Jonathan Melville: Who needs Sir Sean when you can meet a star from Taggart?

Published on Friday 26 June 2009 09:12

SO WHAT goes on behind the scenes at the Edinburgh International Film Festival? Trendy parties? Celebrities behaving badly? Or 9am starts and early nights for all involved?

THE SCREENINGS: With more than 130 films on offer, the main problem has been deciding what to see. Getting it right is less an art form and more pure chance, the marketing behind most films designed to wow us with adjectives.

Was it the more important to see, new romantic comedy Away We Go from director Sam Mendes, which is bound to do well when it's released, or a small science fiction film like Moon with a tiny budget which needs all the help it can get? To be on the safe side I saw both . . .

As for the press screenings, they take place from 9am most mornings, frequently clashing with other films and often taking place just a few minutes apart at different cinemas – the dash from the Filmhouse to Cineworld is never a fun one. Still, unlike public screenings, there are no annoying adverts or trailers.

THE CELEBRITIES: As ever, there have been a number of celebrities in town, from Sir Sean Connery to Nottingham rap star Scor-say-zee (who?). Are they all full of themselves and too big to speak to their fans? Thankfully not.

British director Shane 'This is England' Meadows and actor Paddy Considine were seen outside the Filmhouse promoting new film Le Donk, the latter taking time to pose for photos with the crowd. David Bowie's son Duncan Jones was also here promoting Moon and proved to be a huge fan of Scotland. Hopefully his film will be huge when it comes out on 17 July.

I also interviewed two of the team behind new Edinburgh-set drama, Crying with Laughter, actor Stephen McCole and director Justin Molotnikov. It's a funny-yet-tragic film with an edge and the city looks fantastic, and McCole and Molotnikov want to come back to make more films in the Capital.

THE PARTIES: At its heart the EIFF is all about promoting films and filmmakers to press and film distributors from around the globe. As a result there are a lot (make that A LOT) of parties for mingling, discussing what's hot and what's not . . . and the odd lemonade.

I attended the opening night do at Teviot House where I missed Sean but did see Taggart's John Michie (almost as famous as Tam shurely?) while at another I bumped into The Wrestler director Darren Aronofsky who, it turned out, loved his visit to Edinburgh Castle and told me he was going to see "some lochs" next!

THE END: Sadly, the festival ends on Sunday. Most of the good stuff has been and gone, the glamour fading and the popcorn getting stale. I might be tired and not want to watch another film for a while but I've had an amazing time, met some interesting people and seen some great new movies. And if you haven't, you've still got two-and-a-bit days to catch something new...

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