Star-studded line-up for film festival revealed

Published on Thursday 21 May 2009 22:22

GUY Pearce, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Emily Blunt are among a star-studded cast of actors who will be gracing the red carpet at next month's Edinburgh International Film Festival, it was revealed yesterday.

Sir Sean Connery, Alan Cumming, Ewen Bremner and Bill Forsyth are among the Scottish stars of the screen who will be returning to the festival.

Other celebrated actors attending the festival, which runs from 17-28 June, include The Motorcycle Diaries star Gael Garcia Bernal, and Claire Danes, star of Romeo and Juliet and My So-Called Life.

Kate Winslet is expected to accompany her husband, Sam Mendes, whose latest film, Away We Go, a darkly comic take on the challenges of making a modern family, opens the festival.

The line-up for the festival's free outdoor screenings, called Film Festival Under The Stars, has also been revealed. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Chronicles of Narnia, Stone of Destiny and Charlotte's Web will be screened on 19 and 20 June, as part of this year's Homecoming Scotland.

Festival artistic director Hannah McGill said: "It's great that so much established talent is coming to the festival.

"Many want to come because they are really passionate about the projects they are involved in," she added. "It is perhaps more personal than the blockbuster end of what they do."

EIFF managing director Ginnie Atkinson said she hoped the free screenings would introduce the festival to new audiences.

"We are delighted to have so many international filmmakers and actors attending," she said.

Homecoming Scotland director Marie Christie said: "We are delighted the festival has taken the opportunity to partner with Homecoming."