Connery to Attend Edinburgh 60th
Sir Sean Connery is to spend 10 days this summer attending the Edinburgh International Film Festival of which he is patron. In this 60th anniversary year he is to host a special "60th Edition" party on the 19th of August and he will also take part in a Festival of Politics, organised by the Scottish Parliament.
Edinburgh is the longest continually running film festival in the world, having begun in 1947 as a documentary-based festival established in the wake of the Second World War. and the organisers will reveal this year's programme in July, but meantime they have decided the festival will run two days longer than usual, from August 14th to August 27th
.FEAST OF POLITICS
The Festival of Politics last year attracted Neil Kinnock, Shirley Williams, Vanessa Redgrave and Andrew Marr as well as 3,000 visitors who enjoyed 22 different events. It will run from 23rd to 26th of August.
The former 007 star is well known for holding nationalist political views, Sir Sean will be sharing his views on Scotland and politics "In Conversation" with the Scottish Parliament's presiding officer George Reid, on the 23rd of August.
George Reid said: "I look forward to quizzing Sean on his life and work, his engagement with Scottish politics and what he will be doing next. Sir Sean's involvement in the festival is a mark, not only of the increasing profile of this event, but of the parliament taking its place on the world stage."
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE AWARD
The Edinburgh Films Festival's organisers announced in Cannes that they were introducing an award for Best Documentary Feature this year, with a substantial cash prize for the winner.
Festival artistic director Shane Danielsen said: "The award will recognise a singular and compelling achievement in non-fiction filmmaking and is intended to honour work which reveals a fascination with a particular subject, rendered onscreen with style, truthfulness and integrity to its sources. It celebrates the act of filmmaking for its own sake, divorced from commercial considerations, and driven instead by the desire to represent some aspect of life or experience, and, in so doing, to expand the horizons of its audience."
There's also to be a special 1970s retrospective programmed - "They Might Be Giants: Other Voices from the New American Cinema."