Artistic
director Chris Fujiwara delivers his second year, with a program that
promises rich pickings. With 125 new features showing, the festivals
boasts some big names; Sofia Coppola returns with The
Bling Ring, a portrayal of
celebrity-obsessed youth culture (based on the real-life story of a group of teenagers robbing Hollywood homes), Noah
Baumbach builds on the wonderful The Squid
and The Whale with
Frances Ha,
a bitter sweet comedy about a young New Yorker who is forced to
review her lofty career ambitions.
There
is also plenty of room for home-grown films: Edinburgh-based
film-maker and critic Mark Cousins is back with A
Story of Children and Film, a
playful cine-essay on the relationship between childhood and the
seventh art; Transgressive
North's artistic director Jamie Chambers makes his debut with
Blackbird,
a captivating
tale of belonging and loss
set in a small village in the South West of Scotland.
As
always, there are also intriguing retrospectives. This year the EIFF
celebrates the work of neglected French director Jean Grémillont;
audiences will also get the chance to re-discover the diverse ouvre
of Brooklyn-born Richard Fleischer
(Tora! Tora! Tora!,
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea).
