What's On Scotland 14-20 Oct: Taiwan Film Festival & more

What a dark week it has been for the Scottish film scene. The closure of Filmhouse in Edinburgh, The Belmont in Aberdeen and the Edinburgh International Film Festival has left the film community reeling and in utter disbelief. These institutions mean a lot to a lot of people and their absence will be deeply felt. Cinema continues, however, and the myriad smaller film festivals that make up Scotland’s vibrant film calendar are still fighting the good fight. 

One such smaller festival is the Taiwan Film Festival Edinburgh, which returns for its third edition, featuring a packed lineup of Taiwanese films that will be screening between 15 and 20 October at Summerhall and Everyman Edinburgh. Central to the programme is a retrospective of the complex and hugely influential career of actor-turned-director Chen Yi-wen. The retrospective features a hand-picked selection of films from Chen’s acting career including The Man From Island West, Growing Pains, Increasing Echo and Treat or Trick. The festival comes to a close with Chen’s 2000 film The Cabbie.

The Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival also brings a brilliant mini-retrospective this weekend celebrating Bigas Luna. The three-film tribute kicks off tomorrow at Edinburgh’s French Institute with Jamón Jamón and continues on Saturday with a double bill of Golden Balls and The Tit and the Moon at Summerhall. We’re all in mourning, but cinema lives on. 

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ADVERTISEMENT | Fruitmarket x Sneaky’s Installations
Sneaky Pete's Installation series at Fruitmarket, 14-16 and 28-30 October

Sneaky Pete's is taking over Fruitmarket Gallery's Warehouse space for two weekends in October for a dynamite set of parties with TSHA, Giant Swan live, Jacques Greene, Leon Vynehall, Jyoty, Eclair Fifi, Batu and LCY and many more. Their high-spec Installation series also buddies up with top Edinburgh nights Lionoil, Headset, Palidrone, Hypnotikk and Cultur. Tickets here

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Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of)
Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, 18 Oct-5 Nov
From Bollywood movies to zombie flicks to Bridget Jones’ Diary, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is ever enduring. The Edinburgh leg of Isobel McArthur’s unique and audacious musical take on the classic novel is not to be missed. Expect tunes from Carly Simon and Chris de Burgh among the silliness. Image: Matt Crockett

Save Bonjour!
Bonjour, Glasgow. 14 Oct, 10pm
Bonjour is in trouble. The much-loved queer, workers-owned cooperative is struggling to stay open amid spiralling energy prices. This fundraising party welcomes loads of local artists including Bonzai Bonner, Joey Mousepads, poog1rl and more. Help one of our most vital queer spaces stay afloat!

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ADVERTISEMENT: Lantern Led Tours and True Crimes Tours
Mary King's Close, Edinburgh, 15-31 Oct

For Halloween, The Real Mary King’s Close has created two new tours… Descend down the historic steps with one of The Close’s former residents and into complete darkness with the Lantern Led Tours. If you are over 18 and brave enough, you can also join the True Crimes Tours, which will explore the darker tales of the Close.

Both tours are exclusively running from 15 to 31 October.

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FEMMERGY
The Bongo Club, Edinburgh, 20 Oct, 11pm
Having DJed for the likes of Fruit Salad’s Queer Cabaret and EHFM, FEMMERGY offer a joyous intersectional feminist space for dancing, vibing, and creating community. This week they take over The Bongo Club led by DJ Rianna, with support from the likes of NANI, Annafleur, DJ Rawzi and more. It’s time to party. Image: Charlotte Cullen

Scottish Storytelling Festival
Various venues, Edinburgh, 14-31 Oct
Tonight’s opening concert, Speak Out the Other, blends voice and music to explore the belonging, becoming, and ‘otherness’ of queer identities that permeate Scottish myth. Head along to this and some of the festival's other events (over 200) to shared memories so that the torch of oral storytelling is passed on.

↪ Free screenings of The African Desperate
Cameo, Edinburgh. 18 Oct, 7pm; CCA, Glasgow. 20 Oct, 7pm [returns only]
The Skinny are teaming up with MUBI to present free screenings of The African Desperate, artist Martine Syms’s wickedly funny send-up of the New York art scene. Syms brings the razor-sharp satire and vivid aesthetic of her art practice to this visually inventive coming-of-age comedy, which riotously tracks the microaggressions and social dynamics that anyone familiar with the art world will recognise.

→ Bram Stoker's Dracula at GFT
GFT, Glasgow. 15-20 Oct
Ahead of Halloween, Glasgow Film Theatre get their creep on with a run (in 4K!) of Francis Ford Coppola’s baroque retelling of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Much-maligned on its initial release, this beautiful gothic fairytale has been rediscovered and reappraised over recent years by younger critics and hopefully its many pleasures will be fully appreciated in this welcome rerelease.

→ The SAY Award
The Albert Halls, Stirling, 20 Oct, 7pm
It’s that time of year again: the best of Scotland’s musicians battling it out to receive the coveted Scottish Album of the Year crown. Expect wrestling, a fight to the death and… oh, actually it’s just a very nice ceremony, held for the first time in Stirling. The shortlist is filled with the likes of Hen Hoose, Niteworks, and Hamish Hawk, so it’s guaranteed to be a banger. Full shortlist here.