Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has today announced an exciting high-profile line-up of award-winning filmmakers, acclaimed producers, on-screen stars and jurors ahead of its Opening Night Gala on Wednesday 19th June including Richard Dreyfuss, Icíar Bollaín, Timothy Spall and David Hayman.
Artistic Director Mark Adams said: “The chance for our audiences who come along to Festival screenings and get to see and sometimes meet some of the film talent involved is always a highpoint of the EIFF experience. We love to have guests at our screenings and to involve them in post-screening Q&A sessions and I think the guests themselves also get a kick out of the experience.”
Notable Guests
Makers of the hit series Good Omens, Douglas Mackinnon and composer David Arnold, will attend a very special screening of all six episodes of the show on Saturday 29th June alongside some other special guests, which launched worldwide on Amazon Prime Video on 31st May and will be on BBC 2 in the UK later this year; Richard Dreyfuss will attend the World Premiere of Astronaut, in which he plays a lonely widower who dreams of a trip to space and legendary actor Timothy Spall will grace the red carpet at the World Premiere of Mrs Lowry & Son on the final night of the Festival.
Other notable guests set to attend the Festival will include stars of this year’s Opening Night film Boyz in the Wood, director Ninian Doff and producer Brian Coffey, alongside cast members Rian Gordon, Lewis Gribben, Samuel Bottomley and Viraj Juneja; director Jamie Adams, who this year has two films in the Festival: the World Premiere of Bittersweet Symphony and Balance, Not Symmetry, with actress Shauna Macdonald also attending; star of Robert the Bruce, Angus Macfadyen will attend alongside director Richard Gray and cast including Anna Hutchison, Zach McGowan and Emma Kenney and Peter Mullan will join Scottish composer Craig Armstrong, who also composed the music for Mrs Lowry & Son, to take part in a conversation entitled The Magic of Collaborations: Craig Armstrong & Peter Mullan.
Star of hit series The IT Crowd Katherine Parkinson will attend the UK Premiere of How to Fake a War alongside director Rudolph Herzog; director Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje will attend for Farming, his directorial debut; stars of Best Before Death, Tam Dean Burn, Bill Drummond and photographer & filmmaker, Tracey Moberley, will attend alongside the film’s director, Paul Duane; the World Premiere of Liberté: A Call to Spy will see its stars Sarah Megan Thomas and director Lydia Dean Pilcher on the red carpet and screenwriter Paul Laverty will also be in town for screenings of My Name is Joe and Carla’s Song.
The ONCE UPON A TIME IN SPAIN retrospective will take a comprehensive look back at the directorial career of the highly acclaimed filmmaker Icíar Bollaín who will be in attendance and completing a very special In Person event with film producer Rebecca O’Brien.
A host of Spanish filmmaking talent will also be in town for the Festival’s FOCUS ON SPAIN strand and retrospective programme including film director and screenwriter Nicolás Pacheco (Cages); director of Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed, David Trueba; the cast of h0us3 including Anna Bertrán, Víctor Gómez, Cristina Raya, Rubén Serrano, Mariona Tena, Miriam Tortosa and director Manolo Munguía and director of The Hidden City, Victor Moreno.
World class Sommelier Josep Roca of El Celler de Can Roca, holder of 3 Michelin stars, will also be in attendance for the UK Premiere of Chef’s Diaries: Scotland.”
Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) supports the participation of Spanish guests at the Festival through the Programme for the Internationalisation of Spanish Culture (PICE).
Jurors
Confirmed for this year’s juries are Scottish actor and director David Hayman; who was the first winner of the Michael Powell Award for Best British Film for Silent Scream in 1990; Scottish actors Jack Lowden and Moyo Akandé; multi-award-winning director and screenwriter Philip John; Natalie Brenner, Head of Sales at Metro International, acclaimed film writer Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Frederick Tsui of Hong Kong-based production company Media Asia.
Spanish filmmaker Daniel Monzón, whose adaptation of Cell 211 is screening as part of this year’s retrospective programme will sit alongside Cleveland International Film Festival Artistic Director, Bill Guentzler, Northern Irish actress and former fashion designer Antonia Campbell-Hughes, documentary and experimental filmmaker and Co-Director of Copenhagen Web Fest Regina Mosch and film critic Tara Karajica.
In Person Events
This year’s In Person events, supported by Johnston Carmichael, include legendary film maker Danny Boyle, also in attendance for the Scottish Premiere of Yesterday; award-winning actor and producer Jack Lowden; British documentary film maker Nick Broomfield, whose documentary Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love will screen as part of this year’s DOCUMENTARY strand and Scottish writer, director and actor Pollyanna McIntosh whose latest film Darlin’ will receive its UK Premiere at EIFF. The Woman, in which Pollyanna stars will also screen as part of the Festival.
Mark Stewart, Edinburgh Office Managing Partner at Johnston Carmichael said: “Johnston Carmichael is delighted to be partnering with the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2019 and sponsoring the ‘In Person’ strand, aligning our sharp minds with the sharp minds in the film industry and the insights they can offer. As Managing Partner of our Edinburgh office, it’s fantastic to be involved with something on such a large stage, happening right here on our doorstep.”
In addition, Jack Lowden and Shauna Macdonald will both take part in a special BAFTA Scotland Screen Audition workshop and Costume Designer Nina Ayres will be at EIFF Youth HQ for a Q&A to discuss her personal career path as part of this year’s EIFF Youth programme for 15-25 year olds.
EIFF guests will be transported around the Festival in state-of-the-art Mitsubishi Outlanders and Mitsubishi Shoguns, provided by EIFF’s Official Vehicle Partner The Leven Car Company.
Maria Lisi, Marketing Manager at Leven Car Company said: “We are very proud to be the Official Vehicle Partner for the Edinburgh International Film Festival. As a local family-owned business we are thrilled to be part of the world-renowned film festival and are very much looking forward to transporting the guests in style, using our industry-leading Mitsubishi vehicles. Please keep an eye on both EIFF & The Leven Car Company’s social channels for exciting competitions running throughout the festival!”
