7 highlights at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2026
This year’s standout screenings include a 30th anniversary tribute, a hippo-fighting horror and a star-studded sex comedy
Trainspotting
No surprise that Danny Boyle’s landmark movie based on Irvine Welsh’s equally epoch-changing novel should be honoured this year for its 30th anniversary. This screening is also accompanied by a club night and an in-conversation event
Cineworld, 15 August, 3pm.
Skintown
Set in mid-90s Northern Ireland with an IRA ceasefire in place, Kieron J Walsh’s film tracks a bunch of young pals planning to free themselves from smalltown life. A banging era-appropriate soundtrack features Prodigy, Elastica, Happy Mondays and Carl Cox.
Filmhouse, 16 August, 10.20pm; Cineworld, 17 August, 5.30pm; 18 August, 11am; Cameo, 18 August, 10pm.
Hungry
As part of the Midnight Madness horror strand, a raging and famished hippo is on the loose in the Louisiana Bayou and properly terrorises a group of tourists. This survival thriller should have you curled up in your seat and clutching anything and anyone (of your acquaintance) close to hand for comfort.
Cameo, 16 August, 11.55pm; 19 August, noon; Cineworld, 17 August, 7.30pm; Filmhouse, 18 August, 9pm.
Education of Jane Cumming
This period drama directed by Sophie Heldman is based on the true story of pioneering 19th century Edinburgh teachers Marianne Woods and Jane Pirie who were the victims of a homophobic campaign undertaken by the Scottish establishment.
Cineworld, 17 & 18 August, 6pm; Filmhouse, 18 August, 9.30pm; 19 August, 11.30am.
Douglas Gordon by Douglas Gordon
Normally fully in charge of the camera’s gaze, the Glasgow-born Turner Prize-winning visual artist puts himself in the glare for Finlay Pretsell’s film in which his creativity, humanity and persona all brush up against each other.
Filmhouse, 17 August, 8.30pm; 18 August, noon; 19 August, 2.30pm, 3pm.
I Want Your Sex
Just prior to its national cinema release, EIFF gets its mitts on Gregg Araki’s tale of a sexually timid twentysomething (Cooper Hoffman) and his S&M loving art gallery boss (Olivia Wilde). Daveed Diggs and Charli XCX also find their way in here.
Cameo, 17 August, 9pm; Filmhouse, 18 August, 3.30pm; Cineworld, 18 August, 8.30pm; 19 August, 6.30pm.
Bel
The festival’s closing night film is Louise Lockwood’s tender documentary about the late Beldina Odenyo, the Kenyan-Scottish musical artist whose 2021 death resulted in a vast outpouring of love and grief from within the Scottish arts community.
Cameo, 19 August, 9pm; Filmhouse, 19 August, 9.30pm; Cineworld, 19 August. 10pm
Edinburgh International Film Festival, various venues, Thursday 13–Wednesday 19 August.