Or: A Hat, Coat, and Dark Glasses Required
Film festivals either exude glamour and celebrity status, or are humble little affairs designed to promote some little niche genre or medium. Edinburgh holds a celebrated film festival every year, and as I now live just above the city, I thought I might as well take advantage of that aspect of the city’s culture.
I do not mean to suggest I attended the Edinburgh International Film Festival, only that I decided to attend a film festival that happened to be held in Edinburgh. Though, I admit the ambiguity has been delightfully useful in real life conversation.
Proceeding swiftly onwards; I decided to attend Edinburgh’s Scotland Loves Animation. Similarly held in Glasgow, SLA is a film festival that promotes anime films. It presents those which are sure to be fan favourites; more interestingly it also hosts premières, and films that will not be seen by many in the occidental anisphere for some time.
Choosing what is quite possibly the worst means of doing so, I attended for three days and saw Fuse – Memoirs of the Hunter Girl, Patema Inverted, and Aura – Koga Maryuin’s Last War. I shan’t describe the films, or my reactions to them, here as that is not my focus and others have done much better than I probably ever could. Instead, I list today’s Moment as both the film festival itself and of making the acquaintance of the ever-eminent Thaliarchus.
The latter rather speaks for itself, and the former was similarly very pleasant. The Edinburgh Filmhouse cinema, where it was held, was comfortable and the staff polite. The films were introduced by Jonathan Clements, who was erudite and interesting. The atmosphere was relaxed, and those attending thankfully a step above in quality compared to standard cinema audiences. Assuming I am still here, and that I have the time, I will certainly consider attending again next year.
The Untold Story of Altair & Vega 