The 79th Edinburgh International Film Festival will run from 13-19 August 2026, under leadership from CEO and Festival Director Paul Ridd and Festival Producer Emma Boa, and will continue to accelerate the discovery of new film talent, engage with audiences, industry and local, national and international media and continue in its mission to be the home of independent cinema in the UK.
This year’s Festival has a programme showcasing diverse themes, ideas, perspectives and forms and bringing new work to Edinburgh from filmmakers from Scotland, Ireland, UK, US, Italy, Greece, The Netherlands, France, Denmark, Lithuania, Japan, Canada, Portugal and many more.
EIFF is pleased to be working with new venue partner Cineworld Fountainbridge alongside returning venue partners Filmhouse, Cameo Cinema, Monkey Barrel Comedy, as well as expanding across the city to collaborate with new venue partner Leith Theatre, placing EIFF at the heart of August’s unparalleled Festival landscape.
Central Hall will return to serve as the Festival Hub, open throughout the Festival for industry talks and networking events, alongside informal meeting and working spaces. Central Hall will also host the major In Conversation events at the Festival.
This year’s Festival programme continues to champion and nurture a new generation of UK and international talent, with a strong selection of first and second features, including filmmakers returning to the Festival to present new work.
Following the previously announced Opening Night film, Louis Paxton’s delightful debut feature The Incomer, EIFF presents a compelling selection of new and established voices in cinema including 21 feature film World Premieres, alongside International and UK Premieres in the Out of Competition strand.
The previously announced Closing Night film is the World Premiere of Louise Lockwood’s raw and beautifully composed new documentary Bel which sits within a programme featuring Scottish and international talent.
In addition to The Incomer and Bel, Screen Scotland-supported features Mission, Douglas Gordon by Douglas Gordon, Extra Geography, and The Mad World of Harvey Kurtzman will be screening as part of the Fetival's line up, as well as Borges and Me, which received Screen Scotland recce funding.
This year’s EIFF plays host to 7 Special Retrospective Screenings headlined on Friday 14 August by a very special 30th anniversary celebration of Trainspotting at Leith Theatre featuring a live cast and crew commentary followed by a club night with DJs Irvine Welsh and Darren Emerson of Underworld paying homage to the iconic soundtrack.
This year’s recipient of the inaugural EIFF Outstanding Contribution to Cinema Award will be acclaimed actor and director Kenneth Branagh who will also participate in a wide-ranging discussion of his illustrious career to date.
EIFF’s In Conversation strand also features a range of other major filmmaking talent who will discuss their creative careers to date including Bruce Dern, a true titan of cinema and independent film; Christine Vachon, one of the most prolific and exciting producers working in modern American cinema; Ken Burns, one of most skilled and versatile documentary filmmakers working today, in conversation and presenting a special screening of Episode 2 of his new work on The American Revolution; and one of Scotland’s biggest global stars Golden Globe and Emmy award-winning actor Ewan McGregor.
(L-r) Ewan McGregor and Kenneth Branagh
The ultra-competitive The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence returns to present a panorama of contemporary film and exciting new filmmakers. The Competition comprises ten feature-length World Premieres, with the winning filmmaker awarded £50,000 to support their future projects. Decided by audience vote, the winner will be announced at the end of the Festival and the award is generously supported by The Sean Connery Foundation.
This year’s Out of Competition strand showcases a selection of World, International and UK Premieres with standout new films spanning genres, forms and perspectives. With a line-up including UK Premieres of award-winning titles from Sundance, Berlinale and Cannes, this is a showcase of the most exciting global cinema from established auteurs to emerging voices.
This year’s Lynda Myles Celebrates screening will be the World Premiere of Theodore Schaefer’s surreal and reflexive The Arrow at Rest at Every Instant of its Flight which sees three seemingly disconnected stories unfolding in a whirlwind of black and white imagery across New York City. The film will be introduced by producer, screenwriter and former EIFF Director Lynda Myles.
Bookending EIFF’s popular Midnight Madness strand presenting the best in genre cinema from around the world is the World Premiere of Chee Keong Cheung’s no-holds-barred POV thriller Bad Day at the Office and the UK Premiere of Daniel Goldhaber’s wildly inventive new take on Faces of Death.
The Thelma Schoonmaker Prize for Short Filmmaking Excellence Competition presents the World Premieres of new exciting work from across the world including Scotland, Lithuania, Iran and France all competing for a £15,000 cash prize in honour of legendary film editor Thelma Schoonmaker.
Still from BRUVVAS, courtesy of EIFF
The Festival will present the World Premiere of six enterprising and innovative shorts showcasing the work of talented emerging filmmakers in Scotland created through the second NFTS Sean Connery Talent Lab.
Abuses of power and intense relationship dynamics are explored through surrealism and brutal realism in this year’s Out of Competition Shorts programme.
This year’s Animation Shorts is a collection of UK and World Premiere global animations exploring human connection in distinct, memorable ways, acting as a powerful reminder of how the medium can surprise and challenge in every genre.
From haunted objects to living landscapes, the Festival’s Experimental Shorts invite us into ways of sensing the unstable world we inhabit.
EIFF is also pleased to continue its partnership with Scottish Documentary Institute to present the short documentary films created through the Bridging the Gap training programme.
EIFF is also delighted to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Screen Academy Scotland with a selection of World and International Premieres of new short films emerging from the academy.
Our Cinema ‘26 Shorts is an innovative new approach to film education in Scotland delivered by Transgressive North and Folk Film Gathering and modelled on Japan’s world-leading Children Meet Cinema project.
Listings for the Festival will go live on the EIFF website from 5pm on Wednesday 1 July with tickets going on sale 10am on Thursday 2 July via the EIFF website and via the EdFringe official app. Press and Industry accreditation for EIFF is now open.
Ticket details and full programme listings can be found on the EIFF website.
Still from Mission, courtesy of EIFF
This year the Festival is again delighted to see the return of 90 Minutes or Less FilmFest Podcast (Live), at Monkey Barrel Comedy, the acclaimed podcast where host Sam Clements discusses a short, sharp film, under 90 minutes in length with special guests. The Festival also welcomes back BBC Radio 1’s Ali Plumb for Ali Plumb’s Untitled Film Quiz Project, the perfect night out for film fans.
Paul Ridd, CEO and Festival Director of EIFF said “Heading into the third edition of our revamped, reimagined and reinvigorated Edinburgh International Film Festival feels like hitting a stride we have been working towards since the start of 2024. With stellar Competitions, fantastically varied and essential new films from Scotland, from the wider UK and from the rest of the world, and more World Premieres than we have ever screened before, this year’s line-up offers a panoramic vision of cinema at its most exciting, dynamic and full of potential. Edinburgh is quite simply the only place to be in August. Bring it on.”
Isabel Davis, Executive Director at Screen Scotland said: “EIFF 2026’s programme is replete with Scottish talent, from the opening and closing titles to the 30th anniversary of Trainspotting. The Festival’s role as the home of independent cinema in the UK is coming into its own: strengthening its international premiere platform and bringing together filmmakers and the screen community for the urgent conversations affecting our industry.”
EIFF 2026 is supported by Screen Scotland and the BFI Audience Projects Fund, awarding National Lottery funding, the Industry Programme is backed by EXPO funding from the Scottish Government through Creative Scotland, and VisitScotland.