AUTUMN FILM FESTIVALS
AUTUMN FILM SPECIAL Paul Dale picks the highlights from two exciting film festivals taking place in Glasgow and Edinburgh this September
EDINDOCS TAKE ONE ACTION FILM FESTIVAL
Up-and-coming documentary festival Edindocs aims to screen the best new short and feature-length documentaries over one film-packed weekend Now in its fourth year this inspiring festival celebrates world change by bringing together the ‘newest and best, most vital and urgent’ political cinema in the world
YOU’VE BEEN TRUMPEDI EVEN THE RAINI
Despite being overlooked for this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, Anthony Baxter’s heartbreaking feature is arguably the most important film about Scottish environmental, land and identity rights to surface this or any year. It follows Donald Trump as he acquires hundreds of acres of the northeast of Scotland to build a golf resort, and comes up against the belligerence and passions of locals. Like Risteard O’Domhnaill’s excellent film The Pipe, You’ve Been Trumped is a reminder that the authorities have no right protecting the interests of commerce and that rural communities, identities and environmental riches should not be tradable to the highest bidder. See our interview with Baxter at list.co.uk Fri 16 Sep, 8.30pm. This year’s gala screening is a killer. Written by Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty and directed by his wife Iciar Bollain, Even the Rain stars Gael Garcia Bernal as an egotistical filmmaker caught up in the Bolivia’s mass anti-government/ anti-corporate protests of spring 2000. Bernal is Sebastian, a feted director whose new film is to be a radical and honest retelling of Columbus’ colonisation of the New World, but when public disorder begins to overwhelm the production he struggles to decipher the past from the present, fiction from reality. Political cinema with a genuine sense of history and humanity. See Iciar Bollain interview at list.co.uk. Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Wed 21 Sep, 8.20pm; GFT, Glasgow, Thu 22 Sep, 6pm (a Q&A follows both screenings).
THE DANDY DOCTRINEI BLOOD IN THE MOBILEI
This rarely screened 2009 short documentary features some of the last footage of the late great nihilist dandy Sebastian Horsley. It’s a tragic and sad footnote to one-time Edinburgh resident Horsley’s remarkable life. It is also one of the few film records of him. Sat 17 Sep, 7.25pm.
DESPICABLE DICK & RIGHTEOUS RICHARDI Aging, recovering addict Dick Kuchera wants to repent for his sins, so he sets off on a road trip through America to track down old family and friends. Joshua Neale’s emotionally taut film is a fascinating exploration of humanity’s need for redemption. Sat 17 Sep, 9pm.
These days nearly everyone owns a mobile phone but at what human price? Danish filmmaker Frank Poulsen traces the troubling connection between western technology consumption and Congo’s civil war. Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Fri 23 Sep & Sat 24 Sep, 3.30pm & 8.20pm; GFT, Glasgow, Fri 23 Sep, 6pm (all screenings followed by Q&As).
FEZEKA’S VOICEI A South African ghetto school choir is inspired by their teacher to go all the way to top. Heart-warming documentary. GFT, Glasgow, Wed 28 Sep, 8.30pm; Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Thu 29 Sep, 3pm & 8.25pm.
STEAM OF LIFEI NARGISI
Saunas and naked, loquacious Finnish men are the focus in this delightful feature documentary. Everyday across Finland men come together in huts filled with hot rocks and chat about their feelings and problems. This shows a limited, but still fascinating, cross section of these get-togethers. Sun 18 Sep, 2.20pm.
EXPORTING RAYMONDI When hit sitcom creator Phil Rosenthal travels to Russia to help translate his show Everybody Loves Raymond into a Russian sitcom, the stage is set for a major culture clash/fish out of water adventure. Sun 18 Sep, 9pm.
Scottish premiere of Zoya Phen’s shocking film about the devastation and chaos wrought by the 2008 cyclone in Burma. Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Sat 1 Oct, 5.45pm (preceded by Zoha Phan in conversation at 4pm); CCA, Glasgow, Sat 1 Oct, 8.30pm.
BURNING ICEI Scientists and artists (including Jarvis Cocker and KT Tunstall) come together in Greenland to answer the question of climate change. This is an outdoor screening in Edinburgh, so dress warm. Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, Mon 19 Sep, 7pm; George Square Theatre, Edinburgh, Wed 21 Sep, 7.45pm.
■ Edindocs, all events at Church Hill Theatre, 33a Morningside Road, Edinburgh, Fri 16–Sun 18 Sep. edindocs.com ■ Take One Action Film Festival, various venues Glasgow and Edinburgh, Mon 19 Sep–Sun 2 Oct. takeoneaction.org.uk
25 Aug–22 Sep 2011 THE LIST 67