EIFF announce TV movie retrospective and Mexico focus for 2015
Some early news of this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival programme was announced today, with the main 2015 retrospective – Little Big Screen – giving film fans the opportunity to see some of the finest American TV movies of the 60s and 70s on the big screen.
Included in the programme are Michael Mann’s debut The Jericho Mile, Tobe Hooper’s adaptation of Stephen King’s vampire novel Salem’s Lot, Sam Peckinpah's little-seen Noon Wine and elemental road-rage movie Duel, the first full-length feature from a young Steven Spielberg. "With this retrospective we aim to present our audiences with a selection of the most significant titles from a golden era of made for television movies in the US,” says EIFF Senior Programmer Niall Greig Fulton. “It is also an opportunity to consider the role of television in relation to cinema. A relationship with an ever changing dynamic that, in this context, has come full circle in recent years; television once again becoming an acceptable and fertile environment for artists primarily associated with the big screen.”
The retrospective also works as a nice nod to Edinburgh’s heritage. Under the stewardship of Lynda Miles, the festival was at the vanguard of the New American Cinema (a celebrated period of American film that ran from the late 60s to the 70s), and championed the early careers of the likes of Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma. There’s also a link to EIFF’s most celebrated retrospective of recent years, 2006's They Might Be Giants, which was dedicated to the lesser spotted gems of the New American Cinema, including Arthur Penn’s Night Moves, Elaine May’s Micky and Nicky, and Monte Hellman’s Cockfighter.
Alongside Little Big Screen there will be a celebration of the early films of Walter Hill. This sidebar dovetails nicely with the main retrospective: while Mann, Hooper et al were doing their thing on the small screen, Hill was at the peak of his powers, lighting up the big screen with the likes of The Warriors (1979) and Southern Comfort (1981). Hill has also been among the big-name directors that Fulton alludes to above who have dipped their toe into TV in recent years, bringing his skills to the brilliant HBO western Deadwood.
Hill's stock seems to have risen of late thanks to the so-called 'vulgar auteurists', a vociferous collection of critics championing filmmakers who work in the action genre, while his stylish direction and stripped-down approach to storytelling and dialogue has become the blueprint from many young filmmakers who grew up watching his fat-free action movies and westerns – it’s impossible to imagine Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, for example, without Hill’s near identical The Driver. This mini-retrospective will include that 1978 film, as well as all the features in Hill’s run of classic early work, from Charles Bronson-starring Hard Times (1975) through to spiky buddy movie 48 Hours (1982), staring Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte. Unfortunately this means there’s no room for Hill's visionary rock’n’roll odyssey Streets of Fire from 1984 – c'est la vie.
Also announced today was EIFF’s country of focus: Mexico. This strand will comprise of new features and short films, as well as a selection of retrospective titles. Continuing on from last year’s centenary celebration of Norman McLaren in 2014, the Festival will present a retrospective of the work of another acclaimed animator in 2015: multi-award-winner Barry Purves. Purves will present a selection of his short animations and will appear in person to discuss his work as an animator, author, stage director and designer.
Edinburgh International Film Festival takes place 17-28 June under the stewardship of new artistic director Mark Adams.