TWENTY-five years ago, a little-known director named Sam Mendes brought a string of dodgy plays to the Edinburgh Fringe which failed, he said, to create much of a stir.
Last night, the Oscar-winning director of films from American Beauty to Jarhead was back to see his £15 million film, Away We Go, open the 63rd Edinburgh International Film Festival.
Remembering "very happy times" at the Fringe, as he walked the red carpet with the likes of festival patron Sir Sean Connery, Mendes said: "A film like this, I just said yes (to coming to Edinburgh] straight away. It's a fantastic place to be."
Mendes's film kicked off an 11-day jamboree of cinema from Indian masterpieces to classic B-movie horror, with 135 films and 23 world premieres in every genre.
Smaller films such as Away We Go can get lost in the swarm of festivals like Cannes, Mendes said. "I'm delighted that it gets to be here rather than in some giant red carpet event, dwarfed by the publicity machine."
For new, young film-makers in particular, he said, a festival like Edinburgh can provide those "first steps made in the public eye, a festival can promote a film from obscurity, and set it on the road to an audience".
Guests at last night's screening ran from the culture minister, Mike Russell, to the Taggart actor John Michie, from Sir Sean to New Zealand actress Kerry Fox. She sits on this year's jury for the festival's Michael Powell Award for British Film. Shallow Grave, the milestone Scottish film in which she starred along with Ewan McGregor, will be shown this year in a special 15th anniversary edition.
Away We Go features US television stars John Krasinski, of the American version of The Office, and Maya Rudolph, of Saturday Night Live. They play a couple on the road, crossing the United States and hunting for a place to call home before their first child is born.
Asked if he would be calling on some moral support from his wife, Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet, Mendes said: "I could be calling on it, but she's away looking after the kids… one of us has to look after the family."
Meanwhile, actress Carmen Ejogo – another star of Mendes's film and whose family come from Ayrshire – revealed that her grandmother would be coming from Cumnock to see the film, along with "the whole clan".
The festival's varied line-up this year runs from the legendary horror director Roger Corman to a rare appearance by Bill Forsyth, the man behind Gregory's Girl and Local Hero.
Cumming, the Aberfeldy-born actor who lives in New York, is also on the awards jury. He joked about his recent OBE, awarded for services to film and theatre, as well as to activism for gay and lesbian rights.
"What do you get? Is it a necklace or something?" he asked, but added: "I was chuffed. It was not just for my work, I also liked the fact it was for activism for people in America. Good for you, Queenie, for giving it to someone campaigning for people in another country."
Of the festival, he said: "It's really about the quality of film. It's not just star-led."
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