Charlotte Wells’ debut feature is set to open the 75th edition of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) following its warm reception at Cannes Critics’ Week earlier this year. “Aftersun” won the new French Touch Prize of the Jury and was acquired by A24 out of the fest.
Penned by Wells, “Aftersun” tells the story of Sophie (Celia Rowlson-Hall), a woman who reflects on summer trip to Turkey she took with her father (Paul Mescal) as a young girl (Francesca Corio).
Wells was born in Edinburgh. “As a teenager, I spent just about all the money I had saved each summer on tickets to EIFF, sitting on the floor at Fountainbridge in hour-long queues for box office opening, leafing through the weighty program which offered my first exposure to independent and international cinema,” she said. “In 2006, I bought tickets to the Duplass brothers’ ‘The Puffy Chair’ based on its inch-square picture and synopsis. The Q&A that followed made clear how explicit the connection between filmmakers and their work could be; what personal filmmaking could be. In 2006, I attended the opening night film: ‘The Flying Scotsman.’ In 2022, I’ll attend again. Edinburgh is home and so is the EIFF. I can’t wait.”
EIFF creative director Kristy Matheson added, “It means so much to have ‘Aftersun’ open our festival and celebrate a homegrown talent whose artistry is entirely international in its scope and appreciation.”
EIFF runs from August 12-20.
