Summary
CAVES, kirks, schools, assembly halls - even cricket pitches. Those are some of the possible venues the Edinburgh International Film Festival's new director, James Mullighan, is hoping to find for the 2011 festival. In what is billed as a radical shake-up, red carpets, awards and five-star hotels for visiting VIPs are out. Free- ranging ideas drawn from guest curators are in, along with what he calls "a bit more denim". In the closing days of 2010, the festival, after an abortive hunt for a new artistic director, named instead a new "producer," Mullighan. His hastily drafted job description was to oversee an artistic vision delivered by others, including former artistic director Mark Cousins, and his frequent collaborator, the actress Tilda Swinton.
Mullighan told The Scotsman this week, however, that his title is now "director" - which he quickly followed up with a statement posted on the festival's website. The switch may seem confusing, and underlines the impression that the festival is in a difficult state of flux, but Mullighan insisted: "I'm just going to be the guy working 10-12 hours a day trying to get lots of exciting things happening without breaking the bank and putting on a really exciting show." The June festival will not announce any details of its line- up until late spring. But in a wide-ranging interview, Mullighan says he hopes to increase its ticket sales by 10 per cent, partly by using the Edinburgh Festival Theatre for screenings half a dozen times, alongside off-beat, Fringe-style venues across the city.See the full content of this document
Extract
A Rare Vision
Just how he will achieve that remains to be seen. The festival's budget is significantly lower than last year's, after a three-year funding package from the UK Film Council ran out. Neither Mullighan nor Gavin Miller, overseeing the festival at the Centre for the Moving Image, will say what it is.
Mullighan says one area for savings will be the event's hospitality budget, as the festival cuts back on first-class tickets and five-star hotels. The VIPs he wants to...See the full content of this document
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