AT THE premiere of the annual Berlin Film Festival, screams of excitement can be heard round the block whenever the limos pull up. It's a sound you're unlikely to hear at Edinburgh's annual celebration of new cinema, which is generally a much more muted affair. Once in a while, however, the stars align in such a way as to make the Scottish event shine that much more brightly… and this is one of those years.
Tomorrow night in Edinburgh, the world premiere of acclaimed director John Maybury's The Edge of Love, a heavily hyped biopic about the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, his wife, and his former childhood sweetheart, promises the most glamorous red carpet thi
s city has seen in years.
It is Keira Knightley (daughter of Sharman McDonald, who wrote the film's screenplay with Keira in mind) who tops the guest list at Cineworld at Fountain Park, along with her sexy blonde co-star Sienna Miller. These are two young stars in the full flush of fame and beauty, whose sultry performances in Maybury's period piece have already got the red-tops salivating.
The guest list includes actress Joely Richardson, actor Danny Huston, on the Festival's award jury, and of course Sir Sean Connery, a patron of the Festival. Others invited are Alfie Allen, brother of Lily, who worked alongside Knightley in Atonement and recently starred in the touring version of Equus. His girlfriend, the actress Jaime Winstone (daughter of Ray) appears in Donkey Punch, another Edinburgh premiere.
It may be not be Cannes, but it's bringing the kind of press frenzy to Edinburgh not seen since 1999, when Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo showed up for the premiere of The Thomas Crown Affair. In the capital's terms it's a perfect storm of glamour.
Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton, another Film Festival patron, will not be at Wednesday's premiere as she's filming in Germany. But the actress is coming to town on Saturday for the premiere of Stone of Destiny. She joins Connery and Brian Cox, with the film's stars, Robert Carlyle, Billy Boyd, and Charlie Cox, for the screening and celebratory dinner.
For several years the festival's managing director, Ginnie Atkinson, has been trying to tell reporters that film festivals aren't about the celebrity count. "This is a world premiere and there was a confluence of events that meant it could happen," she says, going on to describe The Edge of Love as an 'appropriate film for Edinburgh', which is all about promoting new British talent.
But it is also hoped that the festival's change of date – from August to June – can raise Edinburgh's profile as an attractive launching pad, when the city can give a premiere the attention it deserves.
"The point about this is, distributors (will begin to realise] that they'll get a great opening for a film at Edinburgh," Atkinson says. "It's good for the city: it's a world premiere and all the world's media are coming. We've had to lengthen the red carpet."
The current vision for Edinburgh, backed by funding from the UK Film Council, is of a Sundance-style festival for new film work. But for all their denials, the EIFF staff do have an eye for a starry premiere.
In 2005, the Festival and Scottish Screen set out to bring George Clooney in for The Jacket, filmed in Scotland, but it premiered in the US and Dublin instead.
The film-maker and former festival director Jim Hickey says: "In Edinburgh, a film like this (The Edge of Love] stands out. It isn't normal for Edinburgh to have two or three big stars turning up for one film," he says.
The Edge of Love reflects a new kind of premiere, Hickey says: "The whole distribution system has changed, films are now released worldwide, in Britain and the US simultaneously, because of (the risk of] piracy. They choose which city to do the big festival event in."
One glaring deficiency in Edinburgh, however, is a film venue with the scale and style to stage international premieres. Nearly four years after architect Richard Murphy's proposals for a new Sean Connery Filmhouse on Festival Square were unveiled, there's no sign of movement on efforts to find a new festival home.
The festival's move to June will suit distributors who have a big launch planned for the summer, Hickey goes on. "The build-up is huge, the media outlets are covered in such a big way compared to 20 years ago," he says.
"It's a radically different world. I don't think it means Edinburgh has changed, though: the world has changed and Edinburgh is taking advantage of the celebrity phenomenon."
• In Life & Arts tomorrow: don't miss our exclusive interview with Keira Knightley
The full article contains 791 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
