Edinburgh International Film Festival has announced that The Incomer, the debut feature from Edinburgh-born filmmaker Louis Paxton, will open its 79th edition this August.
The Focus Features and Universal Pictures International film stars Domhnall Gleeson, Gayle Rankin and Grant O’Rourke, with Michelle Gomez, John Hannah and Emun Elliott also among the ensemble cast. Written and directed by Paxton, the film had its world premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the NEXT Innovator Award, and will now have its international premiere in Edinburgh on 13 August.
Set on a remote Scottish island, the film follows siblings Isla and Sandy (Rankin and O’Rourke) who have lived a totally normal life for decades, hunting seabirds, chatting to mythic creatures and defending their isle from dreaded Incomers. Their world is upended with the arrival of Daniel (Gleeson), an awkward council worker, come to uproot them to the mainland.
The film was shot in the Scottish Highlands over summer 2025, with locations including Wick, Thurso, Helmsdale, Lybster, Melvich and Strathy. It also received £848,000 through Screen Scotland’s Film Development and Production Fund, alongside support from the Screen Commission Recce Fund.
For CultureCues, this is a brilliant opening choice for EIFF: a Scottish debut, an Edinburgh-born filmmaker, a Far North setting and a homecoming premiere after Sundance success. There is something especially fitting about Paxton bringing the film back to the festival where he once worked as a teenage usher.
EIFF CEO and Festival Director Paul Ridd praised the film’s “wit, grace and intelligence”, calling it a Scottish debut that “dazzled, moved and amused” the festival team. Paxton said opening the festival with his debut feature was “a dream come true”, adding that screening the film in his hometown, at the festival where he once worked as a teenage usher, and sharing the story with a Scottish audience was “nothing short of mind-blowing”. He added: “I couldn’t ask for a more meaningful premiere.”
The Incomer will be released by Universal Pictures International in the UK and Ireland later this year. Edinburgh International Film Festival runs from 13 to 19 August 2026.
Nikki Murray is a UK-based writer, screenwriter and founder & editor of CultureCues, covering film, television, music and pop culture. Her work focuses on storytelling and the moments shaping modern entertainment.