When Films and Video Games come together, good things can happen.
Scottish Screen backs games and ties with Edinburgh Interactive Festival 2008.
Friday 13th June/...The Edinburgh Interactive Festival today confirmed a partnership with Scottish Screen, the national development agency for the screen industries in Scotland. The agreement means that Scottish Screen will be able to more effectively extend its work in the creative industries, film and television to the thriving video games industry.
Scottish Screen will have a significant brand presence up to and during Edinburgh Interactive as it gets closer to the games business. Scottish Screen was created to support new and established talent, educate young people and promote Scotland as a destination for the creation of film and screen based entertainment.
The announcement is hoped to pave the way for a longer term partnership between Edinburgh Interactive Festival and Scotlands new creative economy development agency, Creative Scotland.
Ken Hay, Chief Executive of Scottish Screen, said: Scottish Screen has had long term relationships with both the Edinburgh Television and Film Festivals and we are delighted to now be able to partner the Interactive Festival. Screen entertainment through film, television and more recently computer video games, has a unique and dominant place in both the culture of Scotland and increasingly in its economic health.
Scotland has led the way in developing world class and hugely successful video games for international markets. It seems absolutely right to have an international festival dedicated to celebrating and promoting that industry right here in Scotland.
Scottish Screen is really looking forward to both partnering the Festival and in exploring with them and the games industry, the opportunities for talent and business development and cross sectoral collaborations with the wider screen industries in Scotland.
Edinburgh Interactive Festival Chairman. Chris Deering, said: The move to a partnership with Scottish Screen is an important one for Edinburgh Interactive. It confirms the Festivals importance within the screen entertainment mix and the regard in which the games industry is now held in Scotland.
Scottish Screen is aware of the importance of the video games business in entertainment and particularly in Scotland. Commercially and creatively it is now the driving force in creativity and screen-based entertainment. We look forward to taking our partnership forward and working together to amplify the message of games creativity in Scotland through the Edinburgh Interactive Festival.
EIF 2008 will take place from Sunday 10th to Tuesday 12th August, and will this year move to the Edinburgh International Conference Centre as part of a move to develop the scale and profile of the event. In 2008 it will host the Dare to be Digital ProtoPlay exhibition.
EIF 2008 will feature a major two-day conference programme, an array of networking events, an expansion of the EIF Games Screenings programme covering three cinema rooms, a major public area with gaming features, retail and recruitment sites. The ProtoPlay exhibition will also take place under the same roof as the Edinburgh Interactive Festival and will run from Sunday 10th to Tuesday 12th August alongside the public areas and Games Screenings.
Edinburgh Interactive Festival is the only event that brings together the games industrys key decision makers from games publishing, hardware and development along side Government, TV, film, press and other entertainment industries as well as students seeking to work within the creative industries.
In 2007 delegates included professionals from Ubisoft, Nintendo, Sony Computer Entertainment, Microsoft, Codemasters, BBC, Channel 4, 19 Entertainment, Endemol, Rare, Electronic Arts, Gamestation, Ncsoft, Havok, Midway, Eidos, Realtime Worlds, BAFTA, BERR, BSAC and Rising Star Games.
Now celebrating its sixth year, the Edinburgh Interactive Festival is powered up to showcase the continued popularity, growth and influence of video games. And this year, the Interactive Festival is more synchronised with the world famous Edinburgh Festival than ever, appealing to the press, public and professionals from film, television and interactive media backgrounds alike, offering a bigger event for delegates, more consumer focusing an overall spectacle for all.
New to Interactive Festival 2008 will be Features, Exhibition and Recruitment areas specifically tailored to cater for the public - allowing them access to the latest games and job opportunities in games.
As ever, the three-day Interactive Festival wouldnt be complete without the cornerstones of conferences, keynotes, panel sessions, debates, games screenings and even more people than ever jostling to get through the doors.
For more, please visit Edinburgh.
