Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has revealed its full programme for 2023, featuring 24 feature films, five retrospective features, five short film programmes, and an outdoor screening weekend. Taking place from Friday 18–Wednesday 23 August, the newly streamlined festival will be the first under the guardianship of Programme Director Kate Taylor. 

Beyond previously announced opening night film Silent Roar and closing night film Fremont, the festival will focus on a handful of contemporary themes, beginning with Scottish stories including Kill, the tale of a hunting trip turned deadly; The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde, Hope Dickson Leach’s adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic, which transplants the London-set tale to the claustrophobic alleyways of Edinburgh; Choose Irvine Welsh, a tribute to everyone’s favourite Scottish iconoclastic writer; and a series of Scottish short films from emerging and established directors born or based in the country. Complementing the Scottish line-up is The Lynda Myles Project, a celebration of ‘cinephile activist’ Myles, who previously acted as the Festival Director of EIFF from 1973–1980. 

Cinema activism runs through the festival in the form of Orlando, My Political Biography, described as a ‘polyphonic retelling’ of Virginia Woolf’s gender-fluid literary classic; Is There Anybody Out There?, profiling filmmaker Ella Glendining’s quest to find someone with the same rare disability as her; and Your Fat Friend, a portrait of author, activist and podcaster Aubrey Gordon and the anti-fat bias she faces. 

Subverting traditional genre films at the festival is Joram, a revenge story from India which addresses difficult questions of land development and indigenous rights; Property, a hyper-violent home-invasion horror in which exploited workers on a country estate decide to take matters into their own hands; Superposition, a chiller in which a bourgeois couple meet identical versions of themselves at their cabin in the woods; and Femme, a queering of the crime thriller genre following the aftermath of a homophobic attack. 

Grappling with immigration and the diasporic experience is Raging Grace, mixing the unlikely bedfellows of social realism and gothic horror with the story of an undocumented Filipina cleaner who takes on a job at a sinister mansion; and Past Lives, a film of the year contender from first time director Celine Song which follows two South Koreans, one a Canadian émigré, as they attempt to rekindle their long-dormant relationship. 

Big names from the art house featuring in the programme include Kelly Reichardt, who’ll bring her intimate drama Showing Up to the festival, which finds sculptor Lizzy (Michelle Williams) balancing her family and professional life with her artistic practice; Afire, Christian Petzold’s humour-filled third outing which centres on a pretentious young writer on his visit to a writing retreat; and Passages, Ira Sach’s erotic love story starring Ben Wishaw, Franz Rogowski and Adèle Exarchopoulos.

Continuing EIFF’s history of screening top tier animation is Art College 1994, a Chinese punk comedy about two art school slackers drifting through life; The First Slam Dunk, an excitable anime adaptation of the popular manga series which follows a young man dreaming of greatness in the world of basketball; and an animated short film season featuring talent from across the UK. 

The New Classics strand will feature four restorations from ‘rebellious voices in American cinema’, including Drylongso, Cauleen Smith’s exploration of racial politics, community and the art world as seen through the eyes of a young art student; Life Is Cheap… But Toilet Paper Is Expensive, Wayne Wang’s depiction of pre-handover Hong Kong; Tokyo Pop, Fran Rubel Kuzui’s punk love story; and Variety, Bette Gordon’s feminist neo-noir about a woman who takes on a job as a ticket seller in a porno theatre. Wrapping up the retrospectives in the programme is a screening of Shane Meadow’s classic northern horror Dead Man’s Shoes, the Paddy Considine-led revenge story set in an unnamed Derbyshire town. 

Topping off the programme is the Cinema Under The Stars strand, a series of pay what you can outdoor screenings at the Old College Quad, featuring The Lego Movie, Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain and Parasite, alongside a host of other new and classic films. For those interested in conversations surrounding the film industry and the creative practice of filmmaking, EIFF Encounters and Sunday Salons will feature a series of creative conversations between filmmakers, critics and other industry figures. 

Kate Taylor, Programme Director of Edinburgh International Film Festival, said of the launch, ‘With this year’s vivid film selection the EIFF programme team has favoured the bold, drawn to filmmakers with searching perspectives and style to burn.

‘Designed for an eclectic spectrum of film fans, and defined by a love of independent cinema, this compact programme shines a light on new talent, and offers a smashing six-day journey for the EIFF’s passionate audiences.’

The Edinburgh International Film Festival will take place from Friday 18 – Wednesday 23 August. Find the full programme here.