Edinburgh International Film Festival 2012: Directors’ Showcase

For the last few years, our globalised world has ostensibly been on the brink of major qualitative change (or collapse…). In EIFF’s Directors’ Showcase, this sense of turmoil, struggle and uncertainty appears to have permeated cinema from every corner of the planet. Yet one of the more interesting examples is the Sri Lankan film Him, Here After. As an exceedingly rare example of a Tamil language film directed by a Sinhalese director, the film explores fallout following great social upheavals (in this case the 26 year Sri Lankan civil war). As well as dramas, there are also thrillers such as Life Without Principle, comedies such as God Bless America, even a martial arts flick called Dragon. Despite all the disparities in genre and style, all the featured films illustrate the different visions of various directors whose works look certain to resonate well into the future. Whatever that future is.