EIFF announces collaboration with Edinburgh Festival Fringe

The newly relaunched Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has announced a landmark collaboration with the renowned Edinburgh Festival Fringe which will open up the Film Festival programme in new venues across the city including non-traditional cinema spaces at Summerhall and the heart of the Fringe footprint.

From August 15 to August 21 2024, the 77th edition of EIFF will see film embedded in the August festival ecosystem, allowing audiences to seamlessly experience the best of the Fringe along with the world-class programme of cinema at EIFF.

Spaces in Summerhall and others at the heart of the Fringe will serve as unique and unusual EIFF venues, creating a new EIFF footprint in close proximity to wider Fringe activity including theatre, music and comedy, ensuring audience engagement with Edinburgh’s summer festivals is easier than ever before.

This year’s cinema hub will be the Cameo Cinema on Home Street, one of the original venues for EIFF and home to some of its most iconic moments, including a speech from Orson Welles as part of the Festival in 1953.

This year’s EIFF programme will include a strand of Out of Competition films including international premieres, UK premieres and additional world premieres sitting alongside the 10 world-premiere feature films competing for The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence.

A Midnight Madness strand will showcase the best in genre cinema from around the world in a late night slot.

A repertory strand will champion retrospective and restored masterworks.

Innovative short film programmes will also run alongside this year’s EIFF Short Film Competition, which will award a cash prize of £15,000. The title of the Short Film Competition will be revealed soon.

Industry activity will run across the first weekend of the Festival with more announcements to follow in the next few weeks. Submissions to the 77th EIFF are currently open, with a final deadline of 19 April.

EIFF honours 70+ years of film festival history, showcasing the very best talent in filmmaking in a format rooted in a local Scottish context whilst embracing the international diversity of creative expression. The Film Festival encourages general audiences, film fans and industry professionals to make the trip this summer to Edinburgh, which is universally recognised as a place of beauty, history, discovery and adventure.

EIFF Director, Paul Ridd has said: “We are so excited by the possibilities of August in Edinburgh and the shape of our programme as it comes together. Our collaboration with the Fringe will grow a powerful relationship between audiences across artistic forms. We will tap into the creative energy that is everywhere in the city, encouraging critics, tastemakers and above all audiences to engage with each other and all that is on show.”

Recently announced, The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence is a £50,000 award given to a single filmmaker as part of a new features competition prize at the centre of the relaunched festival. 10 world-premiere feature films will compete for the cash prize, to be determined by audience vote. EIFF will also inaugurate a short film competition with a cash prize of £15,000. Submissions are now open.

Helmed by Festival Director Paul Ridd and Festival Producer Emma Boa, the team aims to create a world-class showcase for independent film and filmmaking talent. Former Acquisitions Executive Ridd is supported by an expanding Board, including Chair Andrew Macdonald of DNA Films, producer of the iconic Edinburgh-based film Trainspotting; Peter Rice, former Chairman of General Entertainment at Disney and President of 21st Century Fox; and Amy Jackson, producer of last year’s BAFTA award-winning indie, Aftersun. EIFF 2024 is supported by Screen Scotland.