Afire
Acclaimed German auteur Christian Petzold is reunited with regular collaborator Paula Beer, star of his previous films Transit and Undine, for this claustrophobic drama set against the backdrop of forest fires in a bone-dry Baltic Sea resort. Beer plays Nadja, a mysterious woman already occupying the seaside cottage to which a writer and his friend turn up expecting a quiet summer retreat. As the fires burn, the heat is turned up in other ways. Another zinger from one of Europe’s most intriguing directors, Afire won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival.
August 22, Vue 10, 6.15pm; August 22, Vue 11, 6.30pm; August 23, Vue 10, 2pm
Variety
The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is reintroducing its retrospective strand, this year comprising four films and titled Rebellious Voices In American Indie Cinema. One of the standouts is this New York-set 1983 film by Bette Gordon, now a professor at Columbia University in New York. Here fellow film-maker Sandy McLeod stars as an aspiring author who takes a job in a cinema showing porn films. Also appearing are Luis Guzman, who would go on to become a regular collaborator with directors Steven Soderbergh and Paul Thomas Anderson, and renowned artist and photographer Nan Goldin. It’s just as good behind the scenes: the script is by cult author Kathy Acker while the music is by downtown jazz legend John Lurie, the only man on the planet who can outcool Tom Waits (check out Jim Jarmusch’s film Down By Law for proof).
August 20, Vue 12, 2.20pm
Choose Irvine Welsh
World premiere for Ian Jefferies’s no-holds-barred documentary about the celebrated author, charting his early days in Edinburgh and the literary fame he acquired following the publication of Trainspotting, to his time living and working in London and America. There is a wealth of archive material promised, and as well as Welsh’s own observations there are reflections from a host of others, among them Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie and actor Martin Compston as well as Danny Boyle and Andrew Macdonald, respectively director and producer of the iconic film adaptation of Trainspotting.
August 23, Everyman 1, 6pm
Fremont
This offbeat comedy from British-Iranian director Babak Jalali closes the EIFF and tells the story of Donya, an Afghan translator who flees her homeland for the US and winds up in the Californian city of Fremont, home to America’s largest Afghan community. There she finds a job writing messages in a run-down fortune cookie factory. A hit at this year’s Sundance Festival, the film also features Gregg Turkington, Jeremy Allen White, Bettina Devin and acclaimed actor-director Boots Riley.
August 23, Vue 1, 7.45pm
READ MORE: EIFF UNVEILS ITS LINEUP
Silent Roar
The feature debut of Scottish director Johnny Barrington, Silent Roar was shot entirely on location on Lewis and is billed as “a teenage tale of surfing, sex and hellfire”. It tells the story of Dondo, a young surfer grieving the recent loss of his father at sea who falls in with Sas, a rebellious girl in his class at school. When a Minister arrives on the island, Dondo begins to experience strange visions. Louis McCartney and Ella Lily Hyland star, and there’s a soundtrack by acclaimed composer Hannah Peel.
August 18, Everyman 2, 6.30pm; August 18, Everyman 3, 6.35pm; August 18, Everyman 4, 6.40pm; August 18, Everyman 5, 6.45pm; August 18, Everyman 1, 6.50pm; August 18, Vue 1, 9pm; August 19, Vue 10, 11.30am; August 19, Vue 11, 11.45am; August 19, Vue 12, 12 noon
Showing Up
Veteran director Kelly Reichardt follows offbeat 2019 Western First Cow by turning to regular collaborator Michelle Williams – star of her other offbeat Western, 2010’s Meek’s Cutoff – for this family drama about a sculptor, her troublesome neighbour … and an injured bird. Adding to the kook value, there’s a role for musician Andre Benjamin, one half of acclaimed Atlanta rappers OutKast.
August 22, Vue 10, 8.45pm; August 22, Vue 12, 8.55pm; August 22, Vue 11, 9.05pm; August 23, Vue 12, 11.10am
Your Fat Friend
Documentary-maker Jeanie Finlay turns her camera on self-styled ‘fat activist’ Aubrey Gordon, whose blog, Your Fat Friend, and podcast, Maintenance Phase, tackles issues such as ‘fat pride’ and anti-fat bias. Finlay filmed the Oregon-based activist over a period of six years and digs deep into her life as a queer fat woman. The film won the Audience Award at this year’s Sheffield Doc/Fest.
August 21, Vue 11, 6pm; August 21, Vue 12, 6.15pm; August 22, Vue 12, 12.10pm
Trenque Lauquen (Parts 1 And 2)
There are shades perhaps of Bruno Dumont’s 2014 curio P’tit Quinquin in this new work from Argentine auteur Laura Citarella. What begins as a mystery surrounding the disappearance of a biologist cataloguing plant species turns much weirder as Citarella throws one thing after another into the mix. Certainly the longest film in this year’s EIFF lineup – it’s pushing four and a half hours – it will be shown as a single screening with an interval.
August 21, Vue 10, 12.30pm (with 30 minute interval); August 23, Vue 12, 1.45pm (with 25 minute interval)
Kill
Paul Higgins, best known as Peter Capaldi’s even swearier sidekick in The Thick Of It, stars in this twisted thriller from first-time director Rodger Griffiths, whose short film Take The Shot screened at the EIFF in 2017. Here, three brothers on a hunting trip plot revenge on their abusive father. What could possibly go wrong? A winning study of toxic masculinity and what you might loosely-term ‘Daddy issues’.
August 22, Everyman 1, 6pm; August 23, Vue 11, 11.20am
Tokyo Pop
Also screening in the retrospective strand – and now restored to its original scuzzy neon glory – is this 1988 tale about New York punk Wendy (Carrie Hamilton) who travels to Japan looking for a friend but instead meets Japanese rocker Hiro (musician Diamond Yukai, who would go on to appear in Lost In Translation). Together they form a band called Tokyo Pop. Culture clash or marriage made in (rock) heaven? Director Fran Rubel Kuzai was also responsible for discovering Joss Whedon and bring Buffy The Vampire Slayer to our screens.
August 22, Vue 11 (2.40pm)
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here