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The beautiful animated feature, by Academy Award nominated filmmaker Sylvain Chomet, was made and set predominantly in the Scottish capital.
Director Sylvain Chomet at the UK premiere of his film "The Illusionist", on the opening night of the Edinburgh International Film Festival. 16 June 2010.Photograph: ©Helena Smith/EIFF. Edinburgh International Film Festival 2010
Guests were greeted on the red carpet by a glittering display of showgirls, stilt-walkers and tumbling strongmen. Arrivals at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre, a venue used for the first time by EIFF for their Opening Night Gala, were accompanied by the eight-piece Horndog Brass Band which entertained the huge crowds that lined Nicolson Street who had turned out to catch a glimpse of some of the famous faces walking down the red carpet.
The film’s director Sylvain Chomet and producers Bob Last and Sally Chomet, were joined by an array of stars from the world of film including EIFF Patrons Sir Sean Connery and Seamus McGarvey; star of stage and screen Sir Patrick Stewart; actress Britt Ekland; Ugly Betty star America Ferrera; writer Nick Hornby; Harry Potter actor Jason Isaacs; comedian and filmmaker Ben Miller; director Mike Hodges; Scottish film director and writer Bill Forsyth; Scottish comedian and actor Craig Hill and Minister of Culture and External Affairs Fiona Hyslop MSP.
Sir Sean Connery at the UK premiere of the "The Illusionist", shown on the opening night of the Edinburgh International Film Festival. 16 June 2010. Photograph: ©Helena Smith/EIFF. Edinburgh International Film Festival 2010
The Film Festival has been generously supported by Event Scotland to showcase Scotland as the perfect stage for international cultural events
Once inside the theatre, the audience was treated to a display by showgirls and a magician performing in the boxes of the historic auditorium, before Chomet stepped on stage to introduce his film, described by many who have seen it as a “love letter to Edinburgh”.
Director Sylvain Chomet at the UK premiere of his film "The Illusionist", with Festival Director Hannah MacGill at the Festival Theatre on the opening night of the Edinburgh International Film Festival. 16 June 2010. Photograph: ©Helena Smith/EIFF. Edinburgh International Film Festival 2010
The choice of Festival Theatre as the venue for the UK’s first screening of The Illusionist is particularly poignant due to an event that occurred there almost one hundred years ago when there was a disastrous fire on stage during a performance by The Great Lafayette, one of the world’s most prominent illusionists. The theatre was full to its three thousand seat capacity when disaster struck as The Great Lafayette took his bow, and a stage lamp fell and ignited a stage-drape. Every member of the audience walked to safety, but eleven people died in the devastating fire, including The Great Lafayette. It is rumored that his ghost still haunts the auditorium.
The Illusionist goes on general UK release on the 20th August.
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