God’s Own Country to open the 2017 Edinburgh… | Little White Lies

Festivals

God’s Own Coun­try to open the 2017 Edin­burgh Inter­na­tion­al Film Festival

09 May 2017

Words by Amy Bowker

Two men with dark features facing each other intently, set against a blurred rural background.
Two men with dark features facing each other intently, set against a blurred rural background.
Fran­cis Lee’s fes­ti­val dar­ling comes home to be a part of the UK’s old­est film festival.

Excit­ing news: the pro­gram­mers of the Edin­burgh Inter­na­tion­al Film Fes­ti­val have select­ed Fran­cis Lee’s Sun­dance buzz title God’s Own Coun­try as the open­ing film at this year’s fes­ti­val, which kicks off on 21 June.

This will mark its UK pre­mière, a home­com­ing of sorts after win­ning the best direct­ing prize in the ​‘World Cin­e­ma – Dra­mat­ic’ sec­tion at Sun­dance at the end of January.

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The debut fea­ture from the British writer/​director has being tout­ed as the UK’s answer to Broke­back Moun­tain, and tells a con­tem­po­rary tale of self-dis­cov­ery set in the heart of rur­al Yorkshire.

It sees Josh O’Connor tak­ing on the lead role of John­ny, a volatile young farmer. Oppo­site him is Alec Secare­anu as Ghe­o­rghe, a Roman­ian migrant work­er and soon to be the object of his affec­tions. Ian Hart and Gem­ma Jones co-star as O’Connor’s father and grandmother.

As Open­ing Gala screen­ings go, this one gets a big thumbs up from us.

The EIFF runs from 21 June to 2 July, and God’s Own Coun­try will be released nation­wide on 1 Sep­tem­ber. For more on the festival’s 71st edi­tion head to edfilm​fest​.org​.uk

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