ED2011 News

EIF takes you backstage

By Chris Cooke | Published on Saturday 6 August 2011

The Edinburgh International Festival has teamed up with Standard Life to launch a new venture called Festival Backstage, a series of short films giving behind the scenes insights and background information into and about productions taking place at the EIF this year. The films have been created by TV production and journalism students from Edinburgh Napier University, and will be available via www.eif.co.uk/festivalbackstage.

Among the insights is a guide to the Peking Opera, a high profile institution in its home country, but still unfamiliar to many in the West. Although called ‘opera’, this company’s output is pretty unique, and Festival Backstage will give you a better idea of what to expect before the group arrive to perform as part of EIF this month. Another film will explore the original stories behind ‘One Thousand And One Nights’, with actor Houda Echouafni providing some exclusive readings from this new adaptation of the tales of Shahrazad, which has its European premiere as part of EIF.

Festival chief Jonathan Mills told ThreeWeeks: “These fascinating and insightful films provide the perfect complement to the remarkable range of work and artists presented at the Festival this year. Thanks to this innovative and exciting partnership we are able to bring audiences closer to the artists and give an insider’s view on the shows we’re presenting this year”.