The Edinburgh International Film Festival has unveiled its full 2026 programme, with 21 world premieres set to screen across the city this August. The 79th edition of the festival will run from 13 to 19 August under CEO and Festival Director Paul Ridd and Festival Producer Emma Boa. This year’s programme includes 38 new feature films alongside shorts, special retrospective screenings, industry events and conversations with major figures from across film.
Scottish comedy The Incomer, directed by Louis Paxton and starring Domhnall Gleeson and Gayle Rankin, will open the festival. Louise Lockwood’s documentary Bel will bring the week to a close, with both films receiving their world premieres in Edinburgh.
The programme brings together new work from filmmakers across Scotland, Ireland, the wider UK and around the world, with screenings taking place at Filmhouse, Cameo Cinema, Cineworld Fountainbridge, Monkey Barrel Comedy and Leith Theatre. Central Hall will also return as the festival hub, hosting industry events, networking sessions and the festival’s major In Conversation programme.
21 World Premieres Lead the 2026 Programme
Ten world premieres will compete for the Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence, with the winner receiving £50,000 to support their future work.
The competition includes Simon Ryninks’ UFO conspiracy comedy Out There, starring Michael Sheen, Lindsay Ryan’s houseboat comedy Capsized, featuring Rhys Ifans, and Paul Wright’s Mission, starring George MacKay and Rosy McEwen.
Also competing are First Zone, Pretty Babies, Sacred Creatures, Skintown, Snapshot, The State of Us and documentary The Mad World of Harvey Kurtzman. The winning film will be chosen by an audience vote and announced at the end of the festival.
The Out of Competition programme includes the world premieres of Carlos Conceição’s body horror noir Bodyhackers, Marc Turtletaub’s Borges and Me and Abdolreza Kahani’s Iranian thriller Empty Heaven.
The strand will also bring several titles to UK audiences following appearances at international festivals, including Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Sheep in the Box, Nicolas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell, Gregg Araki’s I Want Your Sex Nicolas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell, Gregg and Molly Manners’ Extra Geography.
Scottish talent runs throughout the programme, with Screen Scotland-supported films Mission, Douglas Gordon by Douglas Gordon, Extra Geography and The Mad World of Harvey Kurtzman all set to screen.
Trainspotting Returns to Edinburgh for Its 30th Anniversary
One of the festival’s biggest events will be a 30th anniversary celebration of Trainspotting at Leith Theatre on Friday 14 August. The screening will feature live commentary from members of the film’s cast and crew before continuing with a club night led by DJs Irvine Welsh and Darren Emerson of Underworld, paying tribute to the film and its instantly recognisable soundtrack. The event is part of seven Special Retrospective Screenings planned for the festival. Other returning titles include Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet, Little Miss Sunshine, Jonathan Glazer’s Sexy Beast and Hal Ashby’s Coming Home.
Kenneth Branagh and Ewan McGregor Join the Festival
Kenneth Branagh will receive the festival’s inaugural Outstanding Contribution to Cinema Award and take part in a wide-ranging discussion about his career as an actor and director. The In Conversation programme will also welcome Ewan McGregor, producer Christine Vachon, documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and actor Bruce Dern. Burns will additionally present a special screening of the second episode of his new documentary project The American Revolution.
Midnight Screenings, Shorts and New Scottish Talent
The Midnight Madness strand will open with the world premiere of Chee Keong Cheung’s POV thriller Bad Day at the Office and close with Daniel Goldhaber’s new take on Faces of Death.
The programme also includes Rise of the Footsoldier: Retribution, Imposters, Hungry and Abandoned.
Short filmmaking will remain a major part of the festival, with the Thelma Schoonmaker Prize for Short Filmmaking Excellence offering a £15,000 award. The festival will also premiere six films created through the second NFTS Sean Connery Talent Lab, alongside animation, experimental and documentary shorts.
EIFF will continue its partnership with the Scottish Documentary Institute through its Bridging the Gap programme and celebrate 20 years of Screen Academy Scotland with a selection of new short films.
Speaking about the programme, Festival Director Paul Ridd said: “With stellar competitions, fantastically varied and essential new films from Scotland, the wider UK and 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.”
For CultureCues, this is a genuinely exciting line-up that brings together major international films while keeping Scottish talent and Edinburgh itself at the heart of the festival. The Trainspotting anniversary celebration at Leith Theatre is an obvious highlight, but the strength of the programme goes far beyond one event. With so many new films, emerging voices and major guests heading to the city, EIFF 2026 looks set to be one of the standout weeks in Scotland’s film calendar.
The Edinburgh International Film Festival runs from 13 to 19 August 2026. Full programme listings and ticket information are available through the festival’s official website and the EdFringe app.
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.