Inverness Film Festival bill’s focus on 20 years – highlights include Scottish cult classic Local Hero and 14 premieres from Scotland
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A drawing of films and faces that have appeared over the last 20 years at Inverness Film Festival forms the cover of the programme for the event coming up at Eden Court from November 4-10.
Plenty of good memories and landmark moments over the festival’s history so far are celebrated – with the reshowing of four big films shown over the years including space drama Gravity.
Plus there will be a screening of Scottish cult classic Local Hero with the writer of a new book about it talking to one of the cast. The success of the movie’s screenings at the venue led to a permanent cinema being established at Eden Court.
But among over 30 films being shown at next month’s festival is a strong selection of new films including 14 premieres from Scotland plus many from the UK, US and the rest of the world, hand-picked by festival director Paul MacDonald-Taylor.
The opening and closing films are James Grey’s Armageddon Time (November 4) starring Anthony Hopkins and set in America during the Reagan era, and, closing the festival, mysterious thriller The Menu (November 10) directed by Mark Mylod and starring Ralph Fiennes as a chef.
Three films joined the line-up late on including The Eternal Daughter by Joanna Hogg, starring Tilda Swinton, and No Bears by Iranian director Jafar Panahi, now arrested by the Iranian regime, confirmed on the last day before the programme went to press.
“And Bones And All was one I wanted to show,” the festival director added, “but the permissions had to come from the main distributor in LA.
“There was a lot of waiting on that decision, but it was quite an exciting moment when that was delivered – basically 10 minutes before the programme had to go for the final design, so that was nail-biting!”
Having shown two of the director Charlotte Wells’s short films in the past, Paul is delighted to be showing her first feature film, Aftersun, which stars Paul Mescal.
The festival director said: “It’s one of the best films I’ve seen, not just this year but for a long, long time!”
Ross-shire animator Will Anderson’s film, A Cat Called Dom, made with creative partner Ainslie Henderson, will also be showing.
And world cinema comes from Bhutan, Bolivia, Morocco, Georgia, France and Costa Rica while a special event sees musician Stephen Horne accompany 1919 silent thriller Behind The Door.
Two changes for this year are replacing the paper used to vote for the Audience Award with a more environmentally-friendly button to press! And drinks and snacks will be served until midnight each night of the festival.
Paul said: “It’s giving people the space and time if they want to chat about the film and just enjoy the atmosphere of the festival. It’s going to be a lot of fun, I think.”
• IFF tickets from the Eden Court website.
