Edinburgh International Film Festival 2005 line-up announced

'Serenity', 'Wah-Wah', 'The Business' and 'Green Street' will all be screening in August.

Jul 18 2005

The line-up for this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival has been announced, and two world premieres will be opening and closing Scotland's biggest cinematic event.

The Opening Night film is 'Wah-Wah', Richard E Grant's semi-autobiographical directorial debut.

A coming-of-age story set in 1960s Swaziland, the film stars Gabriel Byrne, Emily Watson, Miranda Richardson, Julie Walters and Nicholas Hoult ('About a Boy').

Nick Love's 'The Business' will then close the festival, a comedy-drama about a group of British gangsters living in Spain in the mid-1980s.

In between there will be no end of cinematic delights on show, from Paul Schrader presenting the first UK screening of his controversial 'Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist' to George A Romero's 'Land of the Dead' receiving it's international premiere at the fest.

Joss Whedon's sci-fi epic 'Serenity' will also receive its world premiere in Edinburgh, while 'Battle in Heaven', 'The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael', 'Keane', 'Thumbsucker' and 'Green Street' will also have their UK premieres during the 12-day film feast.

EIFF Artistic Director Shane Danielsen said: 'This is, I'm proud to say, the strongest line-up of films and events I've had the pleasure to present in my four years as Artistic Director.

'Strongest not only because of the sheer quality of works on offer, but also because of their diversity: everything from rousing commercial blockbusters, to the most fragile and delicate of art movies, and everything in-between.'

The Edinburgh International Film Festival runs from August 17-28. For more information go to the official website at www.edfilmfest.org.uk.