THE LIST - Edinburgh Film Festival New Writing Awards

The List launches the Edinburgh Film Festival New Writing Awards.

Words: Allan Radcliffe

Since 2005 The List has collaborated with the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain to present awards for the best new writing in comedy and theatre shows at the Edinburgh Fringe. As the 2007 Edinburgh Film Festival has been officially designated a celebration of the screenwriter, with a List-sponsored showcase of the work of legendary Hollywood scribe Anita Loos as one of its highlights, it seems fitting for us to launch the first Edinburgh Film Festival Writers’ Award for Best New British Screenplay.

Coordinator Dave Cohen explains the ethos behind the award. ‘The Film Festival has always championed home-grown movies, and last year its faith paid off when the micro-budgeted London to Brighton broke through to become a major hit. We’re hoping our award will give an extra boost to the British movie, and will bring the best of UK writing to the attention of a wider audience.’

The judging panel for the award is led by List film editor Paul Dale, who is ably supported by film critics Eddie Harrison and Andrea Gibb. This intrepid trio will have their work cut out for them as the programme for the British Gala strand of the Film Festival, from which the winner will be selected, features a rich crop of movies by home-grown talent.

Entries include And When Did You Last See Your Father?, an adaptation of the Blake Morrison memoir about a successful writer (Colin Firth) who must reassess his relationship with his terminally ill father (Jim Broadbent); Control, the biopic of Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis; and pioneering Scots Gaelic language feature, Seachd - The Inaccessible Pinnacle.

The films in this strand will also be competing for the UK Film Council-sponsored Michael Powell award for Best British Feature and a new award for Best Performance in a British Film.

The EIFF runs from Wednesday 15-Sunday 26 August. For full details of the programme for the 61st Edinburgh International Film Festival, please see www.edfilmfest.org.uk