So that’s it then. The credits have rolled, everyone can breathe a sigh of relief and cinema staff in Edinburgh can stop being irritated by a swarm of people turning up at free screening after free screening to try and catch “the next big thing”.
EIFF 2011 was a strange beast. A lot had changed since last year, some major players had moved on and this was the first year without some kind of funding from the UK Film Council. The program was slimlined, the focus was on documentaries and . . . . . . . documentaries (they seemed to make up almost half of the schedule) and the whole city seemed ever so slightly quieter than it did last year.
But that doesn’t matter to us because our aim was the same – to see as many movies and get them reviewed as possible. I had John along for the ride this year and, between us, we still had some great moments. John’s highlight was, I’m sure, meeting the esteemed Bela Tarr and gaining an autograph while I had such fun interviewing Dominic Allan that I wish I’d caught that screening of Calvet in the first week as opposed to the second week.
Here are the movies.
Tender Son – The Frankenstein Project
Perfect Sense and Perfect Sense
Angels Crest plus a Q & A with Gaby Dellal here
Calvet and an Interview With Dominic Allan
Bob Marley: The Making Of A Legend
Bobby Fischer Against The World
And that is that. All that remains for me to do is, as ever, thank all of the wonderful staff involved (many volunteers help run the EIFF and do a sterling job), give a special thanks to both The Cameo and The Filmhouse, a huge thank you to the likes of Gaby Dellal and Dominic Allan for their time and . . . . . . . . . I can’t wait to do it all over again next year.
Cheers.