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Karen Gillan to return to Inverness to open the city’s film festival

Karen Gillan in The Party's Just Beginning.
Karen Gillan in The Party's Just Beginning.

There will be a sprinkling of Hollywood glamour at this year’s Inverness Film Festival, as screen star Karen Gillan returns to her hometown to present her debut movie.

The star, who shot to fame as Doctor Who’s assistant, Amy Pond, and had roles in films such as Guardians of the Galaxy, Jumanji and Avengers: Infinity War star, not only wrote the script for The Party’s Just Beginning and plays the leading on-screen role, but much of the film is shot in Inverness and Glasgow.


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At the launch of the festival, now in its 16th year, the audience were shown a short clip of the movie which featured scenes of Miss Gillan walking past Inverness Cathedral and underneath the Raigmore Interchange while eating a bag of chips, before being stopped in her tracks after coming across a man about to jump to his death.

The film, which will be screened on Thursday, November 8, explores the issue of suicide in the Highlands.

Described as an “emotional tour de force” and “an emotional love letter to Gillan’s hometown”, festival director, Paul MacDonald-Taylor, said he was delighted Miss Gillan, an Eden Court Ambassador who now divides her time between New York and Los Angeles, would join fans for the screening along with producer Mali Elfman and director, Rachel Jackson.

Mr MacDonald-Taylor also revealed that the festival, which runs from November 7-11, would once again have a strong international vibe, with films from a wide array of countries including France, Georgia, Hungary, Israel, Kosovo, Poland, Japan and the Lebanon to name but a few.

“I’ve said in the past that some of the greatest films come from countries that don’t have English as their primary language and we just have to be open to the idea of subtitles, and an entire world will open up to us,” he said.

The festival will also feature more than 30 new short films either from Scotland or made by Scottish directors, while Anna and the Apocalypse, described as a Scottish zombie Christmas musical, was pitched as being “perfect for a cold November night”.

Young actor Malcom Cumming, former Eden Court usher and student who went on to study at the Conservatoire in Glasgow, will also be in town for the week of the festival, because he is starring in Cyrano De Bergerac.

There will also be premieres, short films, documentaries, all-action blockbusters, films selected by Eden Court Young Programmers along with special events including Q&A.