The EIFF25 Programme is here! 43 new feature films, 18 feature film World Premieres including 10 World Premieres competing for The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence, 6 special retrospective screenings, James Bond on the big screen and a celebration of the work of filmmaker Budd Boetticher; 6 short film programmes including The Thelma Schoonmaker Prize for Short Filmmaking Excellence competition, the presentation of new short form work by the inaugural NFTS Sean Connery Lab and the World Premiere of a new animated film by Renée Zellwegger; In Conversation events with acclaimed filmmakers Andrew & Kevin Macdonald, Andrea Arnold, Ben Wheatley & Andy Starke and Nia DaCosta and the return of a strand of thrilling Midnight Madness screenings all of which make up a seven-day celebration of world-class new cinema aiming to spark conversations and allowing audiences, press and industry to engage with the best of Edinburgh’s other cultural Festivals.
This year’s Festival programme explores the fragile ties that bind communities new and old, thrilling and revelatory journeys inward and outward and light shone in the darkest of places. It showcases new work from filmmakers from Scotland, UK, US, Ireland, Canada, Spain, Greece, Denmark, Croatia, France, Turkey, Australia, Brazil, Japan and beyond.
The EIFF25 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 for a second year to present new work.
Complementing the previously announced Opening Night film, Eva Victor’s eagerly awaited black comedy Sorry, Baby, the Festival presents a selection of compelling new and established voices in cinema including 18 World Premieres with an Out of Competition strand offering additional World and UK premieres.
The previously announced Closing Night film is the World Premiere of Paul Sng’s unmissable, kaleidoscopic Irvine Welsh documentary Reality Is Not Enough which sits within a programme strong with both Scottish and international talent.
The ultra-competitive The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence returns to present a panorama of contemporary international 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 an audience vote, the winner will be announced at the end of the Festival and the award is generously supported by The Sean Connery Foundation. The winner of last year’s award Jack King’s The Ceremony has gone on to garner further acclaim and will be released in UK cinemas this August.
In Elliot Tuttle’s unflinching and emotionally explicit Blue Film a queer camboy agrees to spend a night with a mysterious stranger; Mas Bouzidi’s witty and beautifully shot Concessions celebrates the last day of an independent cinema; Jaclyn Bethany’s quietly powerful In Transit stars Jennifer Ehle as an an enigmatic artist who invites a young bartender to pose for her; Campbell X’s smart and soulful road movie Low Rider playfully subverts Black and queer film tropes; Grown up siblings tear each other apart in Jesse Noah Klein’s bold and darkly comic Best Boy; an Iranian funeral worker befriends a reclusive pop star in Abdolreza Kahani’s unpredictable drama Mortician; An ostracised neuroscientist is drawn out of hiding in Harry Lagoussis’s haunting and mysterious Novak, Helen Walsh’s sensual exploration of masculinity On The Sea focuses on a married mussel farmer who falls in love with a handsome newcomer; the death throws of a Swedish mining town are artfully documented in Alexander Rynéus and Per Bifrost’s Once You Shall Be One Of Those Who Lived Long Ago and Ondine Viñao’s visually stunning modern day fable Two Neighbours stars Anya Chalotra and Ralph Ineson.
Gripping and thoughtful stories of iconoclastic voices and unlikely connections make up this year’s Out of Competition strand, which showcases a selection of World, International and UK Premieres.
An AI version of Werner Herzog narrates a crime mystery in Piotr Winiewicz’s About A Hero; Eddie Marsan and Sam Claflin lead a brooding, stylish thriller in Barnaby Roper’s All The Devils Are Here; Brides is a powerfully evocative portrait of friendship, girlhood and radicalisation from director and playwright Nadia Fall; Dominik Moll’s spellbinding police thriller Case 137 explores a knotty moral crisis; Brendan Canty’s Cork set Christy is a beautifully drawn and warmly funny portrait of young people; Simon Rumley’s Crushed is a thrilling, unflinching meditation on grief and vengeance; The first councilwoman in an Iranian village faces many hurdles in Sara Khaki & Mohammadreza Eyni’s subtly moving and timely documentary Cutting Through Rocks.
Eva Libertad’s Deaf is a tender and emotionally intelligent drama; Paul Andrew Williams’s tautly constructed thriller of suburban discontent and brooding violence Dragonfly stars Andrea Riseborough and Brenda Blethyn; A unique blend of theatre and cinema Fires Of The Moon is an adaptation of a Welsh language opera with music by renowned composer Gareth Glyn and from filmmaker Christopher Forster; John McPhail’s heartwarming star-studded Scottish fantasy Grow features Nick Frost, Jane Horrocks and Sanjeev Koli; Bálint Dániel Sós’s striking, tightly wound black and white debut Growing Down is an expertly constructed moral thriller; Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay’s Hysteria is a taut and intelligent film; Jan-Ole Gerster’s Islands is a mysterious and Highsmith-esque existential thriller; Urška Djukic’s striking coming-of-age film Little Trouble Girls is a beautifully observed debut.
A fading seaside hotel becomes the backdrop for creeping dread in Harry Sherriff’s Misper; Sepideh Farsi’s wrenching and timely documentary Put Your Soul On Your Hand And Walk chronicles disarmingly frank and intimate video calls with young Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona; Gar O’Rourke’s Sanatorium is a thoughtful, humane documentary offering a unique perspective on the current situation in Ukraine; A Yugoslav refugee rebuilds a life in Bristol in Thea Gajić’s profoundly moving Surviving Earth; Constantine Costi’s wholesome Scottish Highland competitive porridge-making documentary The Golden Spurtle is a crowd pleasing delight.
Andrew Kötting’s The Memory Blocks reflects on the changeable and complex nature of memory through the lens of neurodivergence; Heidi Levitt’s Walk With Me is a beautiful and intimate documentary about Alzheimers; Belgian auteurs Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne return with another riveting and moving study of human nature and social constraints in Young Mothers; Charlie Shackleton’s meta documentary Zodiac Killer Project explores the tropes, moral loopholes and shock tactics of the true crime genre and there’s new short films Bumblebee from Fon Cortizo, Terence from Edem Kelman and Truckload from Aella Jordan-Edge.
This year’s Lynda Myles Celebrates film is Lucio Castro’s After This Death, a captivating erotic thriller that explores grief, obsession and the haunting power of fleeting, intense connections with a cast including Mia Maestro, Lee Pace and Rupert Friend. The screening is introduced by producer, screenwriter and former EIFF Director Lynda Myles.
Long championed by Martin Scorsese, Budd Boetticher: The Ranown Cycle presents five thrilling, compact and beautiful films directed by Budd Boetticher which represent the apotheosis of the Western genre and feature classic Hollywood movie star Randolph Scott. These 4K restorations are presented in collaboration with Edinburgh Film Guild, one of the world’s oldest continuously running films. The films are The Tall T, Buchanan Rides Alone, Comanche Station, Decision At Sundown and Ride Lonesome.
Catch James Bond on the big screen with a special strand of the six original Bond films starring Sean Connery. Sacred Bonds includes 4K restorations of Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever and Goldfinger all introduced by a series of soon to be announced special guests.
EIFF’s In Conversation strand features range of major filmmaking talent who will discuss their creative careers to date including director Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland, Touching the Void, One to One: John & Yoko) speaking with his brother, producer Andrew Macdonald (Trainspotting, Civil War, 28 Years Later), in a wide ranging conversation about filmmaking and their respective careers. Trailblazing filmmaker Nia Da Costa will discuss her acclaimed work which spans independent film, horror sequels and major studio comic book adaptations including The Marvels, Candyman and upcoming film 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. From breakout horror thriller Kill List to EIFF Midnight Madness Opening Film Bulk, via hilarious black comedy Sightseers and many more, Filmmaker Ben Wheatley and long time producing partner Andy Starke will discuss their collaborations and their working dynamic. Award-winning writer and director Andrea Arnold is one of the UK’s most outstanding filmmakers. She will discuss her searing debut feature Red Road, also screening at EIFF this year, which won the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut in 2006, along with her critically acclaimed work such as Fish Tank, American Honey, Cow and, most recently, Bird.
This EIFF25 programme plays host to 6 Special Retrospective Screenings which are Mikhail Kalatozov’s hugely influential Palme D’Or winner The Cranes Are Flying (1957) introduced by Festival guest Kevin Macdonald; Doug Liman’s kinetic black comedy Go (1999) introduced by Festival guest Nia Da Costa; Alexander Mackendrick’s classic Ealing comedy The Man In The White Suit (1951); a 40th anniversary screening of Michael Hoffman’s much loved Restless Natives, presented in collaboration with Local Cinema Network; Festival guest Andrea Arnold introduces her tense, Glasgow set Red Road (2006); honouring the life and legacy of producer Paddy Higson, who passed away earlier this year, the Festival hosts a 35th anniversary screening of David Hayman’s searing underground Scottish classic Silent Scream, the film which won the inaugural Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature at the 1990 Edinburgh International Film Festival.
Bookending EIFF’s lovingly embraced Midnight Madness strand and unleashing the best in genre cinema from around the world is the World Premiere of Ben Wheatley’s visionary new film Bulk and the long awaited remake of The Toxic Avenger by filmmaker Macon Blair and starring Peter Dinklage and Elijah Wood.
Other ferocious new midnight movies include Grace Glowicki’s lo-fi, punk riff on Frankenstein Dead Lover; Julie Pacino’s darkly humorous psychological horror debut about female pain and identity I Live Here Now; Gerard Johnson’s tightly wound and darkly hilarious new thriller Odyssey and Matthew & Kevin McManus’s grittily inventive and unpredictable spin on revenge thrillers and the time travel genre Redux Redux.
These titles will be complemented by short and savage films screenings ahead of the main features including James Ley’s Sleazy Tiger, Alex Thompson’s Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting, Christopher Greenslate’s Drainomania, Willy Fair’s Death’s Peak and Elly Howard’s TOE.
The Thelma Schoonmaker Prize for Short Filmmaking Excellence Competition presents the World Premieres of new exciting work from Scotland, the UK and International filmmakers all competing for a £15,000 cash prize in honour of legendary film editor Thelma Schoonmaker. Jodie faces a moral dilemma as she contends with the harmful male influences in her life in Seb Tabe’s Jodie; Two former lovers are acutely aware of the passing of time in returning EIFF Festival filmmaker Axel Cheb Terrab’s Your Body In My Room; Left homeless, a woman searches for love in the margins of society in Hardey Speight’s Love Me, Hold Me, Always; A young girl seeks shelter from a hostile world in Scottish performer Morven Christie’s film Stray starring Frankie Corio (Aftersun); Jack Salvadori’s Blondi asks the question can a dog still be man’s best friend if that man is the Führer; Two childhood friends search for the fabled golden Squacco Heron in Edward Smyth’s The Golden Squacco Heron; Recently widowed Janet hand-rears a goose for Christmas with unsettling consequences in Joanna Vymeris’s Mother Goose starring Ralph Ineson and Sophie Thompson; A mother’s quest for a Thanksgiving turkey spirals into chaos in Anabelle LeMieux’s Fowl Play; A young swimmer finds freedom by reclaiming the water for herself in Asya Günen’s Backstroke; A persuasive teenage girl orchestrates a sleepover that tests her best friend’s sexual boundaries in Madeline Clayton’s She Said So.
This year the Festival will present the World Premiere of six short films created through the inaugural NFTS Sean Connery Talent Lab. These short films on the EIFF25 programme are Gowk (dir. Ryan Pollock), Nora Can’t Score (dir. Josefa Celestin), Lady Maclean (dir. Catriona Macleod), Twenty Twenty (dir. Alex Salam), Static (dir. Miranda Stern) and Checkout (dir. Mairead Hamilton).
Out of Competition Shorts offers a powerhouse programme showcasing some of the most extraordinary storytelling from across the globe, from Scotland and America to Sweden and Brazil. Reckonings with the past connect this year’s selection of astonishing short films, including meditative documentaries and heartbreaking queer stories. The EIFF25 programme brings these remarkable films to the UK for the first time
Joining the EIFF25 programme, Animation Shorts explore the infinite possibilities of animation with a stunning programme of inventive, expressive and entirely unique tales from around the world including the world premiere of THEY, a new short from director Renée Zellweger.
From the microscopic to the planetary, the Festival’s Experimental Shorts programme traces the invisible threads between nature, identity and power. These films explore bodies, systems and imagined futures, blending poetic vision with political urgency.
EIFF is also pleased to partner with Scottish Documentary Institute to present the short documentary films created through the Bridging the Gap training programme. Inner forces and outside influences shape this collection of short films which offer surprising, intimate and poetic insights of contemporary Scotland.
This year the Festival is delighted to present 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.
This year’s industry programme now runs across the whole of the Festival with industry delegates experiencing the wealth of the film programme and access to all that is on show in the wider festivals month via new collaborations with a range of partners that focus on creating conversations and in-roads for creatives across different art forms. More details on the industry leg of the EIFF25 programme will follow in the next few weeks.
This year’s 78th edition of the Festival continues in the revitalised Festival mission to showcase the very best talent in filmmaking in a format rooted in a local Scottish context whilst embracing the international diversity of creative expression. EIFF encourages audiences, film fans and industry professionals back to Edinburgh this Summer to continue the journey of discovery.
EIFF 2025 is supported by Screen Scotland.
