World premiere of comedy starring Doctor Who’s Karen Gillan selected as the closing film of the 67th Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Romantic comedy Not Another Happy Ending is to receive its world premiere at the EIFF, where it will act as the closing night film on June 30.

Set in Glasgow, it stars Doctor Who actress Karen Gillan as successful author Jane Lockhart in the midst of writers block. Her publisher, played by French actor Stanley Weber, has to make her miserable to rekindle her creative fire. But the worse he makes her feel, the more he falls in love with her.

John McKay, who previously worked with Gillan on BBC drama We’ll Take Manhattan, directs the film, which is produced by Claire Mundell of Synchronicity Films, co-produced by Wendy Griffin and written by David Solomons.

The cast is rounded out by Amy Manson, Iain de Caestecker, Kate Dickie, Freya Mavor, Gary Lewis and Henry Ian Cusick.

The feature is presented by British Film Company and Creative Scotland in association with BBC Scotland and is a Synchronicity Films Production. Executive Producers are Steve Milne, Robbie Allen, Ewan Angus and Christian Eisenbeiss. Additional funders include Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, Glasgow Film Office and Southwest Scotland Screen. International sales by LevelK. Post-production by the award winning Molinare.

Chris Fujiwara, EIFF artistic director, said: “Speaking as somebody who, before coming to Scotland, knew Scotland partly through its portrayal in films, I’m really excited to find in Not Another Happy Ending a fresh, interesting, and almost idyllic take on the cultural vibrancy of Scottish city life.

“The film also shows how well the time-honoured genre of romantic comedy can work in the contemporary Scottish context. The film will add just the right note of celebration with which to close our festival this year.”

Producer Mundell said: “Living and working in Scotland, we wanted to create something representative of the bustling creativity and wonderful, witty sense of humour we see around us. The result is Not Another Happy Ending; a film that’s unashamedly upbeat, romantic and funny.”

The 67th EIFF runs from June 19-30.

Richard Fleischer retrospective

The EIFF has also announced it will present a retrospective of Hollywood director Richard Fleischer in partnership with the Filmhouse, which will present a programme of his features from June 13 to July 7.

Over a career that spanned six decades, Fleischer directed Charlton Heston in dystopian sci-fi feature Soylent Green (1973); Richard Attenborough and John Hurt in 10 Rillington Place (1971); Tony Curtis and Henry Fonda in The Boston Strangler (1968); Stephen Boyd and Rachel Welch in Fantastic Voyage (1966); Joan Collins as The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955); and film noir with The Narrow Margin (1952).

Fleischer died in 2006, aged 89.