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Edinburgh International Film Festival · 2025

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2025

The Sean Connery Prize

Films competing for £50,000 prize

Programme

10 films · 3 reviews

Jump to a film

Best Boy

Three adult children and their mother reunite after the death of the kids abusive father and engage in a strange competition.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2025; Director: Jesse Noah Klein; Stars: Lise Roy, Aaron Abrams, Caroline Dhavernas, Dyland Smith, Marc Bendavid)

Blue Film

A queer camboy agrees to spend the night with a mysterious stranger.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Elliot Tuttle; Stars: Kieron Moore, Reed Birney)

Concessions

Review preview for Concessions

It is faint praise to say that it's pleasant enough, but faint praise is what I can muster.

Andrew Robertson · 2 out of 5
Oddball staff, wacky clientele and ageing Hollywood idols cross paths in a small town cinema on the day of its closure.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Mas Bouzidi; Stars: Rob Riordan, Jonathan Lorenzo Price, Lana Rockwell, Michael MAdsen)

Full review

In Transit

When an enigmatic artist invites a young bartender to pose for her a strange, confusing elationship develops.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Jaclyn Bethany; Stars: Alex Sarrigeorgiou, Francois Arnaud, Jennifer Ehle)

Low Rider

A young woman embarks on a road trip to find her estranged dad, aidd by a charismatic stranger.

(Country: UK, South Afrida; Year: 2025; Director: Campbell X; Stars: Emma McDonald, Thishiwe Ziqubu, Martin Kluge)

Mortician

Review preview for Mortician

This may be a two-hander but the constantly inventive framing from Kahani ensures that conversations never feel dull and his employment of light is impressive.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A mild-mannered Iranian mortician in Canada forms an unexpected bond with a dissident singer in exile.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2025; Director: Abdolreza Kahani; Writer: Abdolreza Kahani; Stars: Nima Sadr, Gola, Pouya Razavi, Erfan Bokaei)

Full review

Novak

An ostracised neuroscientist is drawn out of hiding by an activist group of young scientiests fascinated by his discredited theories.

(Country: Greece, Switzerland; Year: 2025; Director: Harry Lagoussis; Stars: Ella Rumpf, Yannis Papadopoulos, Elena Topalidou)

Once You Shall Be One Of Those Who Lived Long Ago

Documentary about a small town that is collapsing into the mines beneath it.

(Year: 2025; Director: Alexander Ryneus, Per Bifrost)

On The Sea

Review preview for On The Sea

Finds its strength in the subtlety of the writing and the power of the understated performances.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A love story about a married mussel farmer who falls in love with a handsome newcomer.

(Country: UK; Year: 2025; Director: Helen Walsh; Stars: Barry Ward, Lorne Macfadyen, Celyn Jones, Liz White)

Full review See: On the Sea Director Helen Walsh on sex, desire, class and the influence of the Dardenne brothers , On The Sea's Barry Ward and Lorne MacFadyen on bonding, intimacy and drawing on their roots

Two Neighbors

Modern retelling of an Aesop's fable about two wome nfrom different worlds who collide at a party and are faced by an offer from a charismatic stranger.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2025; Director: Ondine Vinao; Stars: Chloe Cherry, Anya Chalotra, Ralph Ineson)