The chaos, hard graft and — ultimately — privileged thrill of feature filmmaking were the central themes of conversation at the Variety Lounge at Edinburgh International Film Festival as the rising directors in official competition sat down to discuss their craft. Supported by VisitScotland and held in Edinburgh’s historic Caledonian Hotel, the Variety Lounge welcomed the 11 directors behind the 10 films competing for the Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence. For all but three, the film was their feature debut, although that didn’t stop them from immediately breaking the unwritten rules of directing.
We didn’t drown!” U.S. filmmaker Tyler-Marie Evans, whose debut “Pretty Babies” tells the story of two aspiring Hollywood stars who get sucked into the adult industry, recalled “one of the craziest shoot days” where it dawned on her that she was, now, a feature film director. And one of our actresses, Sadie Stanley, had a very intense scene. After she shot that she just collapsed in my arms, crying, like ‘I gave you everything!’” she said.
It really reminds me why we do this and the stories that we create in that process of production, and what a privilege it is working as a director and connecting with your actors and hopefully audiences.” For Ollie Gardner and Jake Harvey, feature debut directors behind riotous tearjerker “The State of Us” — about two old friends on a final night out — they were able to share the burden and excitement of making their first feature with each other. We’re best friends making a film about two best friends, so it kind of felt right to do it,” said Harvey. And there’s a lot of battles that need to be fought and won, and you have to stay true to your vision and also compromise in every area that you need to.
But when there’s two of you that get to fight each other’s battles and soundboard off constantly — it meant everything became a creative challenge rather than like a logistical challenge. But it was a lot of phone calls.” As Gardner noted: “I think our girlfriends are probably questioning our relationship!” While she didn’t have a co-director to lean on, Canadian director Frieda Luk said she had the wise words of a friend in her mind while in production on “Sacred Creatures,” a slice of magical realism set amid a family reunion in Italy. And that really made me feel like, ‘This is happening, I’m supposed to be here and we’re gonna get this done.'” Simon Ryninks, behind sci-fi comedy-drama “Out There,” managed to land Welsh acting legend Michael Sheen for his debut feature, something that made him realize he was “really having to step up,” but was also an incredible honor.
And I think working with someone like that is such a privilege,” he said. And we just happened to be here on vacation,” she said. Walsh — behind the drug-fueled and music-soaked Northern Irish drama “Skintown” — reflected on making the seismic leap from shorts to features, something all the directors had experienced.
But there was an energy between everybody coming together, and particularly on this film.” For all the Werner Herzog references, Walsh noted that while feature filmm
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