you feel warm towards your fellow humans and certainly towards Scotland. I had a real patriotic Scottish buzz, wanting to go up to people and say ‘it really does look like that, he wasn’t making it up'. The film wouldn’t have been set in Scotland had Sylvain not come to the EIFF with Belleville Rendezvous, fallen in love with the country and moved up here. So many people worked on it in Edinburgh over the years.”
Elsewhere, Outcast is an “extraordinary” British monster movie, “really good at social realism, while the supernatural side is done with verve: it’s properly scary. It’s an old-school British horror movie and it’s really moving in the way that An American Werewolf in London has that sad, emotional dimension, and any film which reminds me of that is worth seeing.”
Outcast also stars Edinburgh actress Hanna Stanbridge: “When I told the publicists I wanted her to be at the premiere they told me she lives on Morrison Street, so I think we might be in with a chance there.”
According to McGill, the intriguingly titled A Spanking in Paradise, set in the capital’s underworld, is “Very edgy and really honest about a side of Edinburgh you don’t see or hear much about. More and more I love the spirit and energy you get from truly independent films, when you can tell there’s not been a funder sitting on their shoulder going 'you can’t do that or you need a star in that role,' They made it for buttons, most of them didn’t get paid, but because of that it’s got the freedom to be what it is.”
Lost gem, 1977’s EIFF-set Long Shot, has been exhumed from the vaults and could have been the opening night film, had she had her way.
Perhaps the oddest “film” of the Festival is The Dunwich Horror, an audio-only, Scottish-made, movie for which the audience sits in a darkened cinema while monsters, crashes and bangs are heard around them: forget 3D, this is 0D.
But, I ask, isn’t it just a radio play? Laughing, McGill shakes her head: “No, because it’s in surround sound! Innes Smith is a brilliant stand-up comedian who got in touch and said we’ve made this film that’s experimenting with how much you can do with sound in a cinema space.
“Yes, it’s not that different from a radio play, but because it’s full of monsters and noises and crashes and bangs and because you’re in a space where it echoes around you, I think it’s going to be an interesting experience.”
Read the full transcript of this interview on www.reelscotland.com from tomorrow.
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