Alistair Harkness: Even if it’s not a world premiere, Killer Joe seems like a good choice for Edinburgh

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a UK premiere rather than a World or a European premiere. It will be good enough if if the film is good enough - that’s the only thing should really matter. It’s certainly better to open with a strong film getting a UK premiere than a weak one just for the kudos of saying it’s a world premiere (as happened at the London Film Festival last year, which opened with the dreadful 360 and was roundly criticised for doing so.)

As for where Killer Joe has played before - Toronto is one of the top tier festivals that filmmakers and studios use to launch their films onto the world stage. Edinburgh doesn’t have that cache and I don’t think it’s realistic to expect to have that cache anymore.

The last time a major film premiered exclusively at Edinburgh was probably Joss Whedon’s Serenity, and while it was really exciting that it did so, and the film was great, it did subsequently tank at the box office, so I’m not sure any filmmakers of note or any distributor with a lot at stake would ever turn down a chance to play at a major festival such as Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Sundance or Toronto for the sake of giving a smaller festival like Edinburgh a World Premiere. It just wouldn’t get the same coverage.

That’s not to diss Edinburgh, which has played host to the first UK screenings of a lot of notable films long before their significance has been recognised elsewhere (The Hurt Locker and Let the Right One In immediately spring to mind). It’s just stating a fact about the way festivals now work.

In terms of how important its stars’ attendance is, I’d say it’s important in terms of generating mainstream media coverage, and it gives the public a bit of a kick to see a film in the presence of its cast. A little bit of glamour can sometimes go a long way and though the festival is already set to end with a bang thanks to Brave, a star-studded opening would probably help give the start of the festival a boost. If nothing else, it would immediately eradicate memories of last year. I think film fans and festival attendees might think it just as important that its director comes along.

Given that William Friedkin is responsible for two of the most significant and influential films of the last 40 years (The French connection and The Exorcist), his presence would signify that the festival is an event for serious film lovers.

What does the choice tell us about Chris Fujiwara’s reign? I’d be reluctant to read too much into it, beyond saying it seems like a good choice to open the festival, if only because it balances out the populism of Brave with something a little edgier and darker. So, maybe it will be a festival full of contrasts, but who knows. I don’t think there’s anything that can usefully be said about that until the full programme is revealed, and I don’t think it’s really fair to speculate on that either at the moment.