28/05/2008

The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is continuing its tradition of showcasing Scottish talent. This year’s edition will see several works from the Screen Academy Scotland and its component institutions Napier University and Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) featured at the festival.

The Trailblazers Section will premiere two short films by Screen Academy Scotland students: The Problem with Pets, directed by Catriona Craig and written by Frances O'Neill and produced by Susan Wright and Geriatrics - The Musical, directed by John Douglas Dodds. And, The Under the Radar section has the world premiere of Crack Willow, the first feature directed by ECA graduate Martin Radich.

The EIFF also presents the world premiere of Trouble Sleeping. This first feature by Edinburgh's Theatre Workshop was directed by Robert Rae from a script written by a team of 6 writers, including two current students on the Screen Academy Scotland's screenwriting courses: Lucy Kaya and Saleyha Ahsan. Also, students or graduates of the Screen Academy Scotland, Napier University or the Edinburgh College of Art directed 7 out of 15 short documentaries selected for the Document Shorts and the Scottish Short Documentary Awards.

Academy alumni - director Paul Gray and producer Lili Sandelin - have two films, Skeins and Half Way Home, screening as part of the Scottish Short Documentary Awards. Nominees also include Niddrie Bricks, a collaborative work by three 3rd-year undergraduate Napier students Julian Schwanitz, Niina Topp and Andrew Steen; Karelian Cowgirls, by Napier film graduate Minttu Mäntynen and Ma Bar, ECA film graduate Adrian MacDowall's latest collaboration with co-director Finlay Pretsell.