The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, being one of the biggest arts festivals in the world, has always been curiously underserved by film.

After the Edinburgh International Film Festival separated itself from the other Edinburgh Festivals a few years ago, no one really stepped into the filmic breach, despite the opportunities it offered.

This year however, two film festivals are having a crack at putting film back on the Fringe; CineFringe and C film.

CineFringe aims to provide the Fringe with what some believe it desperately needs – a traditional film festival to showcase independent film.

Based in the city’s Surgeons Hall, it’s set to provide regular screenings of films made especially for the Fringe – Though as yet, with only a fortnight or so to go, there is still no list of films available.

But if CineFringe’s directors can really provide a cinematic programme tailored for the Fringe, it could be something truly exciting – and that’s even before you consider the added bonus of a programme of practical filmmaking workshops.

C film meanwhile, has been knocking about on the Fringe for around four years now, going through various permutations.

This lack of continuity may, in fact, have prevented it from emerging as an established film festival but this year, they’ve opted for a more low-key mode than before, screening a selection of independent short films in a converted mobile office container in C soco urban garden.

Such an informal cinema will allow punters to come and go as they please – for free – giving them opportunity to enjoy any other events happening in the garden.

But unlike CineFringe, C film seems to be concentrating on providing a more eclectic experience, with a specific interest in supporting emerging talent.

With both CineFringe and C film in a position to really distinguish themselves, this could be a great year for film on the Fringe. Of course, this entirely depends on the films they screen – and you’ll have to wait for August to make your own mind up on those.

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CineFringe Film Festival 2010 runs from the 11^th to the 28^th of August. Tickets are available fro the Edinburgh Festival Fringe office.

C film runs from the 3^rd of August to the 30^th of August and is non-ticketed.
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C FILM REVIEWS – Hand Island, Thank You Skinhead Girl, Hip Hip Hooray, Knock Knock and The End of the Pier Show, Hallo Panda, Charlie Productions at the Edinburgh Fringe

Ten albums in the Top 40, their name on the lips of every TV commentator, and legions of fans queuing through the night for the latest release featuring the Mersey-beat masters.

No, not the height of Beatlemania, but September 2009, when once again John, Paul, George and Ringo seemed to take over the cultural world.

With re-releases of their albums, and The Beatles: Rockband introducing the scouse quartet’s music to a new generation of plastic guitar-wielding gamers, it seems somehow appropriate the year should round out with a John Lennon biopic making an assault on the silver screen.

Yet artist and photographer Sam Taylor-Wood’s film is no escapist romp like Help! or A Hard Day’s Night.

Stepping back to 1955′s Liverpool we find the smart, troubled teenage Lennon (Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging’s Aaron Johnson) pulling schoolboy pranks, chatting up the local ladies and hungry for new experiences.

Yet the young “genius” - an opinion the film seems to take very much for granted – is caught between the opposing attitudes of the austere aunt, Mimi (Kristin Scott Thomas), who raised him and the newly rediscovered flame-haired anarchy offered by his mother, Julia (Shameless’ Ann-Marie Duff).

Based on the book Imagine This: Growing Up With My Brother John Lennon, by Lennon’s half-sister Julia Baird, the tale is undoubtedly an interesting one, and offers a window into the development of one of pop’s most iconic figures.

And for fans of the would-be peace prophet there is a lot to take away.

But perhaps those expecting some form of revelatory insight into the early years of The Quarrymen might leave disappointed.

Yes, young versions of Paul McCartney and George Harrison appear - with 17-year-old Thomas Sangster once again displaying the versatility that saw Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson try to recruit him for Tintin.

Yet the focus remains the emotional battle for Lennon himself, as he uncovers some of the many skeletons his family have been hiding from him.

And in that respect the film comes a little unstuck.

With Aaron Johnson, the film does have someone capable of depicting the cheeky, cock-sure Lennon.

But the role calls for a heart to back the histrionics, and at times the tears and tantrums lack a little believability.

Plus, even at the best of times it seems a little unfair to force young actors, even the more talented ones, to share scenes with the ever-excellent Kristin Scott Thomas, as inevitably she will prove capable of acting them into a cocked hat.

But thanks to a script interjected with a dry wit and period setting in which all involved are clearly revelling, these criticisms languish as minor foibles in comparison to the overall achievement.

If 3D blue aliens don’t grab your interest this Christmas, or you just fancy a slice of 1950s nostalgia, then with Nowhere Boy’s heartwarming tale you won’t go far wrong.

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First published in the Lincolnshire Echo on Thursday December 24 2009.