UK director Charlotte Wells’ first feature AftersunThis year, the 75th Edinburgh International Film Festival will be open. It will run from August 12-20.
Paul Mescal, a father of a young girl who is divorcing, goes on a summer vacation to Turkey with his child. Francesca Corio plays the role.
The film was one of the buzziest titles in Cannes Critics’ Week last May, where it won the new French Touch Prize of the Jury.
Wells, who was born and raised in Edinburgh, will be making her homecoming at the Edinburgh screening. In the release announcing the EIFF opening slot, the filmmaker revealed the festival’s role in introducing her to independent cinema.
“As a teenager, I spent just about all the money I had saved each summer on tickets to EIFF, sitting on the floor at Fountainbridge in hour-long queues for box office opening, leafing through the weighty program which offered my first exposure to independent and international cinema,”Wells.
“In 2006, I bought tickets to the Duplass brothers’ The Puffy Chair based on its inch-square picture and synopsis. The Q&A that followed made clear how explicit the connection between filmmakers and their work could be; what personal filmmaking could be. In 2006, I attended the opening night film: The Flying Scotsman. In 2022, I’ll attend again. Edinburgh is home and so is the EIFF. I can’t wait.”
Under the banner of Pastel, their Los Angeles-based production company Pastel, and Amy Jackson at Unified Theory in London, the film was produced by Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski and Mark Ceryak.
“It means so much to have Aftersun open our festival and celebrate a homegrown talent whose artistry is entirely international in its scope and appreciation,”Kristy Matheson, EIFF creative director, said: