If you are going to open a festival with a film about a peeping tom who climbs the rooftops, then you had better be ready to spend a night on the tiles. The 61st Edinburgh International Film Festival got underway on Wednesday night with the UK Premiere of Hallam Foe, David Mackenzie’s film about a weirdo teenager with a mother fixation and a voyeuristic tendency. The director graced the Scottish capital’s red carpet alongside his title star Jamie Bell and producer Gillian Berrie; then, along with cast members Jamie Sives and Ewen Bremner, festival guests John Waters and Tilda Swinton, film industry bigwigs and Empire liggers, partied into the night at Edinburgh’s College of Art.
Hallam Foe is the second of Mackenzie’s films to open the Edinburgh Film Festival – which is probably a record, even within the history of the world’s longest continuously-running film festival. Young Adam set the event rolling in 2003, and every one of the Scottish-born director’s shorts and features has played here since 1992. The film’s home-grown connection is also there in the Edinburgh locations, particularly the city’s Old Town skyline, which forms Hallam’s stomping ground as he peeks through bedroom windows at the work colleague (the scintillating but Edinburgh absent Sophia Myles) who resembles his dear, departed mum.
The St Andrew’s flag continued to wave over the Hallam Foe party. Every room in the art college was made up to match Glasgow graduate artist David Shrigley’s animated title sequence while several bands on the soundtrack put in an appearance. Top moment from the musical contingent came when Alex Kapranos and Nick McCarthy of Franz Ferdinand played a four-song acoustic set including their Hallam Foe ballad Dandelion Blow, plus debut album favourites Jacqueline and Matinee.
This year’s Edinburgh Film Festival is under new management, as former film critic Hannah McGill takes over the reins. The Hallam Foe premiere taps into a more vital, energetic mood she brings to the affair, from the new sparkly star logo to the funky website (worth checking out at www.edfilmfest.org.uk for screening details and ticket updates). Bob Hoskins, Julie Delpy, Chris Cooper, Samantha Morton, Mike Leigh, Stellan Skarsgard, Stephen Frears and Knocked Up director Judd Apatow are among those due to set foot on Scottish soil this year. Empire will also be slouching in the stalls and rubbing shoulders with these guests, posting regular stories here in the days to come.