Film festival may move to August

Changes for next year's Edinburgh International Film Festival have been announced following criticisms of this year's scaled back programme.

Organisers are considering moving the event back to August, when the city's festival season is in full swing.

They will also reinstate the prestigious Michael Powell Award for best British feature film in 2012.

This year the festival dispensed with red carpet photocalls and put more focus on debate and discussion.

The 65th anniversary programme ran from 15 to 26 June and highlights included the European premiere of David Mackenzie's Glasgow-set sci-fi thriller Perfect Sense, starring Ewan McGregor and Eva Green.

Rock stars Kings of Leon also premiered their new documentary, Talihina Sky.

The film festival was switched to June in 2008 with the promise that it would get more attention than in the busy month of August.

But some critics said it had reduced its appeal and they also hit out at the organisers decision to drop its awards ceremony.

A statement issue by the board and staff of the Centre for the Moving Image (CMI), which oversees the festival, confirmed the Michael Powell Award, "a major asset", would be reinstated for 2012 as a way of "recognising and rewarding excellence."

It also said: "Feedback on EIFF 2011 will be taken into consideration in our planning for future festivals.

"Industry views regarding the dates of the festival are being taken into consideration and a decision will be made in due course.

THE 2011 EDINBURGH FILM FESTIVAL | The Filmmaker Magazine Blog

As a metaphor for the city itself. Edinburgh boasts a warm and welcoming population residing in an atmosphere where an ever-present hint of menace hangs palpably in the air like its famous rainy mist. (This openness is evidenced by the fact that one early afternoon my sister and I were able to pretty much wander in to a Justice Committee hearing of Parliament debating that day’s front page news – whether singing “God Save The Queen” at soccer matches should be made illegal.) Yes, this is the home of Harry Potter – and the café where J.K. Rowling birthed him proudly touts its pedigree – but it’s also a city in which for centuries public executions were pretty much a local pasttime. Not to mention, its skyline of threatening, medieval fortress architecture heavy with spires and turrets practically screams, “Don’t fuck with us.” It’s actually the opposite of Amsterdam, where I flew in from to cover this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival. That city’s cozy atmosphere – the Dutch have a word for it, “gezellig,” which has no English equivalent – reflected in its quaint canal houses and hole-in-the-wall coffeeshops, stands in stark contrast to its conservative insular population. (Don’t get me wrong, the Dutch are very agreeable – just don’t mistake “tolerant” for “welcoming.”)

And atmosphere – every bit as important as the movies themselves – is also what makes or breaks a film festival. Interestingly, the buzz this year at EIFF had nothing to do with awards or red carpet premieres. In fact, this 65th edition jettisoned its Michael Powell Award for best British film along with the closing night flick and the red carpet. (Thus, Ewan McGregor had to set foot on the same ground as us common mortals for the screening of David Mackenzie’s Glasgow-set Perfect Sense , which he stars in opposite Eva Green.) No, the drama surrounded newly tapped festival director James Mullighan, an Australian who was initially named “producer” last winter in the wake of a shakeup, and has a background in journalism and as the creative director of Shooting People. Mullighan, forced to contend with a loss of U.K. Film Council funding and Sheffield Doc/Fest’s decision to move to June, launched some radical initiatives that included changing venues, nearly halving the number of films screened, and shrewdly teaming up with Sheffield’s fest for joint premieres.