Wednesday, April 29, 2009

True Blood premiers at Edinburgh film festival

New blood at Edinburgh film festival
TV series debut at event under 'Cinematic Television'

LONDON -- The Edinburgh International Film Festival will be sinking its teeth into vampires and Bengali cinema at this year's event, organizers said Wednesday.

The first two episodes of Alan Ball's vampire drama "True Blood" have been tabbed to kick off a new program titled "Cinematic Television," a strand designed to offer festivalgoers U.K. premieres of high-end TV dramas.

"Blood" will be joined by HBO stablemate "In Treatment," with the first five episodes of the Gabriel Byrne starrer set to unspool as part of the program.

A panel event will give audiences the chance to interact with the people behind the success of high-end TV shows that boast cinema-quality production values.

EIFF organizers also have planned a three-day Bengali cinema extravaganza, with a lineup of seven classic titles including Satyajit Ray's "Devi" and "Days and Nights in the Forest," Ritwik Ghatak's "A River Called Titas" and Anup Singh's "The Name of the River."

Cult late-night sidebars Night Moves and Under the Radar also return to the festival. Dario Argento's "Giallo" will screen as part of Night Moves, while Zach Clark's deadpan sex satire "Modern Love Is Automatic" finds its way to Under the Radar.

Additionally, organizers unveiled plans to convert a historic church hall in Edinburgh into a new venue, a plan backed by the British Council and Scottish government.

The festival's full lineup will be announced May 6. The festival runs June 17-28.

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