Emma Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has announced today that its 79th edition dates
The revitalised Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has announced today that its 79th edition will run from 13 – 19 August 2026.
Submissions will open in January 2026 for the 2026 edition of the Festival via the Festival website.
EIFF’s invigorated vision under leadership from CEO and Festival Director Paul Ridd and Festival Producer Emma Boa continues to accelerate the discovery of new film talent and engage with audiences, industry members and local, national and international media.
This year’s Festival saw 194 screenings and 34 Industry and panel events take place, welcoming over 300 filmmakers, producers and distributors to present their films with over 250 industry delegates and over 170 press delegates taking part in the Festival.
The Festival presented the World Premieres of new shortform work from the inaugural NFTS Sean Connery Talent Lab and celebrated the World Premiere of Abdolreza Kahani’s Mortician winning The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence and Joanna Vymeris’s Mother Goose picking up The Thelma Schoonmaker Prize for Short Filmmaking Excellence. Across feature and short film screenings, the Festival screened 39 World Premieres and 48 UK Premieres.
More information will be released on the shape of the 2026 Festival, venues and key strategic partners in the coming months.
The EIFF team continues to create a world-class showcase for independent film and filmmaking talent. The Festival is supported by a Board chaired by Andrew Macdonald of DNA Films, producer of the iconic Edinburgh-based film Trainspotting, including Vice Chair Amy Jackson, producer of BAFTA award-winning indie, Aftersun; Peter Rice, former Chairman of General Entertainment at Disney and President of 21st Century Fox; Teresa Moneo, producer and former Director of UK Film, Netflix; Isla Macgillivray, Partner at Saffrey; and Romana Ramzan, Producer at Screen Burn Interactive.
EIFF CEO and Festival Director, Paul Ridd has said: “As we head into our third year and our third edition, we are thrilled to once again position our Festival at the very heart of festivals season in Edinburgh in August and alongside the Fringe. I am immensely proud of all the work we have done so far as a team to honour decades of Festival history and bring EIFF into a new era, and I cannot wait to get started on putting together another terrific edition for August 2026.”
EIFF 2026 is supported by Screen Scotland
