Robert Carlyle's black comedy to open Film Festival

Edinburgh International Film Festival has announced its opening film for the 2015 festival - Robert Carlyle's first film as director, The Legend of Barney Thomson.

The 69th Film Festival will begin on Wednesday 17 June, with a star-studded cast expected to attend the world première of Carlyle's directorial debut at Edinburgh's Festival Theatre. The cast includes Robert Carlyle himself as well as Emma Thompson and Ray Winstone.

Director Carlyle said:

After a career-long association with EIFF it gives me enormous pleasure to have The Legend of Barney Thomson chosen as Opening Night film. It really is such an honour for me to have my first feature as director premiered here in Edinburgh at the Festival that has played such a huge part in my life.

The Legend of Barney Thomson is a dark comedy set in Glasgow, based on Douglas Lindsay's book, The Long Midnight of Barney Thomson. The film follows Carlyle as the eponymous Barney, a barber who finds himself suddenly caught up in murder most foul. Winstone is a police inspector desperately trying to solve the crime, while Thompson plays Barney's mother, a woman with a secret of her own.

Mark Adams, the new Artistic Director of EIFF said:

We are thrilled to be opening this year’s Festival with Robert Carlyle’s wonderful black comedy. It is a marvellously macabre and playful film, impressively directed and with a terrific cast. It is the perfect film to kick off what promises to be an exciting festival.

Tickets for the film’s public screening on Wednesday 17 June at the Festival Theatre are available now for members of Edinburgh's Filmhouse cinema, and go on public sale on Wednesday 6 May at 10am.

[Update 11/5/15 - Film Festival closing film, Iona, announced]

Image: Robert Carlyle and Emma Thompson in 'The Legend of Barney Thomson' (EIFF)