Scottish animators Will Anderson and Ainslie Henderson’s 60-minutes documentary A Cat Called Dom has won the inaugural Powell and Pressburger Award for best film at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF, August 12-20).
Anderson and Henderson star in and co-direct the inventive documentary, which had its world premiere at EIFF. The film explores how Will deals with his mother’s cancer diagnosis and also the frustrations of trying to make a film.
The jury, comprised of president Gaylene Gould (founder of creative lab The Space to Come), producer Rosie Crerar and author Sarah Winman, noted “Powell and Pressburger’s special collaboration was grounded in deeply human stories and the belief that life can be magic” when honouring A Cat Called Dom. It was the first year that the prize was open to international filmmakers, not just those from the UK.
Other contenders in the 10-film competition included Maha Haj’s Mediterranean Fever, Amanda Kramer’s Please Baby Please, Martika Ramirez Escobar’s Leonor Will Never Die, Jan Gassmann’s 99 Moons and Peter Strickland’s Flux Gourmet.
The Norman McLaren awards for British Short Animation went to Stay by Yu Sun (a graduation film from the London College of Communication) and for British Short Film to Canvas 5 by Karla Crome. The jury called Stay “a deceptively simple, multilayered film with a powerful message. It pushes use of space in a visceral style, clearly communicating the filmmaker’s pain” and praised Canvas 5 for its “use of camerawork, sound, and framing to evoke a haunting atmosphere. It challenged perspectives on arts spaces, immigration, commodifying other peoples’ experiences.”
EIFF was back to August dates for the first time since 2007, and was under the leadership of new creative director Kristy Matheson.
The festival screened 87 features, 12 shorts programmes and hosted retrospectives devoted to Kinuyo Tanaka and Experiments in Women’s Filmmaking from 1972 to the present. EIFF opened with Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun, with the director in attendance alongside stars Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio; and closed with After Yang, with director Kogonada and actor Justin H Min attending.
Notable guests of the festival this year included Jackie van Beek, Armagan Ballantyne and Julia Davis presenting Nude Tuesday; Charlotte Rampling with Juniper; John Michael McDonagh with The Forgiven; author Irvine Welsh, executive producer of short Little Warrior; Antonia Campbell Hughes, Cosmo Jarvis and Claes Bang for It Is In Us All; and actress Fatma Mohamed representing Flux Gourmet.
Industry attendees and speakers included comedian Lucy Porter, Nashen Moodley, director of Sydney Film Festival, producer Rebecca Mark-Lawson, Girls on Film podcast host Anna Smith,
Bad Wolf CEO Jane Tranter, screenwriter Jack Thorne, Julie La’Bassiere, consultant for awards campaigns in the UK for Apple Worldwide Video; and Bernardo Rondeau, senior director of film programs at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
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