Film News

Edinburgh International Film Festival
New dates for 2008: 18 - 29 June

John Maybury's The Edge of Love to open the 61st Edinburgh International Film Festival. Starring Kiera Knightley, Sienna Miller, Matthew Rhys and Cillian Murphy, the film tells the story of two feisty, free-spirited women connected by the charismatic poet Dylan Thomas who loves them both. Written by Scots-born Sharman Macdonald.

Film UK is additional promotion for British productions completed between 31 July 2007 and 31 May 2008. The keystones of Film UK are The Guide to British Film, a directory of all the fiction films made in the UK in the last 12 months, and during the Festival, the Film UK section of the Videotheque where as many of the films in the Guide as we can get our hands on are available to view on VHS or DVD.

Production Round Up

Production highlights since July include:
Drama
Taggart filmed a scene about a dodgy MSP at Dynamic Earth and outside the Scottish Parliament in August. Book of Blood, a feature-length adaptation of a Clive Barker horror story, is filming in Edinburgh this winter.
Commercials
Next Christmas advert, filmed on the Royal Mile Princes St and Royal Terrace in September, involving a lot of dressing and local cooperation. SSPCA filmed an advert in Newhaven. A Holland and Barrett commercial was shot on Nicholson Street. The Royal Bank of Scotland commercial filmed on George Street and Grindlay Street in the midst of Edinburgh's Christmas. New BBC idents were filmed at Edinburgh airport & at the Forth Road Bridge.
Children's
CBBC brought hidden cameras to Edinburgh in November for Stake Out, a kids' version of candid camera. At It Productions were in Musselburgh in September with a dad preparing for a dancing challenge in Big Kidz.
Documentary / light entertainment
Carnet de Voyages, a French travel programme, toured haunted destinations, including the Old Town, with an illustrator who sketched ghosts and any spooky stories they were told. Tokyo Trial, an NHK (Japan) documentary about the trial of Japanese war criminals after World War 2, filmed at Parliament Hall and the Supreme Courts. The UK's representative in the Tribunal, Lord Patrick, was a judge for the Scottish College of Justice. Top Dogs - Strictly Come Barking had an Edinburgh canine in the contest, so came to film in its neighbourhood. Wife Swap had an Edinburgh participant and came to film in November. Australia's Network Seven came to our area to film The Great Outdoors in August. Also in August, Shanghai's equivalent of MTV filmed a piece about the UK's music heritage in Edinburgh. In October the BBC filmed an episode of The History of Surgery, which will be broadcast next year. Bargain Hunt came to Kelso and Floors Castle in November. Melvyn Bragg's Travels in Written Britain filmed in Edinburgh and at The Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick. A Norwegian travel show filmed at The Glen golf course in September. Finally, we've had X Factor in Whitburn and at the Livingston Designer Outlet in West Lothian because of the success of Leon Jackson.

Do you have a Press Enquiry?
Call Ros Davis, Production Liaison Manager, with questions. Tel: +44 (0)131 622 7336

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Our photos are from the film sets we have visited or of the people we are working with.