The world premiere of a new animated short film directed by Renée Zellweger, called They, six James Bond movies starring the late Sean Connery screened in a special strand, and “In Conversation” events with the likes of Andrew and Kevin Macdonald, Andrea Arnold, Ben Wheatley and Andy Starke, and Nia DaCosta will all be part of this year’s 78th edition of the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
Among the movies in the program this year are the likes of Piotr Winiewicz’s About a Hero with Vicky Krieps, which was written by an AI system trained in Werner Herzog’s works, Eddie Marsan and Sam Claflin-starring “brooding, stylish thriller” All the Devils Are Here from Barnaby Roper, Jan-Ole Gerster’s Islands, “a mysterious and Highsmith-esque existential thriller,” Urška Djukic’s debut feature and coming-of-age film Little Trouble Girls, and Elliot Tuttle’s Blue Film, starring Kieron Moore and Reed Birney.
Documentaries screening at Edinburgh include “Sepideh Farsi’s wrenching and timely documentary Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk [that] chronicles disarmingly frank and intimate video calls with young Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona” and Gar O’Rourke’s Sanatorium, “a thoughtful, humane documentary offering a unique perspective on the current situation in Ukraine.”
The festival is led by CEO and fest director Paul Ridd and fest producer Emma Boa. “43 new feature films, 18 feature film world premieres, including 10 world premieres competing for The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence, six special retrospective screenings, James Bond on the big screen and a celebration of the work of filmmaker Budd Boetticher, six short film programs, including The Thelma Schoonmaker Prize for Short Filmmaking Excellence competition, the presentation of new short form work by the inaugural NFTS Sean Connery Lab, and the world premiere of a new animated film by Renée Zellweger,” Edinburgh summarized its lineup.
Also, the popular Midnight Madness screenings will return to the Scottish festival, which runs Aug. 14-20.
All six Connery James Bond films will be shown on the big screen in a special strand dubbed “Sacred Bonds,” including 4K restorations of Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Thunderball, and You Only Live Twice. The other films are Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever. “All [will be] introduced by a series of soon-to-be-announced special guests,” the fest said.
The fest previously unveiled an opening night film, Eva Victor’s Sorry, Baby, and a closing film, Paul Sng’s Irvine Welsh documentary Reality Is Not Enough.
Check out key parts of the Edinburgh film fest lineup below.
Opening Films
Sorry, Baby | UK Premiere
Director: Eva Victor. Narrative Feature. Cast: Eva Victor, Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges. United States, Spain, France. 2025. 1hr 44min. English.
Bulk | World Premiere | Midnight Madness
Director: Ben Wheatley. Narrative Feature. Cast: Alexandra Maria Lara, Sam Riley, Noah Taylor, Mark Monero. United Kingdom. 2025. 1hr 31min. English.
Closing Films
Reality Is Not Enough | World Premiere | Midnight Madness
Director: Paul Sng. Documentary Feature. Cast: Irvine Welsh, Stephen Graham, Nick Cave, Maxine Peake, Olivia Caw, Ruth Negga. United Kingdom. 2025. 1hr 28min. English.
The Toxic Avenger | World Premiere | Midnight Madness
Director: Macon Blair. Narrative Feature. Cast: Peter Dinklage, Kevin Bacon, Elijah Wood, Julia Davis.
United States. 2023. 1hr 42min. English.
Screening with:
TOE | World Premiere
Director: Elly Howard. Narrative Short. Cast: Greta Titelman, Mikael Mattsson. United States. 2024.
13min. English
The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence
Best Boy | World Premiere
Director: Jesse Noah Klein. Narrative Feature. Cast: Lise Roy, Aaron Abrams, Caroline Dhavernas, Dylan Smith, Marc Bendavid. Canada. 2024. 1hr 31min. English.
Blue Film | World Premiere
Director: Elliot Tuttle. Narrative Feature. Cast: Kieron Moore, Reed Birney. United States. 2025. 1hr 28min. English.
Concessions | World Premiere
Director: Mas Bouzidi. Narrative Feature. Cast: Rob Riordan, Jonathan Lorenzo Price, Lana Rockwell, Michael Madsen. United States. 2025. 1hr 31min. English.
In Transit | World Premiere
Director: Jaclyn Bethany. Narrative Feature. Cast: Alex Sarrigeorgiou, Francois Arnaud, Jennifer Ehle. United States. 2025. 1hr 22min. English.
Low Rider | World Premiere
Director: Campbell X. Narrative Feature. Cast: Emma McDonald, Thishiwe Ziqubu, Martin Kluge. United Kingdom, South Africa. 2025. 1hr 33min. English.
Mortician | World Premiere
Director: Abdolreza Kahani. Narrative Feature. Cast: Nima Sadrzadeh, Gola, Canada. 2025. 1hr 35min. Persian (Farsi) with English subtitles
Novak | World Premiere
Director: Harry Lagoussis. Narrative Feature. Cast: Ella Rumpf, Yannis Papadopoulos, Elena Topalidou. Greece, Switzerland. 2025. 1hr 51min. English, Greek with English subtitles.
On the Sea | World Premiere
Director: Helen Walsh. Narrative Feature. Cast: Barry Ward, Lorne Macfadyen, Celyn Jones, Liz White. United Kingdom. 2025. 1hr 51min. English.
Once You Shall Be One Of Those Who Lived Long Ago | World Premiere
Director: Alexander Rynéus, Per Bifrost. Documentary Feature. Sweden. 2025. 1hr 44min. Swedish with English subtitles.
Two Neighbors | World Premiere
Director: Ondine Viñao. Narrative Feature. Cast: Chloe Cherry, Anya Chalotra, Ralph Ineson. United Kingdom, United States. 2025. 1hr 44min. English.
Out of Competition
About A Hero | UK Premiere
Director: Piotr Winiewicz. Documentary Feature. Denmark, Germany, United States. 2024. 1hr 25min.English, German with English subtitles.
All The Devils Are Here | World Premiere
Director: Barnaby Roper. Narrative Feature. Cast: Eddie Marsan, Sam Claflin, Burn Gorman, Tienne Simon, Suki Waterhouse, Rory Kinnear. United Kingdom. 2025. 1hr 27min. English
Lynda Myles Celebrates After This Death | UK Premiere
Director: Lucio Castro. Narrative Feature. Cast: Mia Maestro, Lee Pace, Rupert Friend. United States. 2025. 1hr 36min. English, Spanish with English subtitles.
Brides | European Premiere
Director: Nadia Fall. Narrative Feature. Cast: Ebada Hassan, Safiyya Ingar. United Kingdom. 2025. 1hr 33min. English, Turkish with English subtitles.
Case 137 | International Premiere
Director: Dominik Moll. Narrative Feature. Cast: Léa Drucker, Yoann Blanc, Guslagie Malanda.
France. 2025. 1hr 55min. French with English subtitles.
Christy | UK Premiere
Director: Brendan Canty. Narrative Feature. Cast: Danny Power, Diarmuid Noyes, Emma Willis. Ireland, United Kingdom. 2025. 1hr 34min. English.
Crushed | World Premiere
Director: Simon Rumley. Narrative Feature. Cast: Steve Oram, Margaux Dietrich, Sahajak Boonthanakit. United Kingdom. 2025. 1hr 41min. English.
Cutting Through Rocks | UK Premiere
Director: Sara Khaki, Mohammadreza Eyni. Documentary Feature. Featuring: Sara Shahverdi. Iran, Germany, United States, Netherlands, Qatar, Chile, Canada. 2025. 1hr 34min. Persian (Farsi), Azerbaijani with English subtitles.
Deaf | UK Premiere
Director: Eva Libertad. Narrative Feature. Cast: Alvaro Cervantes, Miriam Garlo. Spain. 2025. 1hr 39min. Spanish with English subtitles.
Screening with:
Bumblebee | UK Premiere
Director: Fon Cortizo. Narrative Short. Cast: Cory Mañá, Machi Salgado. Spain. 2024. 19min. Galician with English subtitle
Dragonfly | UK Premiere
Director: Paul Andrew Williams. Narrative Feature. Cast: Andrea Riseborough, Jason Watkins, Brenda Blethyn. United Kingdom. 2025. 1hr 38min. English.
Fires of the Moon | World Premiere
Director: Christopher Forster. Narrative Feature. Cast: Huw Ynyr, Elin Prichard, Annes Elwy, Dylan Morrison Jones. United Kingdom. 2025. 1hr 25min. Welsh with English subtitles.
The Golden Spurtle | UK Premiere
Director: Constantine Costi. Documentary Feature. Featuring: Charlie Miller, the people of Carrbridge. United Kingdom, Australia. 2025. 1hr 15min. English.
Grow | World Premiere
Director: John McPhail. Narrative Feature. Cast: Priya-Rose Brookwell, Golda Rosheuvel, Nick Frost, Jane Horrocks, Alan Carr, Joe Wilkinson, Sanjeev Kohli, Dominic McLaughlin. United Kingdom. 2025. 1hr 47min. English.
Growing Down | UK Premiere
Director: Bálint Dániel Sós. Narrative Feature. Cast: Szabolcs Hajdu, Ágoston Sáfrány, Anna Hay. Hungary. 2025. 1hr 25min. Hungarian with English Subtitles.
Hysteria | UK Premiere
Director: Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay. Narrative Feature. Cast: Devrim Lingnau, Mehdi Meskar. Germany. 2025. 1hr 44min. German, English, Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic with English subtitles.
Islands | UK Premiere
Director: Jan-Ole Gerster. Narrative Feature. Cast: Sam Riley, Stacy Martin, Jack Farthing, Dylan Torrell. Germany. 2025. 2hr 3min. English, Spanish with English subtitles.
Little Trouble Girls | UK Premiere
Director: Urška Djukic. Narrative Feature. Cast: Jara Sofija Ostan, Mina Švajger, Saša Tabaković. Croatia, Italy, Slovenia, Serbia, France. 2025. 1hr 40min. Slovenian with English Subtitles.
The Memory Blocks | World Premiere
Director: Andrew Kötting. Experimental Feature. Cast: Eden Kötting, Charlie Stephens. United Kingdom. 2025. 1hr 17min. English.
Misper | World Premiere
Director: Harry Sherriff. Narrative Feature. Cast: Samuel Blenkin, Emily Carey, Christine Bottomley. United Kingdom. 2025. 1hr 13min. English.
Screening with:
Terence | UK Premiere
Director: Edem Kelman. Narrative Short. Cast: Terence Nzaji-Egnie. United Kingdom. 2024. 15min. English
Put Your Soul On Your Hand and Walk | UK Premiere
Director: Sepideh Farsi. Documentary Feature. Featuring: Fatma Hassona. France, Palestine, Iran. 2025. 1hr 50min.
Sanatorium | UK Premiere
Director: Gar O’Rourke. Documentary Feature. Ireland, Ukraine, France. 2025. 1hr 31min. Ukrainian with English subtitles.
Surviving Earth | European Premiere
Director: Thea Gajić. Narrative Feature. Cast: Slavko Sobin, Olive Gray, Stuart Martin. United Kingdom. 2024. 1hr 40min. English, Serbian with English subtitles.
Screening with:
Truckload | U.K. Premiere
Director: Aella Jordan-Edge. Narrative Short. Cast: Evie Jones, Jodie Whittaker, Joe Dempsie. United Kingdom. 2025. 19min. English.
Walk With Me | UK Premiere
Director: Heidi Levitt. Documentary Feature.
Featuring: Heidi Levitt, Charlie Hess. United States.2024. 1hr 30min.
Young Mothers | International Premiere
Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne. Narrative Feature. Cast: Babette Verbeek, Janaina Halloy Fokan, Samia Hilmi, Elsa Houben, Lucie Laruelle. Belgium, France. 2025. 1hr 45min.
Zodiac Killer Project | UK Premiere
Director: Charlie Shackleton. Documentary Feature. United Kingdom, United States. 2025. 1hr 32min. English.
Midnight Madness
See above for The Toxic Avenger
Dead Lover | UK Premiere
Director: Grace Glowicki. Narrative Feature. Cast: Grace Glowicki, Ben Petrie, Lowen Morrow. Canada. 2025. 1hr 22min. English.
Screening with:
Death’s Peak | World Premiere
Director: Willy Fair. Animation Short. Cast: Simon Pavelich. United Kingdom. 2025. 9min
I Live Here Now | The Evolution of Horror and EIFF present | UK Premiere
Director: Julie Pacino. Narrative Feature. Cast: Lucy Fry, Matt Rife, Madeline Brewer, Sheryl Lee. United States. 2025. 1hr 32min. English.
Screening with:
Drainomania | UK Premiere
Director: Christopher Greenslate. Narrative Short. Cast: Gabrielle Maiden, Sally Maersk. United States. 2025. 15min. English.
Odyssey | European Premiere
Director: Gerard Johnson. Narrative Feature. Cast: Polly Maberly, Mikael Persbrandt, Jasmine Blackborow. United Kingdom. 2025. 1hr 50min. English.
Screening with:
Sleazy Tiger | World Premiere
Director: James Ley. Narrative Short. Cast: Jay Newton, Jack Douglas, Alan Cumming. United Kingdom. 2024. 15min.
Redux Redux | UK Premiere
Directors: Matthew McManus, Kevin McManus.
Narrative Feature. Cast: Michaela McManus, Stella Marcus. United States. 2025. 1hr 47min. English.
Screening with:
Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting | UK Premiere
Director: Alex Thompson. Narrative Short. Cast: Pollyanna McIntosh, Milly Shapiro. United States. 2025. 18min. English.