This year the ESFF will screen 58 short films, representing filmmakers from 18 countries around the world. The programme includes 26 UK premieres and the world premiere of ‘Unbearable’ by Khaliq Akbar and 23 award-winning films. The festival runs from 6 to 15 June 2014.
The international flavour of the programme is enhanced by ESFF’s collaboration with the Shanghai based film collective Kan Kan Media. Kan Kan Media have curated a special programme of short films set to be screened on Saturday 7th June at Summerhall. Working closely with Iranian and Chinese filmmakers the programme promises to shed light on cinema from two countries that have received relatively little exposure in the UK before.
Director of Kan Kan Media, Paulina Salas-Ruiz said: ‘KanKan Media are delighted to participate in this year’s Edinburgh Short Film Festival. We have spent many years exhibiting short films from all over the world in Shanghai and we are excited to be bringing some of these films to Edinburgh, many of these films have never been screened in the UK before and some have never even been seen in Europe.’
The festival concludes with a one-off screening of the feature ‘Hansel of Film,’ a documentary of Shetland Arts’ relay race of short film across the UK in 2012.
ESFF Director Paul Bruce said: ‘With the Commonwealth Games just around the corner it felt right to screen such a wide and diverse selection of films, from far and wide, a celebration of nations and cultures and of peoples and their lives.’
Amongst international contributions lie several short films from Edinburgh filmmakers, including a drama by sixteen-year-old writer and director Caitlin Wright. Caitlin’s film ‘Broken Memories’ is a thoughtful drama portraying the difficulties of moving on after the death of a loved one. Other Edinburgh films include ‘Work’ by Ross Hornby, carefully and sensitively capturing the life of an Edinburgh street worker; ‘Love Cake’ by Eleanor Yule, a delightful, Marchmont-based romance and ‘Arty Anne,’ a heart-warming documentary about Anne, an avid artist who confronts the challenges of losing her eyesight with creativity and determination.
The ESFF receives entries through an open call and all genres are considered for screening, from animation, art house, dramas and documentaries. This year the ESFF received over 400 submissions.
Paul Bruce said: ‘This year we have received more films than ever before, and we had to make some extremely tough decisions. As a result I feel that the programme is particularly strong and we have managed to select a mix of short film genres that will appeal to almost any audience.
Each screening offers a mix of genres; ‘we like to programme the films in an eclectic way, which takes the audience on a rollercoaster ride.’
Edinburgh Short Film Festival 2014. The festival runs at the beginning of June each year with events in eclectic venues across the city of Edinburgh.
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