Edinburgh goes digital.

watch kid koala's basin street blues video
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This year’s Mirrorball, Edinburgh Film Festival’s digital film strand, opened last Thursday with promo producers Hammer & Tongs (responsible for those Johnny Vegas/Monkey ads) and director Mat Kirkby talking about, er, comedy in music videos. Don’t fret if you missed it, though: the real highlights are still to come.

Fresh from its success at Cannes, Daft Punk’s weird and wordless anime opera, Interstella 5555: The 5tory Of The 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, will be shown for the first time in the UK, before its national release on 24 October. Directed by animaster Leiji Matsumoto, it’s like Battle Of The Planets meets Yellow Submarine, with an alien band (sounding remarkably like Daft Punk) being kidnapped and brought to Earth by an evil mogul. Well… it could happen.

All hail to The Most Gigantic Lying Mouth Of All Time, aka Radiohead TV, the internet TV channel run by Thom Yorke and his merry men. It broadcasts a mishmash – sorry – a mix of videos, webcasts, fan films and interviews at www.radiohead.tv on the hour, every hour, and Mirrorball is screening Episodes 1 and 2. Yum.

Of all the selections of new work from various countries, shown as separate 90-minute packages, Mirrorball: Japan is the most interesting. Which isn't surprising. In fact, the increasingly influential Tokyo promo industry has quickly become one of the most offbeat, adventurous and original in the world. This year, the highlight has to be a selection of animated shorts from Takeshi Nakamura, Ichiro Tanida, Junya Nishioka and Riichiro Mashima.

Spun (on national release 25 November 03) is the first feature from promo director Jonas Åkerlund, maker of dodgy videos for The Prodigy (Smack My Bitch Up) and Metallica (Turn The Page), as well as the more sedate Moby. Presented in Edinburgh by Åkerlund himself, the film is one of those well-styled “wild, drug-fuelled ride” jobs, like Requiem For A Dream. But it’s still worth a look, if only to glimpse human ruin Mickey Rourke as The Cook.

Also worth catching is an early showing of Ninja Tune’s first DVD relase, out in spring 2004. It’ll feature Ninja staples DJ Food, Hexstatic and the Cinematic Orchestra, as well as Kid Koala’s excellent Basin Street Blues video. Jonathan Carter 15 August 03