82 out of the 111 new features shown at last month’s Edinburgh International Film Festival were by first or second-time directors. In the spirit of the “festival of discovery” John Gibb highlights 5 debut British Directors he expects to be seeing a lot more of in the future.

5) Wayne Thallon

Although A Spanking in Paradise is the third of his scripts to be developed, it represents Wayne Thallon’s first time in the director’s chair. Drawing on his own childhood experiences, Thallon’s semi-autobiographical work follows London law graduate Justin, as he takes over management of his uncle’s seedy establishment, the notorious Paradise Sauna in Edinburgh city centre. Unlike standard Hollywood fare seeking to sanitise the world’s oldest trade, Thallon’s film revels in its squalor. Spanking is a deft mix of humour and horror, delivering constant belly laughs, while at the same time refusing to shy away from the dark realities of prostitution and those who propagate it. A real crowd-pleaser at the festival, and one which signals the start of a promising career as a filmmaker.

4) Hattie Dalton

Having submitted an unfinished film to the selection committee, it came as no small surprise when Hattie Dalton, having just finished filming on Third Star, found that it had been chosen to close the 2010 EIFF. Watching the film, it becomes clear why the festival’s organisers did so. A small film with big heart, it follows a final camping trip to the Welsh coast, undertaken by four friends, one of whom is dying. What could have easily descended into two hours of sentimental navel-gazing is elevated not only by Vaughan Sivell’s knowing script but by Dalton’s soft, unobtrusive directorial style. Leaving room for improvisation amongst the four young leads really pays off, as their genuine chemistry is one of the film’s strongest attractions. With her first feature receiving such a big launch, we’re very likely to see more good things from Dalton in the future.

3) Edward and Rory McHenry

This must’ve been a hard sell. An alternative history of WWII, in which Nazis drill a hole through to England, Churchill forms an alliance with the barbaric antipodeans of Scot Land, and Hitler raids Her Majesty’s wardrobe while setting up camp in Buckingham Palace: all enacted by figurines. The real coup here is not just that Edward and Rory McHenry managed to get Jackboots in Whitehall made, but that they managed to populate its miniature world with some of the finest in home-grown talent; Ewan Macgregor, Timothy Spall, Rosamunde Pike and Alan Cumming are just a few Brits to lend their voices to the “tiny epic”. Working in live-action and puppet animation from an early age, Edward and Rory here display their talents on the big screen and the result is a bizarre, irreverent and at times hilarious take on the classic British war movie. Jackboots was quite unlike anything else at this year’s festival; what they will do next is anybody’s guess but whatever it might be, the Brothers McHenry are definitely ones to watch.

2) Nick Whitfield

Skeletons won the Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film at this year’s EIFF. At the awards ceremony, director Nick Whitfield spoke of his embarrassment that his name should now be mentioned in the same sentence as Michael Powell’s. Despite his modest ambitions, Whitfield’s debut has been credited as one of the most original British features in recent years. The plot revolves around two agents working for a shadowy company, employed to rid people of memories they would rather forget. The film has shades of Kaufman and Gilliam, but remains firmly British in its rural settings and characterisation. It is in the latter respect that Skeletons is so impressive; the film is carried by the two relative unknowns. Getting it right on a small budget, with an unfamiliar cast isn’t easy, and it would have taken so little for the film to flop, but the casting is perfect, and the two leads Andrew Buckle and Ed Gaughan, both complement each other and Whitfield’s superb script. Adapted from an earlier short film, Skeletons, and the positive press that it is generating could well signal the beginning of a successful career in feature films for Nick Whitfield, in which case he may eventually wear the Powell tag with greater ease.

1) Gareth Edwards

Winner of the Moet New Directors Award and highlight of the festival (for me, at least) was Gareth Edwards’s Monsters. Reportedly shot for a staggeringly low $15,000, Edward’s debut feature is a monster movie to rival the likes of big-budget output, Cloverfield and District 9. Set in a militarised and quarantined Central America, six years after a probe carrying alien life has crashed back down to Earth, the story revolves around a photographer tasked with escorting his boss’s vacationing daughter safely back to the United States, whilst avoiding the monsters of the title. Edwards draws upon his background in visual effects to create the giant fluorescent space octopi himself, but in using them sparingly, allows the film to focus on the developing relationship between the two leads. This is what sets Monsters apart from many of its Hollywood counterparts. Scoot McNairy and Whitney Able have an authentic screen chemistry (they were married last month) and the dialogue, which is for the most part improvised, never feels forced or dishonest. The way in which the film is constructed relies heavily on improvisation: Edwards moved a tiny crew from town to town across Mexico, allowing the surroundings to dictate what could be filmed and what had to be revised. The end result is an indie film which stands head and shoulders above the many other products of a saturated genre. It all begs the question of what Edwards might be capable of achieving with the inevitable big budgets that exposure from this film will entitle him to. If Monsters is anything to go by, he will not disappoint.

Read further articles by John Gibb in this months screenGRAB available online here >

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