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Trinity's Daily diary
The Edinburgh International Film Festival started off as a showcase for
documentaries, and it returned to its roots today with the BAFTA lecture
given by Chris Hegedus and D A Pennebaker entitled "Documentary Filmmakers,
USA". This years programme has featured some excellent examples (of the
films I've seen, "Southern Comfort" and "Raw Deal" stand out). Pennebaker is
one of the pioneers of the two man crew films which were shot in the 50s and
60s, and since then documentary makers have been able to get closer to their
subjects, making us feel like we know them. Long may this continue.
Sticking with the American theme, at the Dominion Cinema treated us to "a
day of cinema devoted to American filmmakers who challenged and forsook the
Hollywood Machine" aka "Pioneers of the American Fringe". The Dominion is
the last true example of a community-based cinema and, despite being out of
the centre, draws a loyal audience from the neighbouring areas of
Morningside and Bruntsfield. The three films screened represented three
themes: exile (James Ivory's Shakespeare Wallah); black list (Joseph Losey's
The Servant); and underground (Andy Warhol's Heat). As well as the films
there were discussions, chaired by Michael Eaton, with Ismail Merchant,
patricia Losey and Sylvia Miles (who was recently featured in the Guardian).
Robin Gutch, head of FilmFour Labs (the low budget part of FilmFour
production) embraced this fine medium called the internet with a live online
chat in the afternoon. He defended Edinburgh's right to drink alcohol,
talked about the production process, and disappointed us when he said there
were no plans to produce streaming web only films. He finished off by
describing his idea of a good short film: immediate, visual, and able to
tell a story with emotional resonance. Hopefully we'll see a few more of
these discussions in future festivals - whilst not ideal, it does allow
people not at Edinburgh to participate.
Tomorrow look out for another maverick American as Sean Penn brings The
Pledge to Edinburgh.
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