Closeup: Edinburgh Docufest at the Cameo this week

The Close:Up Edinburgh Docufest returns for one more year with a fresh and diverse screening programme of five shorts and one feature documentary of independent cinema.

Taking place once again at the Cameo Picturehouse, the festival’s 4th edition aims to serve as a way of connecting upcoming and established filmmakers and a wide audience of all backgrounds.

The Film Festival opens with the critically acclaimed feature documentary Dùthchas (Home) by Andy Mackinnon, Kirsty Morag MacDonald, which is about the yearning for their birth home felt by those who have left the Isle of Berneray in the Outer Hebrides, and the remembrance of the ever-living past for those who have stayed or returned when the home in their heart is also where they live. 

The second screening slot is dedicated to the art of shorts. Five short documentaries by international filmmakers narrate different stories, showcase various cultures and comment on current issues. 

THE PROGRAMME

Block 1: 18.00-19.30

Dùthchas (Home)  ◍ 88′ ◍ Andy Mackinnon, Kirsty Morag MacDonald, Best Feature-Length Documentary 

Home is a poignant, touching and emotive exploration of what it meant – and still means – to people, especially women, to have to leave the island of their birth to get an education, work, and live. We explore the effects of the resulting cultural and linguistic loss. Featuring unique and unseen archive film footage, contemporary interviews and a powerful soundtrack composed by Donald Shaw, this will be a particularly moving film for anyone connected with the Hebrides. This fascinating and unique archive footage from the ’60s and ’70s reveals repeated iconic scenes of leaving the island, friends and relatives on the pier waving as they recede into the distance. Although the film is silent, you can almost hear the keening.

Break:19.30-19.40

Block 2: 19.40-21.1

Other People, Anni Sairio, Joonatan Turkki 8′ • Finland • 2023

The main characters want to be alone, but random events force them to face each other.

The Dispute, Fredie Chan, 34′ • United Kingdom • 2023

Shortly after moving from Hong Kong to Edinburgh and settling into his student flat, filmmaker Fredie Chan discovers a clash among locals and overseas students over the massive housing shortage in Edinburgh. Developers are converting empty lots and unused old buildings into new housing stocks for international students rather than the locals. Through an empathetic and personal documentary lens, Chan befriends 91-year-old Harry, a long-time resident and community councillor, and follows a group of grassroots housing advocates in order to understand the clash and today’s global housing crisis.

Harvesting Our Tea, Sheida Kiran, 23′ • United Kingdom • 2022

For centuries, women have picked tea on the steep slopes of Turkey’s Black Sea region. It is gruelling work, and much of what they earn has traditionally been handed to their husbands. But now a new generation are turning their backs on tea picking, and the industry’s survival is uncertain. ‘Harvesting Our Tea’ follows the young women who hope change is coming and the older ones who fear for their way of life.

When Will The Warmth Come? Oleksandra Pletenetska, 15′ • Ukraine • 2022

In this video diary, the director documented her emotional states during the full-scale invasion of her country, Ukraine.

I Might Not Normally Share This, Noura A. Rahman, 15′ • Egypt • 2021

An animated documentary that aims to genuinely read between the lines of pursuing art and its correlation to relative human concepts such as childhood, validation, time, expression, alienation, religion and self-doubt. The film features 5 artists who walk the viewers through their inner selves, sharing personal, controversial and vulnerable insights that are both specific to them yet common to others.