Inverness Film Festival lifts lid on 2024 line-up
HIGHLAND film buffs are getting the chance to catch the most exciting new movies set to be competing for honours at next year’s awards season “before almost anyone else” at an acclaimed festival close to home.
The wraps today came off a mouth-watering and typically eclectic schedule lined up for the 22nd Inverness Film Festival (IFF), which runs from November 1-7 at Eden Court.
It opens with Marielle Heller’s Nightbitch, a bold dark comedy that sees new mum Amy Adams going feral. Closing this year’s festival is Conclave, Edward Berger’s Vatican-set psychological thriller in which Ralph Fiennes is tasked with one of the world’s most secretive and ancient rituals – selecting a new Pope.
Other highlights include Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night Live origins comedy drama Saturday Night; Jesse Eisenberg’s road movie A Real Pain; Andrea Arnold’s whimsical social-realist drama Bird; and Nickel Boys, an adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel exploring themes of race and injustice.
Guy Maddin returns with wild dark comedy Rumours, Mike Leigh takes another unflinching look at life’s harsh realities in Hard Truths and IFF favourite, Inverness-born Karen Gillan, leads the funny and touching Late Bloomers.
New cinema from around the world takes in India (Mumbai-set comedy Sister Midnight), Nepal (Himalayan odyssey Shambhala), Tibet (Pema Tseden’s Snow Leopard), Iceland (Rúnar Rúnarsson’s When the Light Breaks), Zambia (On Becoming a Guinea Fowl), Iran (The Seed of the Sacred Fig) amongst many more.
Cinematic documentaries are always a strong fixture and this year include The Shepherds of Berneray, documenting four seasons of crofting in the 1970s; Mark Cousins’ meditative exploration of Scottish painter Wilhelmina Barns-Graham in A Sudden Glimpse of Deeper Things; and a sonic journey with iconic Scottish band in Mogwai: If the Stars Had a Sound, with director Anthony Cook and Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite in-person.
The IFF will also showcase a selection of the finest Scottish short films, highlighting emerging voices and innovative storytelling. For younger audiences and families, the festival presents Flow, promising a visually stunning feline adventure aiming to enchant viewers of all ages.
Tickets for the event will be available from 10am on Friday, October 11.
Paul MacDonald-Taylor, Inverness Film Festival director and head of film + visual art at Eden Court, welcomed “another international affair, showing films from around the globe – but with an important focus on features and short films from Scotland, playing across six days of the festival”.
He said: “We’re previewing some of the most exciting new films that will be competing over next year’s awards season, which you can see before almost anyone else at the 22nd Inverness Film Festival.”
Full details of the schedule can be found on the venue’s website eden-court.co.uk
