//Raising Films at Edinburgh International Film Festival: What to Watch

Raising Films at Edinburgh International Film Festival: What to Watch

… apart from us of course! We’ll be announcing the results of our survey on Weds 22nd June at Traverse Theatre 2 at 10.30 am, and our Making it Possible event is open to EIFF Passholders.

But it’s no use making it possible if people don’t see the films, so here’s our Raising Films top picks from the programme.

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1. For the whole family

Just keep swimming… to father-of-two Andrew Stanton’s Finding Dory. Yup, Ellen DeGeneres is back in the fish-tastic family event of the summer: now with added Idris Elba. Pixar are the family filmmakers du jour and this will be loved by those who were old enough to see the first one – and those who weren’t even twinkles 13 years ago!

2. To find your new Katniss

For teens feeling a bit grown-up for animated fish, there’s 12 year old Djata on the run, trying to rescue his father from a dystopian regime – and his mum (Agyness Deyn) joins his mission – in The White King. Adapted from a bestselling novel, it’s the first feature from Alex Helfrecht and Jörg Tittel, parents of two with a great track record in theatre.

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3. The champion film-raiser

With thirteen features and one daughter on her resumé, Isabel Coixet is a total Raising Films role model. With Learning to Drive out now in cinemas in the UK, she’s already back with the madly ambitious Endless Night, an Arctic-set costume drama starring Juliette Binoche and Rinko Kikuchi, who has just announced she’s pregnant with her first child.

4. For your indie fix

Get your New York bittersweet hit with Rebecca Miller’s Maggie’s Plan. Miller has two sons with actor Daniel Day-Lewis, has written and directed five films (also producing Maggie’s Plan), and written five novels. She’s a brilliant observer of human relationships – not only romantic relationships, but also complexities of family, friendship and being in the world.

5. To get your costume drama on

Missing OutlanderA Serious Game is a thrilling story of forbidden love with shades of Wuthering Heights. Set in early 20th century Stockholm, it’s adapted by Lone Scherfig (An EducationRiot Club) and the is second feature by Swedish filmmaker, actor and mother of three daughters Pernilla August, best known to many as Shmi Skywalker.

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6. For the Scandinavian alternative  

Staying in Scandinavia, there’s Thomas Vinterberg’s Commune. It’s the second time the Danish filmmaker and father of three has revisited his communal childhood, but where Together offered a gentle child’s eye view, Commune is a darker comic grown-up encounter. Its star Trine Dyrholm talks here about the impact of having a child on her career.

7. For the Scandinavian alternative II: queer edition

Swedish-Scottish parent-filmmaker Maja Borg (Future My Love) is back in Edinburgh with a stunning new short, MAN, in the Flaming Creatures programme. You’ve never seen pregnancy like this before! It’s screening with Anna Linder’s equally radical Spermwhore (produced by Borg), which puts gender and family roles playfully into question.

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8. To get close(r) to home

Ken Wardrop’s documentary Mom and Me has already won an IFTA for its visit to the ‘manliest state’, Oklahoma, where he gets cowboy culture to open up about the mother-son bond. His previous film, His & Hers, was inspired by his parents’ relationship, and documented Irish women’s take on their relationships with men.

9. Best of British

It has to be Jane Gull’s My Feral Heart, which has been getting rave reviews for Steven Brandon, the actor with Down syndrome playing Luke, the lead. DOP Susanne Salavati brings a glow to Luke’s world, making this an exciting first feature from actor-director Gull whose shorts include hard-hitting ‘I Want to Be’, about child sexual exploitation.

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10. The best-for-last surprise treat

This one’s huge: Meg Ryan directing her son Jack Quaid in her first feature, Ithaca. Quaid plays the brother of lead character, Homer, a 14 year old telegram delivery boy in the 1940s whose life is shaped by the WWII news he finds himself carrying. Ryan plays their mother, casts Tom Hanks as her husband, and directs with aplomb and visual flair.

11. One more irresistible Scandinavian alternative for the road…

Aslaug Holm’s dreamy documentary Brothers, which documents her own sons growing up over eight years. Yes, it’s Boyhood but for real, and with a mother behind the camera. Moving between the family’s home in Oslo and their summer house in Smola, this is a moving treat that will have you rewatching and editing your home movies, too.

2018-11-05T16:30:18+00:00June, 2016|Our Work|