Talking heads Rowena McIntosh takes an appraising look at the fi lm icons heading to the EIFF’s In Person strand
E dinburgh International Film Festival is in pretty good shape as it limbers up for its 70th adventure. In this year’s programme, EIFF are keen to showcase the creative visionaries behind i lms, and many of 2016’s screenings feature live introductions or Q&As with writers, directors, producers and actors.
While we can only speculate which darlings of the silver screen might be spotted over the course of the festival (we’re hoping for Eddie Izzard at the closing night gala screening of Whisky Galore!), the In Person strand of events is specii cally dedicated to sharing the experience and opinions of individual creators and stars. Such as . . .
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P R O P E R T Y O F A N C H O R B A Y F L M S
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KEVIN SMITH KIM CATTRALL
Also known as the mute but expressive Silent Bob, Kevin Smith is the creator of the 1994 comedy Clerks. Now a cult classic, Clerks was followed by Mallrats, Chasing Amy and the controversial religious comedy Dogma, starring Chris Rock as the 13th apostle, Alan Rickman as Metatron, Alanis Morissette as God and a demon composed entirely of human excrement. Smith also directed Cop Out, Tusk and most recently Yoga Hosers, which screens at the festival and stars Johnny Depp, his daughter Lily-Rose Depp and Smith’s daughter Harley Quinn Smith. He also works as a producer, documentary maker and comic book writer. In 2014, he announced that he wants to make Moose Jaws, a Jaws style film, starring a moose. Someone please ask him about that. ■ Traverse Theatre, Wed 22 Jun, 8.30pm. English-Canadian actor Kim Cattrall visits EIFF in support of 2010 film Meet Monica Velour (pictured), the story of an awkward teenager who sets out to encounter his favourite adult film star (of Saturday Night Beaver fame) when she announces a live stage appearance. Cattrall’s film credits include Big Trouble in Little China, Mannequin and Masquerade. After six years as sexually voracious Samantha Jones in Sex and the City (and two films, though the less said about them the better), Cattrall returned to Broadway where she starred in the revival of Noel Coward’s Private Lives. This side of the Atlantic, she’s also been in Antony & Cleopatra at the Liverpool Playhouse and Sweet Bird of Youth at the Old Vic. ■ Edinburgh Filmhouse, Thu 16 Jun, 6pm.
DOMINIQUE PINON JEREMY THOMAS
Currently starring as mysterious apothecary Master Raymond in tartan- clad Outlander, Dominique Pinon’s other English language roles include Vriess in 1997’s Alien: Resurrection and Detective Weiss in Hellbreeder. He has been acting since the 1980s, working with auteurs Jean-Jacques Beineix and Jean-Pierre Jeunet on several French classics including Diva, Betty Blue and Delicatessen (pictured). Pinon starred alongside Audrey Tautou as jealous cafe patron Joseph in Amélie and as her uncle in war romance A Very Long Engagement. Several of his films feature in the festival’s celebration of Cinéma du Look, an unforgettable wave in 1980s and 1990s French filmmaking that told provocative tales from a daring new perspective. ■ Traverse Theatre, Sat 18 Jun, 8.30pm. Over a career spanning four decades, Jeremy Thomas has produced more than 50 films. His recent work includes Warsaw-set thriller 11 Minutes, dystopian drama High-Rise (pictured) and investigation into the birth of psychoanalysis, A Dangerous Method. He also produced The Last Emperor, which won the 1988 Best Picture Oscar, and Young Adam, which opened the EIFF in 2003. Thomas has worked with cinema greats including Stephen Frears, David Cronenberg, Takeshi Kitano and Wim Wenders. One of his earliest credits, 1983 war drama Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence, is screening at the festival. Set within a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp it stars David Bowie as incarcerated British soldier Jack Celliers. ■ Traverse Theatre, Tue 21 Jun, 8.30pm.
2 Jun–1 Sep 2016 THE LIST 21