The animated feature The Illusionist has opened the Edinburgh Film Festival with a star-studded gala performance.
The film’s Oscar-nominated director Sylvain Chomet was joined on the red carpet by leading figures from the world of film, including the actors Sir Patrick Stewart, Britt Ekland, Jason Isaacs and America Ferrara, directors Mike Hodges and Bill Forsyth, the writer Nick Hornby and the festival’s patron Sir Sean Connery.
The opening-night film was made and set predominantly in Edinburgh.
Other highlights of the twelve day festival include the world premieres of comedian Ben Miller’s feature Huge, and Nick Moran’s follow-up to Telstar, The Kid.
The festival will close, on June 27th, with Third Star, the feature-debut of BAFTA-short winning director Hattie Dalton. The film, described as a “tragi-comic buddy movie,” stars Benedict Cumberbatch, JJ Feild and Hugh Bonneville.