Diversions Film Festival 2009

Returning for a second year of experimentation, fledgling film festival Diversions promises an avant garde feast for the senses. Organised by Edinburgh University’s Film Studies department and the Filmhouse cinema, the festival, which is the first of its kind in the capital, offers a medley of experimental film and video, talks and live performances, enough to provide a cinematic foothold to the most conservative of audience members.

Aiming to promote awareness of the seemingly boundless genre, organisers have handpicked some 56 films from varying points on the experimental spectrum, ranging from 1920s abstract to Finnish cinema to contemporary Japanese creations. Carefully mapping the development of progressive cinema, Diversions squeezes vastly differing concepts into a number of themed strands, hoping to provide a well-rounded peek into its underground workings.

Guiding the weekend-long hike, filmmakers, critics, artists and academics from around the world will be guest-curating films, offering yet another facet to Diversions' multi-approach/period/national extravaganza. Reflecting a range of perspectives on explorative works, talks and Q&A sessions with industry professionals will delve into the mind-bending powers of innovative filmmaking.

One of Diversions' highlights includes Just One Kiss - The Fall of Ned Kelly, Sami Van Ingen’s reinterpretation of the first ever feature-length film. Using original footage from 1906 production The Story of the Kelly Gang for only the opening and closing scenes, the Finnish director plays with standard film narrative, hoping to “invoke our interpretive faculties”. In something of a mini-concert, Van Ingen, whose previous work is characterised by a fascination with the boundaries of cinematic apparatus itself, chooses to accompany the film with a live electronic soundtrack.

Additionally, in collaboration with National Galleries of Scotland, Focus on Film: Study Day responds to the Dean Gallery’s current exhibition Running Time: Artist Films in Scotland 1960 to Now. The free event, which features talks and presentations by curators and artists alike, is followed by Pleasing Ourselves - Artisan Films in Scotland, a series of films by Scotland-based filmmakers. Festival co-ordinator Kim Knowles also recommends American artist Jeanne Liotta, “She presents great, absolutely amazing films about astronomy, using projection, photography, works on paper and film. She’s coming all the way from America, so it’s a special event.”

A treat for the enthusiast, an education for the novice, Diversions invites everyone to celebrate unique and challenging cinema.