Edinburgh HQ’d LS Films’ first feature documentary, directed by Paul Sng (Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché, Tish), Reality Is Not Enough – a portrait of Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh – has been selected as this year’s closing night film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
The doc offers a gripping and revealing deep dive into the mind of author Welsh. The film includes observational footage, archive material, and an incredible all-star cast of narrators including Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List, Batman Begins), Stephen Graham (This Is England, Adolescence), Ruth Negga (Ad Astra, Passing), Maxine Peake (The Theory of Everything, Shameless) and singer-songwriter Nick Cave.
Paul Sng: “I’m completely delighted that Reality Is Not Enough has been chosen to close this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival. When I read Trainspotting as a teenager in London back in the nineties, I had no idea I would one day live in the city where the book is set, let alone make a film with its author, Irvine Welsh. Having our world premiere in our home city is a huge honour and we’re looking forward immensely to sharing the film with the EIFF audience.”
The film finds Welsh at a crossroads, acutely aware of his mortality, yet keen to explore the boundaries of consciousness on a hallucinogenic trip. Combining observational footage, archive film clips and readings from his novels, which have sold six million copies worldwide and been adapted into multiple screen adaptations.
Three years in the making, Reality Is Not Enough was co-financed and produced by LS Films, with Sarah Drummond as executive producer and the support of Screen Scotland. LS Films champions underrepresented voices through its daring storytelling, bringing them to life in this documentary, a new addition to LS Films’ expanding catalogue of original content.
In backing this intimate and hallucinatory portrait of Welsh, the company shows commitment to creative risk-taking while also further demonstrating its deep connection to Scottish cultural identity. The release of Reality Is Not Enough is managed by Kaleidoscope.
Sarah Drummond, Reality Is Not Enough executive producer and managing director at LS Films said: “I grew up in North Edinburgh during the era that shaped so much of Irvine’s writing, so helping bring this intimate portrait of the man behind the books to the screen has been something truly special. Reality Is Not Enough is raw and unexpectedly tender, and it’s been a privilege to make it here, in the city that connects us both.”
EIFF will run from 14-20 August, with a renewed leadership under festival director, Paul Ridd, and festival producer, Emma Boa, focusing on emerging new talent and more engagement with the audiences, industry and media.
Ridd commented: “We were so impressed by this brilliantly immersive and fascinating documentary about iconic Scottish writer, Irvine Welsh. Director Paul Sng’s refreshingly unusual and highly cinematic approach perfectly fits his subject, a man who has spent an entire career refusing to be pinned down, always surprising us with works of profound impact, rawness and grace. We could not think of a better way to round off our Festival than with this terrific film.”
The full programme for the 78th edition of Edinburgh International Film Festival is available here and tickets to the premiere of Reality Is Not Enough at the Cameo Picturehouse are available here.
