COMMENT

The Edinburgh International Film Festival’s 70th anniversary event got under way last night with the UK premiere of a gay romance described as the “British Brokeback Mountain”.

First-time director Francis Lee wrote God’s Own Country, which charts the relationship between two young sheep farmers on the Yorkshire moors, while he was working in a scrapyard after he quit acting.

Lee, who lives in a “wooden hut” on the moors, was making his first visit to the festival at the age of 47 to launch its birthday curtain-raiser.

Richard E Grant, Ewen Bremner, Kevin Bacon, Stanley Tucci, Oliver Stone, Danny Huston, Kevin Guthrie and Juliet Stevenson are among those due to appear at the ten-day festival.

Lee, who appeared on the red carpet with stars Josh O’connor and Alex Secareanu, said it had been “very tough” to get anyone to back his film, given his lack of a track record and the subject matter.

“The message this sendsisthatedinburgh is interested in playing diverse stories, that have resonance for everybody”

FRANCIS LEE