“The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and “Choose Irvine Welsh” are among the world premieres at the 2023 Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), the full program for which was unveiled on Thursday.
As previously announced, “Silent Roar” and “Fremont” will bookend the festival, which includes 24 feature films, five retrospective titles, five short film programs and an outdoor screening weekend with seven features.
A hybrid adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s iconic novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” Hope Dickson Leach’s film transposes the action from London to Victorian Edinburgh. Ian Jefferies’ “Choose Irvine Welsh” is a documentary about the renowned “Trainspotting” author and features his admirers including Iggy Pop, Martin Compston, Danny Boyle, Bobbie Gillespie, Gail Porter, Rowetta and Andrew Macdonald.
Other world premieres include debutant Janice Pugh’s LGBTQIA+ romance “Chuck Chuck Baby,” starring Louise Brealey (“Sherlock”) and Annabel Scholey (“The Split”); and Rodger Griffiths’s Scottish thriller “Kill.” The program also includes several best of fest films including Berlin titles “Afire,” “Femme,” “Orlando, My Political Biography” and “Art College 1994,” Rotterdam selections “Joram” and “Superposition,” Sundance titles “Is There Anybody Out There?,” “Passages” and “Past Lives,” SXSW selection “Raging Grace,” Cannes title “Showing Up” and Tribeca selection “Your Fat Friend” amongst others.
American independent cinema is celebrated in a retrospective of four films made by rebellious filmmaking voices in the 1980s and 1990s, including Cauleen Smith’s “Drylongso,” Wayne Wang’s “Life is Cheap… But Toilet Paper is Expensive,” Fran Rubel Kuzui’s “Tokyo Pop” and Bette Gordon’s “Variety,” while Shane Meadows’ “Dead Man’s Shoes,” which had its world premiere at EIFF in 2004, is given a retrospective gala presentation.
EIFF also sees the launch of The Lynda Myles Project, including a discussion event on the living legacy of former festival director and “The Commitments” producer Myles’ contributions to film culture, and a work-in- progress preview of documentary “The Lynda Myles Project: A Manifesto.”
This year’s program has been brought together by a team of programmers led by Kate Taylor, program director of the festival, including feature film programmers Rafa Sales Ross and Anna Bogutskaya, and short film programmers Abigail Addison, Lydia Beilby and Holly Daniel. Alongside Taylor, the EIFF team is led by executive producer Tamara Van Strijthem and festival producer Emma Boa.
EIFF is supported by Screen Scotland, and enhanced engagement activities are supported by the Scottish government’s Festivals Expo Fund alongside the PLaCE Programme (a partnership between the Scottish government, City of Edinburgh Council and the Edinburgh Festivals).
