Edinburgh – Day 8

There's always an extra buzz of anticipation before a World Premiere; multiply that by ten for the first ever screening of Hamburg Cell. September 11 2001 is such an ongoing, inescapable part of our daily lives that any film tackling the lead-up to that event is bound to touch raw nerves - particularly if it does so from the viewpoint of the terrorists who flew those planes into the World Trade Center and The Pentagon. Hamburg Cell pieces together the known facts about the hijackers and then wraps dramatised scenes around them. It doesn't demonise these men or avoid examining the roots of their motivations with abstract notions such as 'evil'. Instead it dares to show their fears, their conflicted emotions over their families and, yes, their hatred of Western materialism. "Whatever they did, they are still human beings," said writer Ronan Bennett at the Q&A which followed the premiere. "A natural response is to say they're fanatics, but we know it's more complicated than that." Empire asked director Antonia Bird - no stranger to Edinburgh, having premiered Safe, Priest and Face here - about the use of real shots of the attacks alongside the dramatised scenes. "I fought to put that footage in," she replied. "I want people to go back to how they felt when they saw it happen for the first time, but then to go beyond that. I want them to remember the gut reaction, but then to think and not just feel, because now we know more about these guys." The world needs films like Hamburg Cell if we're ever going to begin to understand the other side of the so-called "war on terror". Controversially, it cuts through politics and propaganda so that we can engage with these killers on a human level. Remember that hideously manipulative opening voiceover to Love Actually, as Hugh Grant told us that the passengers on the 9/11 planes phoned their families to say a final "I love you"? Hamburg Cell begins as one hijacker, Ziad Jarrah, says the same three words to his wife from a payphone in Newark Airport before boarding his fateful flight. The divide between us-and-them, this film argues, isn't as wide as leaders on both sides would have us believe. At Edinburgh, the debates went on long into the small hours in the cinema bars (and it's not like Empire to keep fuelling an argument, oh no). You can make up your own mind when Hamburg Cell is broadcast on Channel 4 on September 2. It's a shame that one of the best films here is destined for television rather than cinema release (then again, it wouldn't exist without Channel 4's funding). But the broad picture of the UK film industry that's emerging at the Festival is healthier than some people believe. As well as the intelligence of Hamburg Cell, there's the emotional depth that Pawel Pawlikowski brings to teenage romance in My Summer Of Love; the mix of intimacy and social conscience in Ae Fond Kiss; the cold heart of revenge that beats in Dead Man's Shoes; the youthful energy that breaks down Northern Ireland's sectarian barriers in Mickeybo And Me; the unashamed genre stance of The Purifiers; and the literate layering of Stage Beauty. There are more films still to unspool (including Blinded and Dear Frankie), but it's already looking like a strong year for British cinema. Flashforward: Tips for Friday *Dear Frankie (UGC, 6.30pm) * Emily Mortimer hires stranger Gerard Butler for a day to pretend he's her young son's errant dad in this well-observed Scottish drama. *Hero (UGC, 9.30pm) * An Empire favourite since last year's Berlin Film Festival, Zhang Yimou's artier riposte to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon finally receives its UK Premiere, attended by cinematographer Christopher Doyle. *Ramones: End Of The Century (Cameo, 10pm) * From the band's birth in the CBGB's scene of 1970s New York to the deaths of key members only a few years ago, this documentary charts the journey of a legendary punk outfit.