Netflix watch out? Edinburgh International Film Festival can now be streamed from home – Angus Robertson MSP

What was the last film that you saw at a cinema before the lockdown?

The documentary Prince of Muck paints a portrait of the long-standing Hebridean laird of the Isle of Muck, Lawrence MacEwen.

I’ve been trying to remember, but it seems so long ago that I can’t. That’s why the Edinburgh International Film Festival has come just at the right time for us all.

With Covid restrictions easing, film audiences have been enjoying screenings both at traditional venues like the Edinburgh Filmhouse and also outdoors at St Andrew Square as part of ‘Film Fest in the City’.

For those unable to make it out the house or off the couch, movies have been streamed via Filmhouse at Home. In total there have been 31 new features with an additional 73 shorts, 18 of which received their world premiers and three their international premiers.

I was lucky enough to be at the gala premier at the Festival Theatre with an audience of more than 700 people to see the opening of the new Nicholas Cage movie Pig. I hadn’t heard much about the film in advance, and enjoyed it all the more, I think as a result.

It’s great to see Scottish films being showcased at the EIFF like the documentary, Prince of Muck, and feature drama, The Road Dance, set in the Hebrides, which is based on the best-selling book written by STV presenter John Mackay.

With film and TV production reaching an unequalled pace of development in Scotland, we can look forward to more first-class domestic output joining movies from around the world at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in future years.

Angus Robertson is the SNP MSP for Edinburgh Central and Constitution, External Affairs and Culture Secretary

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