Alan Rickman directorial debut to show at Kirkcaldy Film Festival

The Kirkcaldy Film Festival begins today and will showcase Alan Rickman‘s (Professor Snape) directorial debut, The Winter Guest. According to Fife Today,

The Winter Guest is a poignant, comic and tragic look at the transitions of life and death, separation and reconciliation, affecting characters in a Scottish seaside town in the depths of winter.

Rickman traveled to Fife to film his movie and brought with him camera crews, technicians, and production teams to take over the small village. He also brought fellow Harry Potter actors Emma Thompson (Professor Sybill Trelawney) and Sean Biggerstaff (Oliver Wood).

Rickman filmed for eight weeks along the East Neuk in autumn of 1996. The town was covered in fake snow for several scenes, two townspeople acted as stand-ins for Emma and her real-life mother, and the weather proved challenging, like a “flirtatious friend.” And yet the film was well received by its premiere audience Glasglow in January 1998. Now, years later, the film is being shown where it was originally filmed as a tribute to the townspeople who petitioned for the film to be premiered there.

The Winter Guest will premiere this evening at 4 p.m., and Sean will be telling the audience about his memories of shooting the film in Fife tomorrow.

David Tennant will also be in attendance for the showcase of his movie What We Did on Our Holiday. He plays Doug.

Doug, Abi and their three children head to the Scottish Highlands for grandpa’s birthday party. Doug discovers his father has been keeping the seriousness of his illness from his family.

The premiere is already sold out and will be premiering again Sunday, September 22 in London for its grand opening.

The full schedule of the film festival is below:
Friday, September 19
10.00 a.m. – Paths of Glory (plus, discussion with film critic Nigel Floyd)
4.00 p.m. – The Winter Guest
7.30 p.m. – Magic in the Moonlight

Saturday, September 20
11.00 a.m. – Kids’ screening: A Little Princess
1.30 p.m. – Galleries workshop: Storybook Creations
2.00 p.m. – Paul Wright Short Film Retrospective
4.00 p.m. – For Those in Peril
7.30 p.m. – Red Carpet Event: Goldfinger

Sunday, September 21
1.00 p.m. – La Grande Illusion (plus, talk by Mark Smith of the Herald)
4.00 p.m. – Regeneration
7.30 p.m. – What We Did on Our Holiday (SOLD OUT)

To find out more or to book tickets visit the film festival’s website.

Are you going to the Kirkcaldy Film Festival? What are you most excited to see?