Recently, Iwent to see Christopher Nolan’sThe Odyssey in beautiful 70mm at the Filmhouse here in Edinburgh. Iwas completely blown away by its scale, ambition and visual beauty, but Iwas also troubled by its relationship to Homer’s original text, the changes to the story, to Odysseus’ character, and to key elements of theplot.
Then Isaw it again, and something changed. The second time, Iwas able to put aside my expectations of whatThe Odyssey should be and see it on its own terms as Nolan’s version of this ancient story, reimagined for anew generation. Irealised that my resistance the first time wasn’t really just about the film. Ihad gone into the cinema with my father’s hand on my shoulder. My father died about five years ago, but before he died, he was aclassicist who loved Homer and Virgil. He even wrote abook about love, death and communication in the ‘Iliad’, the ‘Odyssey’, and the ‘Aeneid’.
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I remember going to see Wolfgang Petersen’s filmTroy with him on release, and how angry he was about the changes it had made to the ‘Iliad’. We had afierce conversation afterwards about how he felt the film had betrayed the original text. So when Isaw Nolan’s new film, Iwas imagining what my father would have thought of it and what our conversation might have been, what it might have felt like to sit there and watch it next to him. That inevitably covered my judgement. The second time Icould let that go. Icould watch the film without asking what my father would have thought, and instead asked what Ithought and what the film was trying to do on its ownterms.
I think that says quite alot about how Iapproach being aFestival Director. In asense, Ialways have two lenses that I’m looking through. One is my own perspective, my tastes, instincts and understanding of cinema. The other is an imagined audience. What would somebody else see in this? What would another filmmaker, programmer, critiquer, critic or audience member respond to? Ithink it would be amistake for aFestival Director to operate purely on personal taste.
One of the things Ilove most about this job is that it is fundamentally collaborative. Ilove talking about films, arguing about them and debating the shape of aprogramme with our festival producer Emma, our programmers and the wider team. So much of what ultimately appears at the festival comes out of those conversations, but there also has to be apersonal perspective. Iwant to bring something of myself to the festival, of course, experience, taste and hopefully something different.
At the same time, we are all custodians of something much bigger than ourselves, the Edinburgh International Film Festival has more than 70years of history behind it. When Icame into the role two and ahalf years ago, the challenge was to create something new with our board and team, partly from scratch, but also not entirely. So much of what we do is about honouring that history whilst thinking about what cinema is going to do next. For me, that’s the balancing act. What do Ibring personally to the table? What does the team bring? What part of the legacy will be ours, and what are we building for the future?
A big part of that future is our focus on world premieres. Iwant the festival to help create amarket around those films, giving filmmakers not just apremière but agenuine opportunity to find distribution, travel to other festivals and ultimately reach audiences beyond our own. Iknow how impossibly difficult it is to get films made. Getting them seen can be just as difficult. If we can discover afilmmaker, give them aplatform and help their work reach beyond the few 100 people who might encounter it at our festival, or even help them get their next film made, that feels incredibly important. That really is what Ithink the festival is for, and where my role sits within it.
It’s about thinking of the audience, but it’s also about the industry, and Idon’t think those things are separate. We want to provide aplatform for filmmakers and build around their films through our industry programme, repertory programme, guests and events. This year, for example, we’re welcoming filmmakers including Kenneth Branagh and Christine Vachon, and actors including Ewan McGregor and Bruce Dern. Those guests build on the extraordinary body of people that we’ve welcomed over the last couple of years to the festival: Gaspar Noé, Alex Garland, Thelma Schoonmaker, Nia DaCosta, Ken Loach, Andrew Arnold, Ben Wheatley and many others. The hope is that all these people bring something to the table: their experience, ideas, and stories, and create something stimulating for audiences, filmmakers and the wider industry.
That’s one of the things Ilove about festivals and working at festivals. They could be great levellers. You could put an emerging filmmaker in the same room as someone who has been making films for 50years, or an audience member alongside aproducer, and suddenly aconversation happens that otherwise wouldn’t exist. That’s where some of the magic happens. Of course, the job isn’t just the seven days in August. The festival for us is happening all year. There are films to discover, programming to develop, the team to build, marketing and fundraising to work on, partnerships to develop, guests to invite, and industry relationships to nurture yearround.
There’s also an enormous amount of pitching, persuading people of the cultural and commercial value of what we do, and of the importance of protecting and developing independent cinema. And then’s Edinburgh itself. Doing this festival in Edinburgh in August is an extraordinary opportunity. We’re in the middle of one of the world’s great concentrations of arts and culture, and we try to draw energy from that, connecting with the wider city and the extraordinary artistic community that is here. That has been one of the great pleasures of the last couple of years for me. Moving up here, getting to know the city, being welcomed into the Scottish arts and film scene and feeling increasingly connected toit.
My own background is in acquisitions, so Iperhaps come at festival directing from aslightly different perspective than some of my predecessors, but ultimately Ilive and breathe cinema. It’s everything to me. My closest friends, loved ones and community are largely people who love film as much as Ido. But more importantly, Ilike feeling that we’re actually doing something. For me, the most powerful part of the job is very simple: that moment when you know you’ve created aconnection between afilmmaker and an audience, you can feel it in the room. You can hear an audience reacting to afilm. You can feel the atmosphere change, hear the questions afterwards in the Q&As. You can see people coming out inspired, excited, challenged. Sometimes even argue about what they’ve just seen. That is incredibly powerful, and Ithink that’s what keeps all of usgoing.
There is, of course, the social side of festivals: the parties, dinners, receptions and special events. We’re also holding amajor conference this year around the future of independent cinema, and putting that together has been atotal joy. Those connections matter, but they’re really part of the same thing: creating aspace where people can come together around cinema and imagine what comes next. So, when someone asks me, like yourselves, what it’s like being aFestival Director, my answer is quite simple. It’s challenging, but those challenges are part of what makes it exciting, and it isn’t really about one person. It isn’t about just my voice or my taste alone. It’s about the team, the filmmakers, the audiences, the people who have built this festival over the last 70 plus years, and the people who will build it into the future. It’s about Scotland, Edinburgh, cinema and the community around all of those things. But it’s also about the people on the ground who make everything happen.
And perhaps in the end, it’s about the same question Iwas asking myself when Iwatched The Odyssey for the second time. How do we honour what came before while still making room for something new? That’s what Ihope we’re doing with this festival. We’re looking into the past, but also at the present, and in doing so, looking forward. If we’re able to discover films, create connections, give filmmakers opportunities, surprise people and help them fall in love with cinema all over again, then Ithink we’re doing something worthwhile.