Film festival is back with a bang

the Edinburgh International Film Festival will launch its 2012 programme today in a high-stakes bid to recover its national and international reputation.

Backers are determined that the festival’s new artistic director, the writer and critic Chris Fujiwara, will win back audiences and critics after a dismal outing in 2011.

The programme for the festival so far includes comic noir thriller Killer Joe as the opening night film on 20 June, with the European premiere of the Disney film Brave as the closing highlight on 30 June.

Earlier this year, soon after his appointment was announced, Mr Fujiwara pledged that the number of film premieres would double. In 2011, after its former bosses ditched the tradition of red carpets and film awards, the number of film premieres at the festival slumped to just 62, with ticket sales plummeting to 34,500 from 44,500 in 2010.