The Road To Edinburgh Festival 2026: A film festival special
The Edinburgh International Film Festival has launched its latest programme, so let’s dive into its cinematic nooks and celluloid crannies. In this edition of Road, we’re chatting Trainspotting, Kenneth Branagh, Beldina Odenyo and much more
With Edinburgh Festival season only one month away, the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has become the final big festival to set out its wares, and it’s not holding back this year. Both Paul Ridd and Emma Boa, who co-run EIFF, made spirited speeches at a press conference unveiling the programme, championing indie cinema and the communal film-going experience. With an increased focus on UK productions and a raft of international stars, this programme more than lives up to that sales pitch.
We’ve chatted about the programme already, but here we’ll be doing a bit of a deeper dive, highlighting the big hitters and finding a few curios to get excited about.
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Domnhall Gleeson to star in opening film The Incomer…
… a dark comedy from Edinburgh-born filmmaker Louis Paxton. It stars Gayle Rankin (House Of The Dragon, Glow) and Grant O’Rourke (Outlander) as islanders who live a fantastical island life which they fiercely protect from the outside world. Domhnall Gleeson stars as a hapless council worker tasked with upending their lives and transporting them to the mainland. The film has been a hit at other festivals internationally, picking up a NEXT Innovator Award at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
Director Louis Paxton said: ‘Opening the Edinburgh International Film Festival with my debut feature is a dream come true. Screening in my beloved hometown, and the festival where I started as a teenage usher, sharing this story with a Scottish audience, is nothing short of mind-blowing. I couldn’t ask for a more meaningful premiere.’
EIFF has form for opening its festival with ambiguous interpretations of island life: it led with Saoirse Ronan’s visceral The Outrun in 2024, and oddball comedy Silent Roar in 2023.
Beldina Odenyo to be celebrated in closing film Bel…
… a portrait of the singer-songwriter before she took her life in 2021. Well on her way to cementing her place in Scotland’s artistic scene under the moniker Heir Of The Cursed, Odenyo’s passing was a shock for many. The film follows her friends as they release her work posthumously, and it features archival footage and video diaries from Odenyo herself.
Louise Lockwood, the film’s director, said: ‘I never knew Bel but her sister, Leah, is my friend. We live in the same village outside Glasgow, our children go to school together and I witnessed the impact Bel’s death had on her family and friends. When she died Bel was still relatively unknown, I want to help Leah change that. The talent was and still is there; hopefully this film will help give Bel a platform to share it from.’
The film continues EIFF’s recent history championing the many talented women in Scottish music: in 2024, its closer was Since Yesterday: The Untold Story Of Scottish Girl Bands, a vital piece of work from Blair Young and singer-songwriter Carla J Easton.
Major directors with screenings include Gregg Araki, Nicolas Winding Refn and Lance Hammer…
…. Alongside a host of works that are competing for The Sean Connery Prize For Feature Filmmaking Excellence, or screening out of competition. We highlighted many of these in a previous news piece, but here are a few more that have piqued our interest.
The Mad World Of Harvey Kurtzman looks to be a celebration of countercultural humour, documenting the life and times of a key contributor to Mad magazine, with talking heads from Terry Gilliam, Stan Lee and Robert Crumb.
Snapshot could prove to be a novel thriller, taking found footage to a strange and very Guy Maddin-adjacent place. Directed by Joseph Archer, it revolves on the premise that a cache of pinhole camera footage has been unearthed which reveals the fate of an all-ladies ghost-hunting society in late 19th century London.
Meanwhile, indie darling George MacKay is teaming up with Paul Wright in Mission, as a man embarking on a ‘week of carnage’. MacKay has been on a winning streak recently, particularly his star turn in Mark Jenkins’ Rose Of Nevada, so let’s hope this social realist drama continues that trend.
Kenneth Branagh to be honoured with new award…
… with the inaugural EIFF Outstanding Contribution To Cinema Award, which will champion Branagh’s varied work both behind and in front of the camera. A stalwart of stage and screen, he’s appeared in and directed countless films, including Belfast, Oppenheimer, Murder On The Orient Express, Cinderella, Thor, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Sleuth. But his most distinctive venture has been in Shakespeare adaptations, which EIFF will recognise with a retrospective screening of Hamlet. Branagh will appear at a special in conversation event to mark the award.
Other in conversation events feature similarly venerable acting and filmmaking talent. Bruce Dern will discuss his generation-spanning filmography and introduce a retrospective screening of Coming Home, Hal Ashby’s startling portrait of war trauma (for our money, a film that’s more insightful than its better-remembered contemporary The Deer Hunter). He’ll also star in new road trip drama Northbound.
The producer Christine Vachon will make an appearance to discuss her contribution in bringing films such as Carol and Past Lives to screen. And the esteemed documentarian Ken Burns will discuss his new show American Revolution. Don’t be surprised if he has a few choice words about contemporary politics, too.
Midnight Madness strand to feature John Hannah at his schlockiest…
… in Chee Keong Cheung’s Bad Day At The Office, an action thriller which is shot from a first-person perspective. Filmed using GoPros, Hannah plays a man who wakes up in a hotel room with no memory of how he got there and a dead body in the bathtub (we’ve all been there). He’s then led into a slew of twists and turns along with hotel maid Radha Mitchell.
Chee Keong Cheung said: ‘It's an incredible honour and privilege to be selected to screen as the opening film of the Midnight Madness strand and have our World Premiere at EIFF 2026. Bad Day At The Office was an intense, very physical, technically complex and thrilling creative journey. I was fortunate to have a truly amazing cast and crew who helped me realise this crazy epic vision. I'm excited to be able to share this film with audiences and hope they will have as much fun immersing themselves and going along the ride as we all had making it. I'm grateful to Paul, Emma and the entire EIFF team for their belief, support, enthusiasm and giving us this special and prestigious launch pad to introduce Bad Day At The Office into the world and their tireless efforts in championing independent filmmaking voices.’
There are plenty of other notable Midnight Madness films with novel conceits: Abandoned follows two urban explorers who are trapped in an abandoned facility; Hungry, in which a very hungry hungry hippo goes on a murderous rampage; and the multiverse thriller Imposters, which blends genre twists with the travails of a struggling marriage. Somewhat bafflingly, Rise Of The Footsoldier: Retribution, the seventh instalment in the low-budget revenge thriller series, will also screen. Say what you like about it, Pat Tate and his never-ending murderous crusade has its fans.
EIFF to feature more UK films than ever before…
… including a few which celebrate local Scottish culture. The Weavers is a ten-minute short honouring the textile industry’s history in shaping our relationship with tartan; These Violent Delights is an adaptation of Scottish Ballet’s retelling of Romeo & Juliet; The Education Of Jane Gordon follows the lives of two boarding school teachers in 1800s Edinburgh; and Douglas Gordon By Douglas Gordon is a documentary about the celebrated Scottish visual artist.
Going even more local is the NFTS Sean Connery Talent Lab, a showcase for emerging filmmakers in Scotland. Based in Edinburgh, the initiative spends a year guiding filmmakers through the process of directing a short, and gives them resources to develop their skills. All six short films are worth looking into if you’re interested in catching the Scottish talent of the future.
Trainspotting reunion to mark 30 years since the film’s release…
… as part of a very special anniversary screening at Leith Theatre. The evening will feature a cast and crew commentary while the film plays, and DJ sets from Trainspotting writer Irvine Welsh and Underworld’s Darren Emerson.
Andrew Macdonald, producer of Trainspotting, said: ‘Hard to believe it, but it has indeed been thirty years since we made Trainspotting, and I am delighted that it is heading back to Leith where the whole story began, to celebrate this big anniversary. Big thanks to the teams at Assembly Festival, Leith Theatre and of course Edinburgh International Film Festival for making this all happen. It is going to be a very special night.”
Although which members of the cast and crew will appear is yet to be confirmed, Ewan McGregor will be around during EIFF for a separate in-conversation event about his career. Let’s hope he’s got enough juice in him for a few swallaes with Irvine.
A few other retrospective screenings to get excited about are Little Miss Sunshine, Sexy Beast, A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies, Visitor Q and Michael Bay’s incredibly loud action thriller The Rock.
Edinburgh International Film Festival, various venues, Edinburgh, Thursday 13–Wednesday 19 August; Main picture: Kat Gollock.