Christian Petzold’s Afire and Celine Song’s Past Lives are among the titles set to screen at this year’s scaled-down Edinburgh International Film Festival (Aug 18-23), which is being mounted as part of Edinburgh’s wider cultural Festival. The full programme announced includes 24 feature films, five retrospective titles, and a five pic short film programme. Five feature films will be presented as World Premieres, including the opening film Silent Roar. The festival closes with British Iranian filmmaker Babak Jalali’s well-received Sundance pic Fremont.
Two projects selected for the MAIN FEATURE PROGRAMME include:

CHUCK CHUCK BABY | Dir. Janis Pugh | World Premiere | UK | Amid the neon lights of a chicken packaging factory, two women, played by Louise Brealey (Brian & Charles, Sherlock) and Annabel Scholey (The Split), fall in love. Together, the duo rediscover the joys of living, finding in their beloved community of fierce, independent working-class women the strength necessary to overcome small-town prejudice. Mixing big laughs, romance tropes, and musical elements, Janis Pugh’s vibrant directorial debut tells a modern love story that is as refreshing as it is heartwarming. Cinematographer: Joel Honeywell

RAGING GRACE | Dir. Paris Zarcilla | UK | Joy (Max Eigenmann, Kargo), an undocumented Filipina cleaner, finds that a job caring for a country house and its bed-bound owner (David Hayman) may be too-good-to-be-true when she suspects that her boss is being slowly poisoned. In this smart, gothic debut that takes us through several genres, twists and turns, Paris Zarcilla thrillingly conveys that colonialism is not just the ghost that haunts the mansion, but a vivid force of the present that permeates British society. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at SXSW Film Festival. Production Designer: Caroline Steiner