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A fixture in the UK’s cultural calendar since 1947, Edinburgh International Film Festival takes its place alongside the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this month. 2026’s iteration brings more exciting new independent films, big names (Bruce Dern, Kenneth Branagh, Ewan McGregor, indie super-producer Christine Vachon), and classic retrospectives. You’d have to travel many miles to find a cooler shindig than EIFF’s Trainspotting reunion on August 14, or better value for money than the fest’s 10-films-for-80-quid Choose Cinema pass. But with 38 films on the line-up, what to see? We asked festival director Paul Ridd for an inside track.
When is this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival?
The fest opens with Domhnall Gleeson-starring comedy The Incomer on August 13 and closes on the 19th with Louise Lockwood’s Bel, a documentary about Kenyan-Scottish musician Beldina Odenyo. In total, this year’s EIFF packs in 38 new films, including 10 films in competition for the Sean Connery Prize. Look out, too, for retrospectives, gatherings, events and parties. ‘Our intention has always been to be a home for independent cinema in the UK,’ says Ridd. ‘We’re building a broad range of films, events, retro screenings and special strands like our Midnight Madness strand, so there's lots on offer for audiences.’
What are the best films to see at EIFF?
Borges and Me
‘This wonderful film is about Jean Luis Borges and his journey across Scotland in the 1970s. It’s a really fun, accessible and moving adaptation of American writer Jay Parini’s memoir of his time with the Argentine poet. It’s about the relationship between a writer, a creator, the environments that they're in and the special lens through which they see that world. Scotland has never looked more beautiful on the big screen.’
The Best Summer
‘This documentary is about Australia’s Summersault Festival in 1995/6, which involved very famous bands like Beastie Boys and Pavement as they were coming up. It has loads of great archive footage of live performances and it takes you behind the scenes with Kim Deal and all these musicians. If you’re into music, this film brings the spirit of a music festival to the big screen. It has a special place in my heart!’
Goodbye Cruel World
‘This is a beautiful coming-of-age story from France about a doomy young boy who plans to end his life. Those plans don't work but everyone in his town believes that he has either disappeared or taken his own life. He goes into hiding and forms a relationship with a young woman who's the only person who knows that he still exists. It's Eden actor Félix de Givry's debut film and it's got a nouvelle vague feel to it – it's very playful, very moving and beautifully shot on film.’
Faces of Death
‘I’m a big genre head, so I have to tip the closing film of our Midnight Madness strand. It’s a reimagining of the iconic video nasty franchise from the ’70s and ’80s that gives it a unique spin. The set-up has a content moderator for a social media platform who stumbles on a cache of snuff videos that recreate scenes from the original Faces of Death series. It's a cat-and-mouse game between the person who's been making these videos and this moderator. It's gorgeously shot with a kind of giallo flavour. It's a really fun film.’
Northbound
‘We’re welcoming two-time Oscar nominee Bruce Dern for an in-conversation event, and we'll be showing his film Coming Home. But we also have the world premiere of his new feature film, Northbound, which is a really lovely road movie. We've got a few road movies at the festival, but this one is very different because it's about an octogenarian who breaks out of his old people’s home to journey back to his original home. It's really funny, it's really dry and it has the feel of Nebraska, but it’s set in its own world.’
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