THE world premieres of Ratcatcher, the first feature film from Scottish director Lynne Ramsay, and Bill Forsyth's eagerly-awaited Gregory's Two Girls, are among the highlights of this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival.
With one of the most vibrant and accessible festival programmes in years, director Lizzie Francke has accumulated an impressive array of UK and international movies, a list which, to its credit, is significantly less rarified than in recent times.
As a result, some of the hottest properties in Hollywood - including Pierce Brosnan, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Bill Murray - are expected to bring some big-name glamour to this year's event, which starts on August 15.
Major directors who will have their latest movies premiered include Mike Newell (Pushing Tin), John McTiernan (the re-make of The Thomas Crown Affair), Pedro Almodovar (All About My Mother), Wim Wenders (Buena Vista Social Club), Robert Altman (Cookie's Fortune), Atom Egoyan (Felicia's Journey), John Sayles (Limbo), Tim Roth (The War Zone), Michael Winterbottom (Wonderland), and David Mamet (The Winslow Boy).
Other major movies scheduled include A Midsummer's Night Dream, an adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy starring Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett, Stanley Tucci, and Calista Flockhart; Rushmore, an American comedy starring Bill Murray and Brian Cox; and (for the closing night gala) Beautiful People, a comedy about Bosnian refugees living in London, which was a major success at Cannes this year.
There will be world premieres for The Trench, a First World War drama written and directed by Scots-born author William Boyd, and The Big Tease, a US comedy about hairdressers which stars Glasgow comic Craig Ferguson.
Another highlight will be the UK premiere of a restored version of Wildside, the last film which Donald Cammell, the Scots-born director of Performance, made before his death.
But it is Ramsay's Ratcatcher, a tale of lost innocence set in Glasgow during the refuse workers' strike of the 1970s, which takes pride of place. It has been selected as the gala opening night movie.
Forsyth's long-awaited follow- up to Gregory's Girl again stars John Gordon Sinclair, reprising the role he played in the original.
Lizzie Francke, in her second year of directing the festival, said: ''It's the most exciting programme yet. This year we feel we have managed to collect a more diverse range of films. We have got big names coming, but we have also got some excellent small films that are just as important.''
In today's Mix, John Gordon Sinclair talks about the making of Gregory's Two Girls.
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