The Red Carpet rolls out for Edinburgh Film Festival 2023 - the first since the loss of its Traditional Filmhouse Home.
The event launched with the world premiere of ‘Silent Roar’, set in the Western Isles.
Last updated 18th Aug 2023
This year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival is the first since the loss of its long term home at the Filmhouse on Lothian Road.
The shocking news came in October last year, when the Centre For Moving Image (CMI), which operated the festival and the Filmhouse venue, went into administration.
The focal point of this year’s festival will be The Everyman Theatre, at the top of the new St. James’ Quarter, though part of the programme will be hosted at the Vue cinema on Leith Street too.
"we’re really focusing on being grateful, being thankful and enjoying every single moment that we can”
Rafa Sales Ross is one of the Programmers, she’s described a sense of "rebirth" this year, after the "shocking and sad loss of the Filmhouse".
“At the same time that we have mourned the loss of the filmhouse and the belmont filmhouse, it has also allowed us to be extra grateful to be here this year”
“At the moment we’re really focusing on being grateful, being thankful and enjoying every single moment that we can”
The 2023 programme kicked off with the world premiere of Skye-born Director Johnny Barrington’s coming of age drama ‘Silent Roar’, billed as a “teenage tale of surfing, sex and hellfire set in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides”.
Producer Chris Young, who was one of the team behind The Inbetweeners, told us filming in the Isle of Lewis left a mark on the whole cast and crew:
"It's such a spectacular landscape, and I think that the community in Uig, we could not have made the film without their support, and I think that did mean that we became very embedded. We ended up just connecting with so many of the local people."
Director Johnny Barrington - who grew up in the Isle of Skye - describes Lewis as "a gem of a place".
"I was saying to someone earlier that the rocks have their own personality there. There is a kind of, a very good vibe coming out of the rocks and the landscape. It's a beautiful, beautiful place and working alongside a lot of the people who are from up there was a pleasure, a real pleasure."
The 2023 Edinburgh International Film Festival runs from Friday 18 to Wednesday 23 August.