Hi there folks,

Sasha here reporting for Edinburgh International Film Festival duty! I am the second of the bloggers covering the festival for This Is Central Station, and frankly I am delighted (see picture)!

(In the spirit of all things social media related, my picture is taken with my very awful webcam.)

I am a person who writes, with an internet addiction. My background is freelance, in copywriting and editing (though now I have settled down into a permanent job), and I blog regularly at Taxidermy Mouse. Writing and film for me go hand in hand, and though I love writing about film academically, I have always used the internet as an outlet for more whimsical reviews. I’ll do my best to rein in the whimsy.

When I first heard that Ben and I would be reporting, I was wondering how we’d divvy up the events. As it turns out, Ben will be covering the day-to-day stuff, while I am going to capture the film festival buzz from slightly more work-friendly perspective.

Though I would gladly spend all day at the movies, I’ve been a 9 to 5 girl for some time now, and so I am going to report what it is like to be a real person (working, sleeping, lounging) attending the festival, and how best to get in on that fantastic festival atmosphere when you don’t have much time to do it in.

Today, I collected my press pass during my lunch hour, at the Conference Centre on Bread Street. It was like walking into another world. Everything was light, and glass, and all the staff were cheery. I had been worried that they would sense my blogger creds as soon as I walked in and sneer, but everyone was very friendly and helpful, and didn’t mind answering my myriad questions about the press process. Though I have worked at film festivals in the past, I was keen to see one in action on a larger scale, and let me tell you,the EIFF crew run a pretty tight ship.

So far I have only managed a quick flick through the programme, but I am already very excited about a couple of movies. Jackboots on Whitehall sounds particularly brilliant, as does the Werner Herzog-David Lynch team-up My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?.

Lastly, I (quite ashamedly) am excited to see The Runaways. The promise of Kristen Stewart sans blinking and vampires is simply too much to resist for a trash loving girl like me.

I will be blogging about movies, events and general goings on, and tweeting as I do so. Keep an eye on @TaxidermyMouse on Twitter, and also for the EIFF logo on any This s Central Station blog posts (it’s our handy flag for you guys to keep up with our blog action).

If you think of any fun social media related ways to report, or generally have any recommendations for the festival, do let me know!

Talk to you soon!