07/05/2008

The Film Agency for Wales (FAW) has launched a national film and music festival for Wales. Titled Soundtrack, the festival will replace the Cardiff Film Festival that was struggling to attract big names and premieres.

Danny Boyle has already confirmed his participation for a masterclass while former Edinburgh director Mark Cousins will curate the festival.

Cousins said, “Soundtrack is not so much about new movies, as the crucial creative relationship film has with music, and in the coming years it intends to be really international. No British filmmaker has better understood how music energises and underscores film than Danny Boyle.”

FAW CEO Peter Edwards said, “It’s very difficult to make an impact with a film festival in the UK, even London and Edinburgh aren’t able to compete with Berlin and Cannes. So rather than being a little regional festival which couldn’t get the big names and the big films, we thought we could go with a niche film festival.

I think there are another one or two festivals of this kind in existence but that is exactly why we targeted this, there is very little competition. The aim is to be the number one film and music festival in the world, and have it happening in Wales.”

Speaking about Cousins, Edwards said, “Not only is he a hugely interesting person with a genuine interest in our event, he also has the connections to make this happen. He recently worked with Martin Scorsese on a project in Africa so that is the kind of contact book he has. Last month Martin Scorsese made a film with The Rolling Stones so who knows, maybe in a few years we can get those type of names here because that would be perfect for the festival we are creating.”

Soundtrack runs November 26-29 in Cardiff.