Flashbulbs flickered and stars glittered as the Edinburgh International Film Festival began in earnest at Wednesday’s Opening Night Gala at Fountain Park.

Over 2000 guests attended the opening of the 61st Edinburgh International Film Festival and the first-ever public screening of Hallam Foe, directed by David Mackenzie.

The film stars Jamie Bell, the Bafta winning actor from Billy Elliot ,  Ewen Bremner of Trainspotting/Pearl Harbour fame, and Tilda Swinton from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe were all in attendance.

The film’s lead, Bell was in high spirits as he talked of how his new role presents him as a sex symbol: “Of course it’s fantastic, but it’s weird. It’s my first venture into that side of film-making so it was a bit scary. My first sex scene was awkward. Any actor that tells you any different is lying.”

Other notable guests who made their way down the red carpet were Franz Ferdinand front men Alex Kapranos and Nick McCarthy, legendary US filmmaker John Waters, and Peter Jinks, the writer whose novel of the same name inspired the film.

Hallam Foe is a darkly funny, bittersweet coming of age story about a 17-year-old who likes to watch the world from a tree house in the grounds of his father's house in the Scottish Borders.

The film is about a peeping tom who runs away to find himself. Bell said: "I did some preparation for it by spying on some people in New York—I’ll probably get arrested for that now.”

Peter Jinks added: “I think they were quite keen to make sure that Hallam was a more likeable character than in the book, more forgivable, although he’s a peeping tom.”

Bell was also quick to deny any notion that he may be tethered by his role as Billy Elliot: “This is my first British film since Billy Elliot. You’ve got to be gracious about what made you and you can’t really reject it. You have to embrace it.”

He will also appear in the new film from Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity). The film is called Jumper and will be released next year.

A household name the world over since his Bafta winning performance in Billy Elliot, Bell has been directed by the likes of Peter Jackson in King Kong and Clint Eastwood in the forthcoming Flag of our Fathers.

Hallam Foe will be released nationwide on 31 August.

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Friend of foe? Read the Hallam Foe review