From Sir Sean with love … one new movie star patron for Film Festival

Published on Sunday 29 June 2008 22:24

ROBERT Carlyle has been recruited as a patron of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, The Scotsman has learned.

In a major coup for its campaign to build on a growing reputation for showcasing the best in British and international film, Sir Sean Connery asked the Trainspotting actor to join him as a patron of the event, alongside Oscar-winner Tilda Swinton.

Carlyle yesterday won the festival's top performance award for his part as a petrol station attendant in the film Summer.

He also appeared in another festival premiere – Stone of Destiny, the story of the 1950s theft of the Stone of Scone from Westminster Abbey – his first Scottish-set film in a dozen years.

The patrons, lead by Sir Sean, are seen as a key factor in maintaining the event's profile and network of contacts, drawing new films, stars and film-makers to the city.

A source yesterday described Carlyle as an accomplished actor who "exemplified the spirit of the festival".

The Film Festival held its first formal awards ceremony yesterday, with Sir Sean Connery handing out the trophies, at the Filmhouse cinema. He declared this year's move to June from August a "tremendous success".

The ceremony is part of the campaign to raise the festival's profile. The prize money for the Michael Powell Award for New British Film, the top trophy, was this year increased from 5,000 to 20,000.

The prize went to Somers Town, directed by Shane Meadows, whose previous film, This Is England, was critically acclaimed. The story of two teenaged boys in the Somers Town neighbourhood of London, the brief black-and-white piece was originally shot as a promotional film for train company Eurostar, whose St Pancras terminal is close by.

The documentary Man on Wire, a favourite from the start of the festival, won the Standard Life Audience Award, with votes counted on ballots as audiences left cinemas.

Directed by James Marsh, the film chronicles Frenchman Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers in New York, mixing stunning period footage and interviews with the teams that secretly strung a cable between the towers. Sir Sean yesterday called it "one of the best three films I have ever seen".

The Best Documentary Award went to Encounters at the End of the World, by the 65-year-old veteran German director Werner Herzog.

Good Dick, a film by Mariana Palka, who before she went to the US to study lived in Glasgow with her Polish parents, won the Skillset New Directors Award. The piece was called a "new and original take on romantic comedy" – it is the story of a young woman being pursued by the clerk at the store where she regularly rents porn videos.

Robert Carlyle's character in Summer, Shaun, leads a dead-end life in a northern British town, struggling with dyslexia and disability, but the film's story is ultimately an uplifting one. It won him the PPG Award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film.

The performance was called "one of the best of his career" by The Scotsman critic, Alistair Harkness.

The festival awards jury, chaired by the actor and director Danny Huston, said the vote for Carlyle was unanimous, recognising a "flawless performance in a film that touches the heart – and at the film's heart a triumph of a performance by an actor who inspired all of us."

AWARD WINNERS

&#149 Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film: Somers Town (director: Shane Meadows)

&#149 PPG Award for Best Performance in a British Feature: Robert Carlyle (Summer)

&#149 Best Documentary: Encounters at the End of the World (director: Werner Herzog)

&#149 Skillset New Directors Award: Marianna Palka (Good Dick)

&#149 Scottish Short Documentary Award: Christmas with Dad (director: Conor McCormack)

&#149 UK Film Council Award for Best British Short: Son (director: Daniel Mulloy)

&#149 European Film Academy Short Award: 2 Birds (director: Rnar Rnarsson)

&#149 McLaren Award for New British Animation: Space Travel According to John (directors: Jamie Stone & Anders Jedenfors)

&#149 Mirrorball Best British Music Video: Happiness (director: Dougal Wilson)