Edinburgh International Film Festival Must See Movies

by Helen Earnshaw | 13 June 2015

There are just a few days to go until the 2015 Edinburgh International Film Festival kicks off with another fantastic programme of movies from around the world.

Edinburgh International Film Festival

We are going to be treated to some UK premieres and some work premieres as some of the biggest acting and directing names descend on the city to promote their latest film.

There are some many movies to watch out for at the festival and we take a look at some that you cannot miss.

- The Closer We Get

The Closer We Get is one of the documentaries that you need to watch out for at the festival this year as Karen Guthrie returns to the director's chair.

Guthrie has already brought us documentaries such as Bata-ville: We Are Not Afraid of the Future and Living with the Tudors and this is her first film since Jaywick Escapes.

This is a powerful and exquisitely shot autobiographical portrait of loyalty, broken dreams and redemption told by its director - reluctantly dutiful daughter Karen, who takes you under the skin of the household she returns to for this long goodbye. Karen's mother Ann suffers a devastating stroke that brings her daughter back home when she least expects it. But Karen isn't the only one who returns to help care for Ann in the crisis: Her prodigal father Ian - endearing and unfathomable - and who's been separated from Ann for years, also reappears.

Armed with her camera, Karen seizes this last chance to go under the skin of the family story before it's too late, to come to terms with the aftermath of the secret her father had tried - and failed - to keep from them all, and to find that Ann's stroke has in fact thrown them all a life raft.

This is Karen's most personal movie to date and one that will no doubt get audiences thinking about their family and the importance of keeping those bonds alive.

The Closer We Get will be receiving its European premiere at the festival and is set to be one of the most powerful and moving documentaries on the programme.

- Brand New U

Simon Pummell is one of the directors making his live action feature directorial debut at the festival with Brand New U. Pummell is no stranger to the director's chair with documentaries, shorts and TV projects already under his belt... but now he is making the leap into features for the first time.

As well as being in the director's chair, Pummell has also penned the screenplay, while we see Nora-Jane Noone team up with Lachlan Nieboer team in the central roles of Nadia and Slater.

Brand New-U follows a man (Slater) as he pursues the woman he loves (Nadia) through a series of parallel lives. The organisation Brand New-U identifies networks of Identicals and helps their clients make a life upgrade: leaving behind all their problems and relocating to a brand new life. But errors can occur and a brand new life can cost more than expected.

Brand New-U is an obsessive love story stripped down and re-arranged into the looping logic of a nightmare.

Brand New U is set to screen as part of the Best of British section of the festival and will receive its world premiere. The movie has also been nominated for The Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature film.

- Chuck Norris vs Communism

Ilinca Calugareanu is another of the female filmmakers at Edinburgh Film Festival with her first documentary feature with Chuck Norris vs Communism.

Chuck Norris vs Communism comes a year after she delivered short documentary VHS vs Communism and I am looking forward to seeing her make the leap into features.

In 1980s Romania, thousands of Western films smashed through the Iron Curtain opening a window into the free world for those who dared to look. A black-market VHS racketeer and a courageous female translator brought the magic of film to the people and sparked a revolution.

There are a whole host of really great films in the documentary section of the festival this year and the movie will be receiving its European premiere in Edinburgh.

There are a whole host of first time filmmaker showing of their movies at the festival and Ilinca Calugareanu is one of the directors that I am really looking forward to seeing.

- 45 Years

45 Years is one of the British movies that I am really looking forward to this summer as Charlotte Rampling teams up with Tom Courtenay.

The movie is based on the short story by David Constantine and has been adapted for the big screen by writer and director Andrew Haigh. This is the third feature film of Haigh's career and he has already brought us Greek Pete and Weekend.

45 Years received its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year - where Rampling and Courtenay won the Silver Bear for Best Actress and Best Actor.

And more silverware could be coming the film's way as it has been nominated for the Michael Powell award for Best British Feature Film and is perhaps the early favourite to triumph.

There is just one week until Kate Mercer's 45th wedding anniversary and the planning for the party is going well. But then a letter arrives for her husband. The body of his first love has been discovered, frozen and preserved in the icy glaciers of the Swiss Alps. By the time the party is upon them, five days later, there may not be a marriage left to celebrate.

45 Year is a movie that has already been winning over the critics and it looks set to be one of the standout films when it is screened next week.

- Last Days in the Desert

We love Ewan McGregor here at FemaleFirst and he is back at the Edinburgh International Film Festival with his latest film Last Days in the Desert.

Last Days in the Desert will see McGregor play Jesus in the film, as he teams up with writer and director Rodrigo García. This is the first feature for Garcia since Albert Nobbs, having worked on a series of short and TV projects.

A great cast has been assembled for the film, as McGregor is joined by Ciarán Hinds, Tye Sheridan, and Ayelet Zurer.

An imagined chapter from Jesus' forty days of fasting and praying in the desert. On his way out of the wilderness, Jesus struggles with the Devil over the fate of a family in crisis.

Last Days in the Desert premiered at the Sundance Film Festival at the beginning of the year and the screening at Edinburgh will marks its UK premiere.

- Iona

Iona is the movie that has the honour of closing the festival and will see Scott Graham return to the director's chair for his second feature. He made his debut back in 2013 with Shell and now he is back and is on writing as well as directing duties.

Iona is another British movie that is in the running for the Michael Powell Award and could well be a strong contender for the gong.

Iona and her teenage son Bull seek refuge from a violent crime among a Christian community on the island of her birth. They go there to hide but find themselves exposed to a way of life Iona rejected when she left the island as a teenager.

Ruth Negga takes on the central role of Iona as she continues to make a name for herself - she is best known at the moment for her role as Raina in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. We are also going to be seeing her in Warcraft next year.

Negga is joined on the cast list by Douglas Henshall, Tom Brooke, Michelle Duncan, Jim Sturgeon, and Ben Gallagher.

Not only is the film closing the festive, that screening will mark the world premiere for the film. Iona is one of the British movies to watch out for during the festival and it is great to see Graham back in the director's chair.