The renamed Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) will open its upcoming 77th edition with Nora Fingscheidt’s adaptation of Amy Liptrot’s bestselling memoir The outrunwith Saoirse Ronan.
The film had its world premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and will be released by Studiocanal in the UK and Ireland on September 27th.
In the picture, Ronan is seen as a young woman washed up at home on Scotland’s Orkney Islands, struggling to rebuild her life after a decade of addiction. Ronan, who also co-produced the film, will join filmmaker Nora Fingscheidt (System crasher) was present at the EIFF this year, along with author Amy Liptrot and the film’s producers Sarah Brocklehurst and Dominic Norris.
The outrun was developed and produced by Sarah Brocklehurst of Brock Media, Dominic Norris of Arcade Pictures, Ronan and Jack Lowden with support from BBC Film and Screen Scotland. Executive producers are Protagonist Pictures, BBC Film, Screen Scotland and MBK Productions.
EIFF also announced the name of its short film competition today. The prize is called Thelma Schoonmaker Prize for Short Filmmaking Excellence. Thelma Schoonmaker is best known for her work as Martin Scorsese’s longtime editor. Her collaborations include Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Wolf of Wall Street and most recently Killers of the Flower Moon. Schoonmaker will be present at this year’s festival. The award comes with a cash prize of £15,000.
The short film competition includes four other short film programs, ten world premiere feature films competing for the Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence, and program strands such as “Out of Competition,” which includes international premieres, British premieres and other world premieres, including “Midnight Madness” showcases the best of genre cinema from around the world and a retrospective honoring film history.
“The outrun is a really special film. Driven by an electrifying and fearless lead performance from Saoirse Ronan, this is lyrical, meaningful cinema of real rigor and intelligence and exactly the kind of brave work we want to encourage with our relaunched festival,” said EIFF Director Paul Ridd.
“I have been a fan of Nora Fingscheidt’s uncompromising, emotional filmmaking since her debut, System Crasher, and I can’t think of a more fitting combination of announcements than this wonderful film as we open with acknowledgment of the legendary Thelma Schoonmaker’s generous support for our Short Films Prize. We are honored to be able to work with such phenomenal women of cinema.”
The Edinburgh International Film Festival takes place from August 2nd to 25th.