Wide Open Spaces, an Irish comedy starring Ardal O'Hanlon and Ewan Bremner as slackers working on a Famine theme park, will have its world premiere at next month's Edinburgh Film Festival. Shot on Kildare locations, the movie was written by Arthur Matthews ( Father Ted) and directed by Tom Hall (Bachelors Walk).
Edinburgh opens on June 17th with Away We Go, the first screen comedy directed by Sam Mendes. Scripted by Vendela Vida and Dave Eggers, it stars John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph as a couple dithering about where to have their first baby. The closing film on June 28th is Max Meyer's romantic comedy Adam, in which the title character (played by Hugh Dancy) has Asperger's Syndrome.
New international productions will include Kathryn Bigelow's taut Iraq drama The Hurt Locker; Rebecca Miller's The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, with Robin Wright Penn and Keanu Reeves; Greg Motolla's serious comedy Adventureland; and Carlos Cuarón's Mexican movie Rudi y Cursi, with Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna as aspirant professional footballers.
The festival line-up includes Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience, featuring porn star Sasha Gray in the lead; and Moon, starring Sam Rockwell as an astronaut and directed by Duncan Jones, who used to be known as Zowie Bowie, as he was named by his parents, David and Angie Bowie. www.edfilmfest.org.uk
