Edinburgh International Film Festival (Thursday 15–Wednesday 21 August) has unveiled its full programme for 2024, with feature films, shorts, animations and experimental pieces screening in cinemas and pop-ups across the city. 

Unveiled at The Cameo Cinema, the already announced opening and closing films (The Outrun and Since Yesterday: The Untold Story Of Scotland’s Girl Bands, respectively) will be joined by a number of out of competition features including Alice Lowe’s dark comedy Timestalker; hotly anticipated Matt Haig adaptation The Radleys; pastoral documentary Bogancloch from Ben Rivers; and Mark Cousins’ examination of Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, A Sudden Glimpse To Deeper Things, amongst many others. 

Midnight Madness is a new strand for EIFF, showcasing genre films at the witching hour. The selection includes a UK premiere of Alien: Romulus and the subversive The Substance, alongside further UK premieres of Oddity, Sunray, Birdeater and the future cult classic King Baby. 

Retrospectives throughout the festival include Suspiria presented by Gaspar Noé, Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables, and the Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger classic I Know Where I’m Going! (which will welcome master editor and Powell's wife, Thelma Schoonmaker, to the screening). Noé will also participate in an in-conversation event on Saturday 17 August to discuss his controversial works like Irreversible, Climax and Enter The Void. 

These films will run alongside freshly commissioned documentaries in the Bridging The Gap Documentary Short Films programme. The Experimental Shorts strand will present UK premieres of new shorts from around the world and a new Animation Shorts programme will be screened alongside a programme of Out Of Competition Shorts In Association with Screen Academy Scotland. Also on show will be screenings for The Thelma Schoonmaker Prize For Short Filmmaking Excellence Competition; feature-lengths competing for The Sean Connery Prize For Feature Filmmaking Excellence; and Lynda Myles Celebrates, a new special screening showcase for a visionary new work of cinema in the pioneering spirit of the writer, academic and former EIFF director. 

After a financial collapse two years ago and a truncated programme in 2023, new EIFF director Paul Ridd described this year’s edition as ‘a 77-year-old start-up’ with a focus on ‘renewal’ and ‘breaking down barriers’ for the average cinemagoer. ‘Since day one, the audience has always been front and centre in our thinking,’ said Ridd. ‘And I cannot wait to see these formally exciting, thematically rich and unforgettable films find their audience.’

Visit the EIFF site for full details of this year’s programme and to buy tickets. 

Edinburgh International Film Festival, various venues, Thursday 15–Wednesday 21 August.