Competition Features

The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence

We are delighted to be partnering again with The Sean Connery Foundation over The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence. This ultra competitive selection of ten feature films from around the world presents a panorama of contemporary international film and exciting new filmmaking talent.

Decided by audience vote, this £50K prize aligns the most exciting new filmmakers in the world with the legacy of Scotland’s biggest global star. A proud supporter of EIFF in his lifetime, and a passionate advocate for film and Scotland’s place on the international stage, Sean’s philanthropic endeavours are carried forward by his family and the Foundation.

The prize is established and supported by The Sean Connery Foundation, an organisation which shares our respect for cinema history and excitement for its future.

18+

Blue Film

World Premiere

Blue Film

Drawn by the promise of easy money and anonymous sex, queer camboy Aaron Eagle (Moore) is shocked to discover a personal connection with the mysterious

...

World Premiere

Elliot Tuttle

2025

1hr 30 mins

15+

Best Boy

World Premiere

Best Boy

Three adult children and their mother reunite after the death of their abusive father, engaging in a strange, cruel competition that shaped their childhood. As

...

World Premiere

Jesse Noah Klein

2024

1hr 35 mins

15+

Concessions

World Premiere

Concessions

This gorgeously filmed US comedy brings an appealing vitality and soul to its story of a rundown cinema on the day of closure and the

...

World Premiere

Mas Bouzidi

2025

1hr 31 mins

15+

In Transit

World Premiere

In Transit

An enigmatic painter (Ehle) invites a young bartender to pose for her as a strange, confusing relationship develops that will change both women forever. Beautifully

...

World Premiere

Jaclyn Bethany

2025

1hr 25 mins

15+

Low Rider

World Premiere

Low Rider

A young British woman embarks on a road trip in South Africa to find her estranged father, aided by a charismatic stranger on the way.

...

World Premiere

Campbell X

2025

1hr 35 mins

15+

Mortician

World Premiere

Mortician

Director Abdolreza Kahani (A SHRINE) returns to EIFF with another entirely original and gripping character study and puzzle piece. A reclusive mortician faces an unusual

...

World Premiere

Abdolreza Kahani

2025

1hr 35min mins

15+

Novak

World Premiere

Novak

An ostracised Croatian neuroscientist is drawn out of hiding in Athens by an activist group of idealistic young scientists fascinated by his previously discredited theories

...

World Premiere

Harry Lagoussis

2025

1hr 50 mins

18+

On The Sea

World Premiere

On The Sea

The humdrum contentment and daily routine of a married mussel farmer are thrown into chaos by the arrival of a mysterious stranger in novellist and

...

World Premiere

Helen Walsh

2025

1hr 55 mins

Once You Shall Be One Of Those Who Lived Long Ago

World Premiere

Once You Shall Be One Of Those Who Lived Long Ago

An affecting, gorgeously crafted documentary about the remaining people in Malmberget in north Sweden, a small town slowly collapsing into the mines beneath it. As

...

World Premiere

Alexander Rynéus & Per Bifrost

2025

1hr 35 mins

18+

Two Neighbors

World Premiere

Two Neighbors

A wealthy socialite (Cherry) and a struggling writer (Chalotra) are thrown together at a debauched party in this remarkable satire of greed and excess with

...

World Premiere

Ondine Viñao

2025

1hr 45 mins

More events

Picked for you.

Christy

17-year-old Christy has been kicked out of his latest foster home and is stuck staying with his hotheaded half-brother Shane. Met with many estranged...

Brendan Canty

2025

1hr 35 mins

Dead Lover

In Dead Lover, Grace Glowicki crafts a macabre yet tender reimagining of Frankenstein, where a gravedigger’s grief leads to madcap resurrection experiments. Shot on...

Grace Glowicki

2025

1hr 35 mins

The Golden Spurtle

Every year contestants from around the globe travel to the scenic village in the Scottish Highlands to compete in the World Porridge Making Championship....

Constantine Costi

2025

1hr 15 mins