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Festival coverage

Edinburgh International Film Festival

13 August – 19 August 2026

The 79th edition of Edinburgh International Film Festival ran from August 13 to 19. The guests included Kenneth Branagh and Ewan McGregor. It opened with The Incomer. Skintown won the Sean Connery Prize.

Other years (27)

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Latest reviews

  • Goodbye Cruel World
    Review preview for Goodbye Cruel World

    Goodbye Cruel World shifts the narrative away from the bleakness one might expect, showing that it’s possible to make a film about a difficult and sensitive subject with tenderness, humour and sprinkles of hope.

    Carla Pantilie · 4 out of 5
    Otto Vidal, 14, disappears after writing a farewell letter to his classmates. While everyone believes he is dead, Léna, a girl from his high school, spots him one night roaming the streets of the city.
  • Queen At Sea
    Review preview for Queen At Sea

    Lance Hammer’s drama confronts its subject unsentimentally head on with no holds barred.

    Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
    As advanced dementia erodes an older woman’s ability to communicate her inner life, her husband and daughter struggle to act in her best interests, navigating love and the fragile boundaries between care, protection and autonomy.
  • Faces Of Death
    Review preview for Faces Of Death

    It’s rare to find a character this well developed in a slasher film, but Goldhaber pays equal attention to the smaller roles.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A moderator at a social media platform gets thrown face-first into a macabre mystery when she uncovers a series of visceral snuff videos bearing resemblance to a mythical 1978 cult film.
  • Pretty Babies
    Review preview for Pretty Babies

    The performances of Lind and Stanley capture the close intimacy of female friendship and support with an easy chemistry

    Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
    Two young girls flee their hometown drawn by the seductive promise of the Hollywood but their American Dream soon fractures.
  • Borges And Me
    Review preview for Borges And Me

    Offers a wealth of engaging detail

    Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
    In the early 1970s writer and student Jay Parini finds himself committed to driving blind poet Jorge Luis Borges across the Scottish countryside. The pair form a bond over the journey.
  • Skintown
    Review preview for Skintown

    The film accurately portrays a generation in the crossfire which hasn’t been seen before.

    Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
    During the 1994 IRA ceasefire, two best friends try to escape their lives in a small Irish town.
  • Capsized
    Review preview for Capsized

    It doesn't quite manage to smuggle its magic through.

    Andrew Robertson · 2 out of 5
    Nicole's discovery of an eviction notice shatters her family's houseboat vacation, forcing them to confront their patriarch's troubles, lost homes, and fractured identities.
  • Sea Of Glass
    Review preview for Sea Of Glass

    Each set-piece revelation is sprung like a physical blow to the solar plexus.

    Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
    After experiencing immense family turmoil in the wake of her husband’s death, a woman seeks solace in a quiet seaside town. There, she forms an unexpected bond with a young woman.
  • The Peril At Pincer Point
    Review preview for The Peril At Pincer Point

    Joseph Field Eccles and Nick Smyth’s sound design...is magnificent from start to finish, and full of playful touches.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A lazy sound designer is sent to the remote island where a film was shot to capture a sound powerful enough to elevate its finale. Once there, eerie local fables surface: for years, ambitious and headstrong youth have lost their souls to a ghostly sea captain for his spectral crew.
  • Sheep In The Box
    Review preview for Sheep In The Box

    Suffers from an underdeveloped subplot and over-indulged length.

    Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
    A couple take a humanoid robot into their home as a replacement for their dead son.

A–Z of Edinburgh International Film Festival 2026 reviews

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