Director to guest at African film festival

DIRECTOR Richard Stanley is to be one of the guest at this year's Africa in Motion Film Festival.

The director will present a rare screening of his cult classic 1992 horror film Dust Devil, set in the swirling dusts of the Namib desert, as well as a showing of his 2000 documentary The White Darkness, a look at Voodoo practices in Haiti.

Dust Devil is being shown as part of a series of late-night African horror films, which will also include a screening of SMS Sugar Man, the first feature-length film to be shot entirely on mobile phone cameras.

Other highlights of the AiM festival include Egyptian director Youssef Chahine's feature The Earth (El Ard), being shown as a tribute to the pioneering filmmaker who passed away in July this year.

There will also be a programme of animation short films from all over the continent, and a look at Nollywood, the prolific Nigerian video industry which has taken the continent by storm over the last few years.

Malian director Souleymane Ciss and Burkinabe director Gaston Kabor are also expected to attend to present retrospectives of their work.

This year's Africa in Motion Film Festival runs at the Edinburgh Filmhouse from October 23 until November 2 and tickets go on sale on Friday, September 19.