At what point does entertainment tourism overshadow the real history and legacy of a location? Writer and director Sean Dunn explores this very topical idea through the lens of black comedy in his hotly-anticipated debut feature, The Fall of Sir Douglas Weatherford. Taking place on the outskirts of Edinburgh, the plot sees keen historian and tour guide Kenneth (Peter Mullan) become increasingly frustrated as his local village becomes the setting for a new fantasy television series. Note that I know Dunn personally and was lucky enough to have a conversation with him about the film ahead of its UK premiere at Glasgow Film Festival 2026…
Since breaking into the British independent film scene with his excellent low-budget debut London to Brighton, writer and director Paul Andrew Williams has worked extensively in television and cinema from directing episodes of ITV dramas such as Broadchurch to crafting his own stories like 2021 revenge flick, Bull. His latest feature is Dragonfly, a social-realist drama with psychological thriller elements set in a working-class English town. When old-age pensioner Elsie (Brenda Blethyn) feels neglected by the nurses that visit her daily, her rough-around-the-edges neighbour Colleen (Andrea Riseborough) steps in to care for her, accompanied by her enormous bull terrier, Sabre. The women strike up an unlikely friendship but Elsie’s son John (Jason Watkins) worries that all is not as it seems.
I was fortunate enough to sit down with filmmaker Williams to discuss the piece…
Following on from the success of indies in his home country of Germany, writer and director Jan-Ole Gerster’s latest work Islands marks his English-language feature debut. After having its world premiere in Berlin back in February, the film screened at Edinburgh International Film Festival before going out on UK general release this month.
Sam Riley stars as a has-been pro turned tennis coach Tom who works out of a holiday resort in Spain, usually whilst hungover from partying at the local club the night before. His hedonistic lifestyle is upended when Anne (Stacy Martin) and Dave (Jack Farthing) arrive on the scene and ask him to give their young son private lessons. What follows is a suspenseful noir mystery with more twists and turns than a Grand Slam winning rally. I took the opportunity to sit down with Gerster to discuss the piece…
Taking its title from an ominous line in William Shakespeare’s tragicomic play The Tempest, crime thriller All the Devils Are Here is written and directed by Barnaby Roper – a stylish feature debut from the filmmaker who uses his breadth of experience in making shorts and music videos to craft a slick experience. The plot centres around thieves Ronnie (Eddie Marsan), Grady (Sam Claflin), Royce (Tienne Simon), and Numbers (Burn Gorman) who hide out in a secluded house in the countryside after a heist spirals out of control. I took the opportunity to chat with the director and his cast ahead of its world premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival.
Known for his drug-fuelled novels such as Trainspotting, Filth, and Crime that depict working-class life in Scotland, novelist Irvine Welsh continues to explore fresh artistic mediums some thirty-plus years into his creative career. He has recently released concept album The Sci-fi Soul Orchestra as a musical companion piece to his latest book, Men in Love, and is always working on exciting new ideas across stage, screen, and of course literature. Giving a unique insight into his life and psyche, experimental documentary Reality Is Not Enough is written and directed by Paul Sng and uses a range of filmmaking styles to present a vivid and deeply personal portrait of the iconic writer.
Ahead of its world premiere at the 78th edition of Edinburgh International Film Festival, I was lucky enough to sit down with Sng and Welsh to discuss the film…
Earlier this year I attended Berlin Film Festival and the final screening of my trip was the gripping Swiss-German drama Late Shift which follows an eventful day in the life of surgical nurse, Floria who is brilliantly portrayed by Leonie Benesch. It was one of my festival highlights and ahead of its UK release next month, I was fortunate to sit down with its writer and director Petra Volpe to discuss the film…
It feels like very important, especially post-pandemic, to focus a film on the experiences of a nurse. What drew you to tell this story initially?
Well, I had lived with a nurse for many years before COVID even, and I kind of observed how the conditions she worked under got worse and worse, and how it affected her deeply. I just always felt like the work I’m doing, at home writing screenplays, was so banal compared to what she encountered every day. It’s such an emotionally complex but also technically complex job.
Coming soon to Sky Cinema, Matt Haig’s young adult fantasy novel The Radleys has been adapted for the big screen by filmmaker Euros Lyn. The plot follows teen siblings Rowan (Harry Baxendale) and Clara (Bo Bragason), and their loving parents Helen (Kelly Macdonald) and Peter (Damian Lewis) who live comfortably in seaside suburbia. However, a violent attack after a party leads to a shocking revelation that threatens their tight family unit – they are all vampires.
Ahead of its world premiere at the 77th edition of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, I was fortunate enough to sit down with Lyn, Macdonald, and Lewis to discuss the piece. “It was great to have Whitby Abbey as a backdrop, giving a nod to Bram Stoker’s Dracula” exclaimed Euros Lyn, who is best known for his work on popular TV series such as Broadchurch, Happy Valley, and Black Mirror. The drama unfolds on the east coast of England in a middle class neighbourhood, with a neat commentary at play aligning ‘settling down’ to Helen and Peter’s decision to abstain from their natural vampiric urges.
After a period of disruption which threatened an uncertain future, the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) finds itself on more solid footing for its 77th edition this year. At its new home of the Cameo Cinema, the relaunch was marked by an Opening Gala UK premiere of German director Nora Fingscheidt’s latest film The Outrun. Based on Amy Liptrot’s bestselling memoir of the same name, the drama follows biologist Rona (Saoirse Ronan, who also co-produced alongside her husband Jack Lowden) as she returns to her hometown in the Orkney Islands following a stint at rehab for alcoholism. I was fortunate enough to attend the screening and chat with the team on the red carpet.
In 1996, the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) was founded by Katherine Vockins at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York. This has spawned countless theatrical pieces in maximum security prisons and provides convicts with a sense of community and creativity as they serve their sentences behind bars. Adapting one of the progam’s many stories for the big screen, Sing Sing follows inmate John ‘Divine G’ Whitfield (Colman Domingo) as he and his fellow prisoners as they attempt to stage an original production titled Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code. I was fortunate enough to sit down with director Greg Kwedar to discuss the film…
Obviously Sing Sing is a prison movie but it doesn’t have the trappings of what we’ve come to expect from this subgenre. How did you approach telling a story with such dark themes but with the light that shines through your film?
You know, I think it’s self-evident inside this world and within the program and I think if you really are there to witness it, there is a wonderful warmth and life force emanating from this work and this program despite a dark environment that surrounds it. I think prison is the setting, but it’s not the focus. The focus is on these men and their work and their discovery of the beauty and possibility within them. This is inherently a light – a true light that’s emanating out of them that we’re attracted to.
When studying cinema, we so often discuss the work from the point-of-view of the director, writer, or the actors on screen. French artist Hélène Louvart has been the cinematographer on many excellent pictures for over thirty years, with modern examples including The Lost Daughter, Never Rarely Sometimes Always and La Chimera. Her new film Nezouh is a beautifully told magical-realism drama, and it is written and directed by Soudade Kaadan. The Syria-based story centres around a young girl called Zeina (Hala Zein) who must decide whether or not to flee her hometown after a bomb attack almost completely destroys their house. I was lucky enough to sit down with Hélène to discuss this piece as well as her craft in general.
Nezouh takes a very different look at the Syrian war-torn landscape as the story is told through the perspective of young Zeina. How did you approach illustrating this in the style of the film?
You know, it was the point of view of the girl, but it’s a mix between her gaze and also the point of view, in the storytelling of course, from Soudade [Kaadan, the director]. We are not doing a documentary, but it is important to understand the context for the girl. If it was only her point of view perhaps it would be slightly too naive so it was a mix with Soudade as she knows exactly the situation. She left there, her parents are still there. For her it’s not a dream, it’s a reality but in the girl’s point of view she brought some magic moments.
Cinema Perspective 