Our 2022 Edinburgh Film Festival Picks

Next week the longest running international film festival Edinburgh 75th Anniversary  line-up will take place. As ever a mixtures of new and old films, features and shorts. Many returning to the big screening thanks to the diverse strands the festival has on offer. Below is some of our recommendations, not complete list, just films we are looking forward to. Beware when I created this list these films still had tickets left for sale.

After Yang

Closing this year’s festival on 20th August is Kogonada’s follow up feature from his 2017 Columbus which starred John Chu. An exquisite science fiction drama that explores the endless quest for what makes us human. The film stars Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith. Kogonada is a videographer/Essayist turned filmmaker. The film made it’ world premiere back in 2021 we watched it at Sundance film festival this year, our writer called it “a celebratory, inspiring, and exhilarating love letter to the power of humanity, technology, and the uneasy relationship in the middle“.

Flux Gourmet

If you are looking for that unique brand of Arthouse cinema with a little bit of kink, look no further at Peter Strickland (In Fabric, Duke Of Burgundy, Berbarian Sound Studio). His latest creation stars  Asa Butterfield and Gwendoline Christie in what can be described a a smorgasbord of culinary horrors. Truly hard to described what’s actually going on, art, creativity clash with IBS and Greek narration thrown in for good measure.

Official Competition

Argentinean film meta comedy starring Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas Oscar Martínez  (Wild Tales). Cruz plays a much loved indie darling filmmaker who is asked by an ageing billionaire who wants Cruz to make the ultimate film. Using only the best actors with Banderas and Martinez those actors. There is one small problem, they both despise each other. Cue absurdity and a laugh at film industry.

Resurrection

This film caught our eye at this year’s Sundance film festival and now it premieres at Edinburgh. Rebecca Hall stars along side Tim Roth. Hall is Margaret with her daughter have put  the untold horrors of her past behind her successfully. Things unravel when David (Roth) reappears in their lives, even him just being their destabilises everything. Think survival mode David Cronenberg style.

Special Delivery

Buckle up for this Korean action thriller that’s a female centric spin on the likes of Transporter, Drive, The Driver. Starring Parasite star Park So-dam as a junkyard worker by day, courier by night. She carries some unusual items and things take a turn when she has to look after something that sees her fight for survival from criminal underworld and crooked cops.

Sissy

The dark side of social media is unearthed when  a successful social media influencer, life is turned upside down. When she attends a bachelorette getaway turns brutal when old wounds are reopened. Should it be revenge for her?

Fogareu

Homecoming turned nightmare in this genre-bending Brazilian suspense. Prodigal daughter Fernanda returns to her small hometown after many years away with the woeful mission of scattering her late mother’s ashes. What should be a quick visit turns into a nighMARE. We love those films that rip up those genre borders in the name of making an intriguing films. Brazil’s brutal colonial past is confronted through a vividly realised experiment in genre that blends fact and fiction to harness horror out of history.

The Narrow Road

We enjoy our Asian cinema , especially Hong Kong and Chinese cinema, hence we picked this nuanced contemporary drama from Hong Kong. In the early days of the pandemic, Chak (Louis Cheung), struggling to keep his cleaning company afloat, hires single mother Candy (Angela Yuen). But as the chemistry between them develops, Candy finds it hard to abandon the survival tactics of deception she’s always needed to get by. Ideal film for the Heartbreakers strand as well as a gorgeous film to look at too.

Goodbye Donglees!

Teen boys have a summertime adventure in awesome anime! A trio boys determined to upstage bullies. But when the boys are accused of starting a fire, they must travel to the nearby mountain to prove their innocence.

To  book your  tickets head to the festival’s website. 75th Edinburgh International Film Festival will take place between 12th and 20th August.