Screen Policy Dialogues: The Edinburgh International Film Festival and Screen Culture in Scotland
What is the cultural purpose of a film festival? How does a long-established film festival stay relevant and distinctive within a rapidly evolving cultural and industrial landscape? This project aims to explore these issues in relation to the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF). It will consider the place of the EIFF within local, national and international contexts and seek to reignite the EIFF – and Scotland – as a unique and influential space for thinking about the screen. Specifically, it seeks to investigate:
• How the EIFF can situate itself distinctively within national and global debates and secure its place as a unique, cutting edge space for thinking about the screen;
• How the EIFF can innovate in programming and audience engagement, facilitate the development of the Scottish screen industries and intervene effectively within screen policy at Scottish and UK level.
These challenges will be explored through a pair of RSE funded seminars designed to bring together academics and stakeholders from Scotland and beyond; build networks for future work; and develop new strategies for the EIFF’s ongoing engagement with audiences, policymakers and the screen industries.
Principle Investigator: Dr Melanie Selfe