“Aftersun,”Charlotte Wells (Scotland), will inaugurate the 75th Edinburgh International Film Festival.
The film, Wells’ feature debut after several acclaimed shorts, debuted at Cannes’ Critics’ Week strand to rave reviews and won the French Touch jury prize. It stars “Normal People”Frankie Corio and Mescal, a new actor, play a father-daughter couple on holiday in Turkey in the late 90s. The film is a nostalgic look back on a father-daughter vacation in the late 1990s. There are also some mini DV clips that add to the period texture.
VarietyGuy Lodge critic said of “Aftersun”: “Ambitiously and poignantly, ‘Aftersun’ explores the oddly intimate chasm between parent and child, the latter forever playing catch-up to the former’s inner life, except on the brief occasions — like, say, a summer vacation — when they can both be children for a moment.”
In an interview with Variety, Wells said: “I wanted to explore a different period in that relationship, like a young father and his daughter on holiday. Even just visually having a young parent, like a young man and his daughter, it just felt like it could be something interesting and fun and compelling.”
A24 snatched the North American rights at Cannes. Charades is currently selling the project worldwide.
Wells said: “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. 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.”
Kristy Matheson, EIFF creative director, added: “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. My heartfelt thanks to Charlotte and the whole ‘Aftersun’ team for sharing their film with us. After wowing Cannes Film Festival audiences and critics alike, I can’t wait for EIFF audiences to experience the journey that Charlotte and her incredible cast take us on together.”
“Aftersun”Produced by Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski and Mark Ceryak for Pastel. Amy Jackson for Unified Theory. It was funded in part by BBC Film and Screen Scotland.
Kogonada’s “After Yang,”This film tells the story a family that loses an A.I. assistant and the profound emotions it induces. The festival will close. Jodie Turner Smith stars in the film. The film debuted at Cannes 2021.
The festival will take place from August 12-20.