Noticeboard NewsGossipOpinion Sean Connery at the Toy Story 3 premiere at EIFF 2010
Screen saver? What lies ahead for the Edinburgh International Film Festival? Words: Eddie Harrison
5Questions
AIDAN MOFFAT The by turns sentimental and potty-mouthed
singer-songwriter, takes The List’s sex survey . . . Is there anything that you've been asked to do in the bedroom that you considered too taboo? No, I’m open to absolutely everything except anything scatalogical. I understand golden showers, they’re harmless and can be fun, but I cannot fathom why anyone would want to voluntarily eat shit or rub it anywhere on their person. Vomit too. Yuck.
Have you ever had sex in a public place in your city? Perhaps very briefly in the odd alley or two, but I’m usually far too scared that I might meet someone I know. Although I just remembered something that happened in Kelvingrove Park . . . and I was caught by several friends, just as I feared. Oops. Which hometown celebrity would you most like to have sex with and why? I can’t possibly tell you that in case I meet her again, although I can tell you she once offered to buy me a drink and I said I was fine and refused. I’ve no idea why, I think I was a bit scared, even though she was definitely just being friendly. But I absolutely shat it.
B ack in 2008, the EIFF seemed to be in good shape. A new June slot, a fresh artistic director in the form of Hannah McGill, and a whopping £1.88 million lottery cash investment from the Film Council, in addition to financial support from Scottish Screen and a raft of sponsors seemed to suggest the festival’s self-appointed ‘discovery’ mission could widen its audience appeal.
Three years later, in the light of the Film Council’s demise, falling attendances and the delay in appointing a new director, the Centre for the Moving Image and EIFF’s chief executive Gavin Miller announced a shake-up of the Festival. He abolished the post of artistic director in favour of visiting curators, and a new blueprint was created with guidance from former festival directors Mark Cousins and Lynda Myles, and from star Tilda Swinton. With a number of unusual venues to be pressed into service for screenings, Cousins has conceived of a theme called ‘All That Heaven Allows’, but the suggestion by new festival producer/director James Mullighan that the EIFF would go ‘back to the drawing board’ in 2011 reflects the festival’s gradual change of fortunes over the previous decade. With the various Edinburgh festivals in August still proving money-spinners, the decision to disconnect and move the EIFF to June was a big gamble. Up
‘THE FESTIVAL COULD BE
TREADING A FINE LINE’
against popular TV events like Wimbledon, the World Cup and the European Championships, it only took a blast of hot weather in 2010 to put the attendance numbers on the slide. What makes someone sexually attractive to you? I’m an eye man, and sometimes that’s all you need.
But well before the move, the EIFF had struggled to maintain its reputation as a benchmark of quality, with most major distributors preferring to launch their wares at Cannes, Venice, Toronto or London. Occasional gems like Gareth Edwards’ Monsters still appeared, but in the context of widespread mediocrity. Red carpets were rolled out, but few big name stars or directors attended, and those who did often premiered their films elsewhere. its £1.88 million audience development cash used up, the festival is now looking to innovate and inspire through smaller-scale events, with the current buzz around the 2011 programme suggesting the festival will be treading a fine line between delightful surprises and disappointing gimmickry. With
The pressure is on. Although it was only founded seven years ago, the Glasgow Film Festival is already managing to sell just as many tickets on a tiny fraction of Edinburgh’s budget, leaving the EIFF with little choice but to get back to basics and to rebuild its relationship not just with the worldwide industry but also with local, paying audiences. The champagne party may be over, but the once-potent EIFF brand may yet rise again.
Finally, what for you makes 'good' sex and why? An emotional connection and mutual enthusiasm.
THE LIST LAUNCH DATING SITE Here at List HQ, love in all its forms is never far from our minds, and never more so than this fortnight, as we celebrate our mighty Sex Issue and enter the shrine of St Valentine and all things romantic. Never ones not to share, we’re keen to bring a bit of the love your way too with the launch of our rather fabulous new dating site, in conjunction with Cupid, the UK’s leading online dating service. Register for free at isawyou.list.co.uk, have a browse or spread the word to your friends.
3–17 Feb 2011 THE LIST 7