Edinburgh Film Festival 2025: The Golden Spurtle, Islands and Zodiac Killer Project

This week, we’re off to a very near-future Tokyo for Happyend, in which a bunch of clubbing-mad high school teens turn rabblerousers when their headmaster installs a sinister surveillance system in their school, which mirrors the darkening political situation unfolding beyond the school gates. We also take a look at the documentary Power Station, which sees an artist couple try to tackle the fuel poverty crisis in their local community by turning their street into a literal and metaphorical power station.  Power Station opens the community-minded Take One Action film festival, which leads us on to discuss some of the other film festivals coming to Scotland over the next wee while, from the Glasgow Youth Film Festival to a touring programme of highlights from the London Film Festival. TIMESTAMPS: What We’ve Been Watching: The Horse Whisperer, The Guns of Navarone, Weapons, Raising Arizona and The Secret Garden (1:05) Happyend review (13:14) Power Station n review (36:54) Smaller film fests: Take One Action, LFF on tour, IberoDocs and GYFF (37:40) Recorded on location in the Codebase meeting room with the lovely chairs. Get us on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram and Letterboxd  @thecineskinny, email us at [email protected] Intro and interstitial music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

The pod returns, in sleepy mode – Peter, Anahit and Ellie get caught up on some recent releases, talk through our home set-ups, discuss Films Of 2025 So Far, and go surprisingly in-depth on... Pride & Prejudice and The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. The mid-2000s, baby! TIMESTAMPS: What We've Been Watching (recaps on 28 Years Later, Superman and The Office (US)) (2:00) Our favourite places to watch the movies (16:20) The films we’ve watched the most (Spongebob, Lord of the Rings) (27:00) Our comfort watches (Spinal Tap, Mona Lisa Smile, Pride & Prejudice) (35:55) Actual Film Chat: Films of 2025 so far, and our picks for the rest of the year (46:20) If you like The Cineskinny, tell your pals! Leave us a five-star review! Share the episode on socials! Follow the team on Twitter @ptrsmpsn @anahitrooz @jamiedunnesq @lew_rob_, get us on TikTok @thecineskinny, email us at [email protected] Music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod  (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

While Peter, Anahit and Ellie are off covering the various other festivals happening across Edinburgh this August, Jamie has been attending the Edinburgh International Film Festival, which kicked off in wonderful style on 14 August with Sorry, Baby, the debut feature from Eva Victor, who writes, directs and stars in the film. Sorry, Baby seemed to go down tremendously well with everyone at the opening. On the day after that opening, we sat down with Eva Victor to discuss the film. Have a listen below. TIMESTAMP How it felt opening the Edinburgh Film Festival (2:40) The initial idea for Sorry, Baby (5:40) The female friendship at the heart of the film and working with Naomi Ackie (7:25) How online comedy videos prepared Victor for her first feature (9:02) On choosing the film's non-chronological structure (10:51) Choosing to leave Agnes's assault off-screen (17:31) If you like The Cineskinny, tell your pals! Leave us a five-star review! Share the episode on socials! Follow the team on Twitter @ptrsmpsn @anahitrooz @jamiedunnesq @lew_rob_, get us on TikTok @thecineskinny, email us at [email protected] Recorded on location at Edinburgh International Film Festival. Music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod  (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Today! The Edinburgh International Film Festival starts today (if you're listening to this podcast the day it comes out, which you should), so Peter, Jamie and Ellie take a closer look at three films from the programme. We've got Canary Islands-based family mystery Islands, Charlie Shackleton's new metadoc Zodiac Killer Project, and The Golden Spurtle, 75 delightful minutes following the World Porridge Championships. All that, and a few more picks and tips from your extremely warm friends in the studio... CHAPTERS: Islands review (4:20) Zodiac Killer Project review (20:05) The Golden Spurtle review (36:35) More EIFF picks (50:35) Edinburgh International Film Festival, 14-20 Aug, edfilmfest.org Recorded on location in the Codebase meeting room with the lovely chairs. Get us on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram and Letterboxd  @thecineskinny, email us at [email protected] Intro and interstitial music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

In this episode, the team was bowled over by Dreams, part of a new arthouse trilogy by Norwegian writer-director Dag Johan Haugerud called The Oslo Stories Trilogy (not to be confused with Joachim Trier's similarly named Oslo Trilogy). The other two instalments - Love and Sex - are released later in August. Dreams got us talking about our favourite trilogies in general, from the first three Toy Story movies to Richard Linklater's Before... films via Edgar Wright's Cornetto trilogy. We also squeeze in a review of stop-motion film Savages, the long-awaited new work from Belgian director Claude Barras, best known for his bruising coming-of-age animation My Life as a Courgette.  TIMESTAMPS: What We’ve Been Watching: Female Perversion, Legally Blonde the Musical, Safe and Lena Dunham's new series Too Much (02:44) Savages review (15:23) Dreams review (27:52) Movie Trilogies: What are they, and which ones do we love? (46:25) Recorded on location in the Codebase meeting room with the lovely chairs. Get us on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram and Letterboxd  @thecineskinny, email us at [email protected] Intro and interstitial music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

On this week’s podcast, we head off in two *completely* different directions – the gang review art doc/biopic hybrid The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire, then Anahit sings the praises of the new Superman movie. Cinema - it truly has a bit of everything. Elsewhere, Jamie reports back from Karlovy Vary Film Festival in his fresh KVIFF t-shirt, the squad discuss the idea of cult cinema (what is it, good examples, etc etc), and a few more bits and bobs. A good pod, come hang out. TIMESTAMPS: Jamie’s KVIFF recap (1:15) What We’ve Been Watching: Sidney Lumet, The Parent Trap (10:05) The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire review (19:10) Superman review (37:00) Cult Films: What Are They, and Why? (50:45) Recorded on location in the Codebase meeting room with the lovely chairs. Get us on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram and Letterboxd  @thecineskinny, email us at [email protected] Intro and interstitial music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

On this week's show, the Edinburgh Filmhouse is back, bay-bee! Peter, Jamie and Anahit offer their thoughts and well-wishes after each visiting it on opening weekend. If you've ever wanted to hear us talk about legroom and patina, you're in luck. Film-wise, we review Pavements, Alex Ross Perry's multi-stranded doc/biopic/musical of Peter's favourite 90s slacker indie band, and 28 Years Later, Danny Boyle's return to the land of iPhone cameras, violent zombies and haunting depictions of faux-50s provincialism (they're calling it 'The UK', etc etc). Oh, and there's time for a first look at the Edinburgh Film Festival programme. Early notes: looks not bad. Interesting stuff, good venues, intriguing times ahead. TIMESTAMPS: Thoughts on the Filmhouse, ft Local Hero, The Brutalist (2:00) Pavements review (14:30) 28 Years Later review (31:30) Edinburgh International Film Festival first look (49:10) Get us on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram and Letterboxd  @thecineskinny, email us at [email protected] Intro and interstitial music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license  

Owing to there being a dearth of great films out in June, we've ditched our usual format and for one week only we're doing a 'call-in' show. We asked our listeners to send in questions and voice notes, and they sent in loads, quizing us on myriad subjects, from sexiness in film to our ideal directors' dinner party to which film characters would make for terrible flatmates.  TIMESTAMPS: "They’re adapting the Cineskinny into a major motion picture - who would play each of you in the flick? Jamie, you cast Anahit; Anahit, you pick Ellie; Ellie, you choose Jamie." From Peter Simpson (1:33) "When Harry Styles said that Don't Worry Darling really felt "like a movie", what do you think he meant? What other films really feel like a movie??" From Rho Chung (11:38) "Do you think it's cooler to be a director who hones in and does one thing really well (Wes Anderson (debatable lol but ygm), Tarantino etc), or one with RANGE (Danny Boyle for example)" From Phoebe Willison (19:20) "What about 'best and/or worst film you've watched with your parents?" From Carmen Paddock (34:47) "What's your dream directors' dinner party (pick 3, living or dead) and what film would you put on for everyone afterwards?" George Sully (43:18) Get us on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram and Letterboxd  @thecineskinny, email us at [email protected] Recorded at Ground Floor, Leith – ehfm.live Music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

John Maclean's new film Tornado is a samurai revenge western, shot in the hilly countryside around Edinburgh, starring Kôki, Jack Lowden and Tim Roth. Jamie caught up with John earlier in the year to discuss the film and how it all came about – with Tornado hitting UK cinemas this weekend, here's another chance to hear that chat.  Get us on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram and Letterboxd  @thecineskinny, email us at [email protected] Music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

On the latest episode of The CineSkinny, we take a wild trip with a ruthless tycoon (Benicio del Toro), his deeply moral daughter (Mia Threapleton) and his Swedish tutor-cum-secretary (Michael Cera) in Wes Anderson's breakneck espionage comedy The Phoenician Scheme.  We come back down to earth with the urgent and enraging documentary The Encampments, which takes us inside the Palestine solidarity campus encampment at Columbia University that became a focal point last spring in the fight against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. And inspired by The Encampments and the upcoming SAFAR Film Festival, each member of the team recommends a great Palestinian film. TIMESTAMPS: What We've Been Watching: Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean; Julia & Julia; Taskmaster; Feel Good (1:40) The Phoenician Scheme review (12:08) The Encampments review (32:05) Palestinian cinema: It Must Be Heaven, Gaza mon amour, 5 Broken Cameras (48:52) Get us on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram and Letterboxd  @thecineskinny, email us at [email protected] Recorded at Ground Floor, Leith – ehfm.live Music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license