EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL UNVEILS NEW RETROSPECTIVES FOR 2008 FESTIVAL

Retrospectives Announced : Jeanne Moreau and Shirley Clarke

Berlin, Germany – February 10, 2008 – The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) today unveiled plans for two special retrospectives at this year’s festival, which takes place June 18-29. The EIFF will be programming a retrospective on legendary French actress Jeanne Moreau, as well as a retrospective on the late American actress and filmmaker Shirley Clarke. The announcement was made in Berlin today by EIFF Artistic Director Hannah McGill.

The Jeanne Moreau retrospective is a joint initiative between EIFF and the British Film Institute [BFI Southbank (formerly the National Film Theatre)]. A living legend of French cinema, as well as a director, screenwriter and producer in her own, and an acclaimed singer, Moreau has been muse to many of cinema’s greatest names. Her most acclaimed films include: François Truffaut’s New Wave classic “Jules et Jim”; Louis Malle’s Lift to the Scaffold”; Louis Buñuel’s “Diary of a Chambermaid”; Michelangelo Antonioni’s “La Notte”; and Orson Welles’s “The Trial.”

Films showcased in the Shirley Clarke retrospective will include “The Cool World”, “Portrait of Jason” and “The Connection”, along with a selection of her shorts. Clarke, whose career spanned four decades, began her career as a dancer before establishing herself as a director of highly distinctive documentaries, feature films and shorts.

Talking about the retrospectives, McGill commented, “Jeanne Moreau and Shirley Clarke represent exactly the sort of trailblazing spirit, boldness and intelligence that we celebrate yearly at EIFF. I think Moreau could confidently claim to have worked with more true legends of cinema than any other actress – quite apart from being a creative dynamo in her own right. Her career is fascinating. Shirley Clarke, though less well-known, is an outstanding discovery: a true iconoclast, and a pioneer in so many fields. Those who know these women’s work will appreciate and share my excitement - those who don’t, have everything to look forward to in June!”

The Festival’s move to June this year is part of a strategy to grow its global creative reputation and widen its audience appeal. Since its earliest origins as a documentary festival, EIFF has foregrounded discovery. Its new date in the film festival calendar will cement its position among UK film festivals as a leader in quality programming; the discovery and promotion of new talent; and intimate interaction between audiences, filmmakers and industry figures.

About Jeanne Moreau:

Known for her cool intelligence and offbeat demeanour, at once sensuous and austere, Jeanne Moreau was France’s leading stage actress before appearing in some of the finest films of the 50’s and 60’s. Throughout the ensuing decades and up to the present day, she has continued to collaborate with the world’s leading filmmakers. She came to prominence in Louis Malle's "Lift to the Scaffold" (1957) and “Les Amants” (1958); but it was her unforgettable performance as the free-spirited Catherine in François Truffaut's "Jules et Jim" (1961) that made her an international star.

She continued to distinguish herself in the films of such legendary directors as Michelangelo Antonioni, Orson Welles, Luis Buñuel, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Joseph Losey. Later collaborators include Bertrand Blier, André Téchiné, Theodrous Angelopoulos, François Ozon and Amos Gitaï.

Moreau’s personification of French womanhood and sensuality is actually the product of a French father and a British mother and she was registered as a resident alien during the World War II occupation. But Moreau's heart was in France, and when her parents divorced and her mother returned to England, she remained with her father. Yet, her fluency in her mother's native language would help Moreau gain international stardom. A graduate of the Paris Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, Moreau made both her stage and screen debuts in 1948. While she had many stage successes with the famed Comedie-Francaise (she was one of the company's youngest members ever) and played a renowned Maggie in the French stage version of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1956), Moreau was almost 30 before her film career took off thanks to her work with Malle. At the time of the release of "Les Amants/The Lovers", her earthy, intelligent and subtle portrayal of an adulteress caused a scandal in France. While "La Notte" (1961) and "Jules et Jim" made Moreau an international star, she made further impressions in two films directed by Orson Welles, "The Trial" (1962) and "Chimes at Midnight/Falstaff" (1966).

Moreau could portray ordinariness or a sublime beauty. When the role engaged her personality (as in her "Great Catherine" 1968), she was superb. As she aged, Moreau continued to entrance. Past 60, she was as sensuous as ever playing a flamboyant family friend who saves a young girl from a potential marriage mistake by having sex with the groom before the wedding in "The Summer House" (1993). Other recent roles include the elegant French expatriate celebrity who returns to Paris in "The Proprietor" (1996), and, for TV, "A Foreign Field" (PBS, 1994), a film about a reunion of D-Day veterans in which Moreau was the now older woman who shared her charms with many a G.I. back in 1994.

As director/screenwriter, Moreau was applauded for "Lumiere" (1975), the story of several generations of actresses. She also helmed "L'Adolescente" (1978), a semi-autobiographical tale of a girl sent to live with her grandmother in 1939, and a documentary homage to silent screen heroine "Lillian Gish" (1984).

About Shirley Clarke:

A former dancer, choreographer and head of the National Dance Association, Shirley Clarke began making short films in 1953 with the seven-minute "Dance in the Sun". She then went on to make a series of short films about dance, including "In Paris Parks" (1954) and "Bullfight" (1955). By the time she made "A Moment in Love" (1957), Clarke had begun to explore movement as a means of communicating story. "Skyscraper" (1959) traced the construction of a building, used colour and black-and-white shots, and was made in collaboration with Willard Van Dyke and Irving Jacoby. The film, which Clarke characterised as "a musical comedy about the building of a skyscraper", won several festival prizes and earned a 1959 Oscar® nomination for Best Live Action Short Subject.

After developing a searing cinema verité style in her experimental shorts and documentaries, Clarke graduated to features with "The Connection" (1960), based on Jack Gelber's play about junkies awaiting their dealer, and the extraordinary "Portrait of Jason" (1967), an interview with a black male hustler. Clarke directed the Oscar®-winning documentary short "Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel With the World" (1963), which had been commissioned by President John F Kennedy. While alienating her from Hollywood, Clarke's provocative subject matter made her a major influence on American underground film culture. She was a co-founder with Jonas Mekas (an EIFF guest in 2002) of New York's Filmmakers’ Cooperative in 1962. In Agnes Varda's "Lion's Love" (1969), she appropriately played 'Shirley Clarke', a character trying to interest a producer in a film project. While teaching at UCLA from 1975 to 1983, Clarke completed what would be her last film, "Ornette: Made in America" (1985). Begun in 1968 and utilizing film and video, it was a documentary portrait of jazz musician Ornette Coleman.

Clarke died in 1997 after suffering a stroke.

About the Edinburgh International Film Festival:

Started in 1947, the EIFF has presented some of cinema's most important and exciting moments and played host to the world's greatest filmmakers.

The EIFF is the longest continually-running film festival in the world. Notable premieres of recent years include “Control”, “The Counterfeiters”, “Stardust”, “Ratatouille”, “Paranoid Park”, “Knocked Up”, “Two Days in Paris”, “In The Shadow of he Moon”, “Little Miss Sunshine,” “An Inconvenient Truth,” “Mutual Appreciation,” “London to Brighton,” and "Tsotsi".

The EIFF is to move to a June date from 2008 in a strategic move to grow its global creative reputation and widen its audience appeal. The Festival will run 18^th – 29^th June 2008.

EIFF’s Patrons are Sir Sean Connery and Tilda Swinton.

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