Celebrate Cannes in Edinburgh

The merry month of May sees the annual exodus of the global film community to the Cannes Film Festival. To mark the occasion the organisers of the French Film Festival UK and the Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival present two Cannes themed-programmes at the French Institute, West Parliament Square, Edinburgh on Friday 16 May (Spanish) and Saturday 17 May (French) at 18.00 including showreels and introductions of what and who is hot on the Riviera as well as the feature film followed by a glass of rosé or two. Catch previews of titles that may figure in the two Festivals later in the year. The 77th Cannes Film Festival runs from 13 to 24 May 2025

Friday 16 May, 2025

We Treat Women Too Well (Tratamos demasiado bien a las mujeres) (N/C 18+)

Have a laugh in one of the darkest corners of Spanish history with Clara Bilbao’s debut black comedy, a Spanish-French co-production based on the 1947 pulp novel by Raymond Queneau. Set in the autumn of 1945, right after the establishment of Franco’s dictatorship, a group of ‘Maquis’ rebels are on their way to escape across the French border. They abruptly decide to hijack a post-office in a seemingly helpless town where they will find an unsuspected threat among their hostages: Remedios Buendía (Carmen Machi), an ultra-Catholic woman bound to marry a Francoist general who won’t let some petty anarchists spoil her big day. Odd girl boss or fascist lunatic? That will be up to you to decide in a hysterical battle where no ideology will be left unscathed.

17.30 doors open
18.00 Introduction and Cannes showreel
18.30 Film

Shown Cannes Marché du Film 2024.

Saturday 17 May, 2025

Diary of a Fleeting Affair (Chronique d’une liaison passagère) (N/C 15+)

Two years after the critically acclaimed Love Affairs(s) / Les choses qu’on dit, les choses qu’on fait, Emmanuel Mouret returned to the Official Selection in 2022, this time in Cannes Premiere. For his 11th feature film, the director, faithful to his focus on love, tells the story, in an elliptical style, of a torrid affair. Charlotte (Sandrine Kiberlain), a single mother of three children, has as her lover Simon (Vincent Macaigne), a married man. While they agree that their relationship should remain strictly physical, they become increasingly surprised by their bond…