cinema · EIFF26 · Interviews

The Mad World of Harvey Kurtzman Interview: Bart Simpson – ‘I didn’t want this to be a puff piece’.

Keen comic-book fans may well be aware of the satirist magazine MAD that was first published in the 1950s but they might not be so familiar with its creator, Harvey Kurtzman. In the programme notes for the Edinburgh International Film Festival, festival producer Emma Boa states that his “commitment to integrity and challenging the status quo with humour, edge and resilience is a hymn for our times”. With his sophomore feature, documentary filmmaker Bart Simpson paints a vivid portrait of the man behind the MADness and ‘The Mad World of Harvey Kurtzman’ celebrates its world premiere in Edinburgh. I was fortunate to sit down with the director Simpson to discuss the piece.

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cinema · EIFF26

Top 5 Must-See Movies of Edinburgh International Film Festival 2026

Tucked in amongst the biggest arts festival in the world, the latest edition of the Edinburgh International Film Festival is nearly upon us. Back with its Midnight Madness strand, amazing In Conversation events, retrospective screenings, and a host of world and UK premieres, the programme is brimming with promise and potential. I have perused the offering to select five films to keep an eye out for this August…

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cinema

Film review: The Odyssey

Known for his mind-bending stories and practical filmmaking prowess, writer and director Christopher Nolan has embarked on his most ambitious feature to date. Shot entirely with unwieldy IMAX 70mm cameras to craft immense scale and textured quality, action fantasy The Odyssey is an adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek poem. The plot follows Odysseus (Matt Damon), the ruler of Ithaca who left his kingdom to fight in the Trojan War. With his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and their son Telemachus (Tom Holland) left behind to fend off potential suitors such as Antinous (Robert Pattinson) in his absence, he encounters gods and monsters including the wise Athena (Zendaya) and mysterious Circe (Samantha Morton) on his long and perilous journey home.

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cinema

Film review: Toy Story 5

 It’s been over three decades since the beloved series first came to our screens, and now cowboy Woody (Tom Hanks) and space ranger Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) return in the latest animated adventure, Toy Story 5. Directed by studio stalwart Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris, it centres around cowgirl Jessie (Joan Cusack) whose place as favourite toy of eight-year-old Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) is threatened when trendy tablet Lilypad (Greta Lee) arrives, intended to help the little girl make friends. Eager to tag along when Bonnie is invited to her first sleepover, Jessie and her trusty steed Bullseye embark on a dangerous mission, reuniting with old friends and meeting new ones along the way.

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cinema

Film review: Backrooms

In 2022, a photograph within a 4chan messageboard thread inspired teenager Kane Parsons to publish a web series on YouTube that expanded upon the initial prompt to post “disquieting images that just feel off”. Four years later as his creepypasta videos have gone viral, he has fleshed out the idea by directing a feature-length film.

 Sci-fi psychological horror Backrooms follows furniture salesman Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who is recently divorced and struggling with alcoholism. After discovering a strange portal within the basement of his showroom, he confides in his therapist Mary (Renate Reinsve) who is battling demons of her own. When he goes missing, she enters a mysterious dimension to find him.

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cinema

Film review: Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu

After three series of television, director Jon Favreau brings the adventures of a bounty hunter from a galaxy far, far away to the big screen. Space-western Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu sees Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his little green apprentice working for the New Republic, hunting down criminals linked with the Galactic Empire. Commander Ward (Sigourney Weaver) assigns them a mission to rescue Rotta the Hutt (Jeremy Allen White) from planet Shakari and bring warlord Janu Coin (Jonny Coyne) to justice.

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cinema

Film review: Obsession

It’s been said that horror and comedy are two sides of the same coin so it should come as no surprise that a sketch-show performer might shift into crafting cinematic terror. Similar to Jordan Peele before him, writer and director Curry Barker was one half of a comic duo before his film debut, 2024’s found-footage piece Milk & Serial. His latest feature is Obsession, a supernatural chiller that follows twenty-something ‘Bear’ (Michael Johnston) who has a longstanding crush on his music store colleague Nikki (Inde Navarrette). Eager to cheer her up after she loses a necklace, he buys her a ‘One-Wish Willow’, a novelty trinket that claims to grant one wish once broken. After dropping her off one night and fumbling the opportunity to express his true feelings, he himself snaps the gift in half out of frustration, wishing that she would “love him more than anyone else in the world”. Nikki then experiences a sudden change of heart, and becomes obsessively infatuated with her admirer.

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cinema · GFF26

Film review: My Father’s Island

 Based on the autobiographically-inspired novella by David Vann, the latest feature from French writer and director Vladimir de Fontenay is My Father’s Island. Known by the book’s title Sukkwan Island in some countries, the psychological family drama centres around teenager Roy (Woody Norman) who lives with his mother Elizabeth (Tuppence Middleton) after her divorce. Seeking an opportunity to bond, his estranged father Tom (Swann Arlaud) suggests that they spend a year together at a lakeside cabin on a remote island in Norway. The pair’s trip begins as a wholesome soul-searching adventure, but soon becomes an intense fight for survival.

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