Remarkable rescue mission as Edinburgh International Film Festival gets set to return this month after troubled year

The announcement last October that both the organisation behind the event and its base – The Centre for the Moving Image and the Filmhouse – had both ceased trading sent shockwaves through the film world.

After a much-welcomed rescue mission, this year’s EIFF will be hosted by Edinburgh International Festival and supported by Screen Scotland.

In the sad absence of the Filmhouse, whose building on Lothian Road was sold for £2.65 million in April, EIFF is delighted to be working with its cinema venue partners Vue Edinburgh Omni and Everyman Edinburgh at the St James Quarter.

The line-up of films may be truncated but this year’s scaled-down, six-day, version stays remarkably true to the event's character and history.

“With this year’s vivid film selection the EIFF programme team has favoured the bold, drawn to filmmakers with searching perspectives and style to burn," said Programme Director Kate Taylor.

"Designed for an eclectic spectrum of film fans, and defined by a love of independent cinema, this compact programme shines a light on new talent, and offers a smashing six-day journey for the EIFF’s passionate audiences," she added.

This year's special edition of the much-loved event will pay tribute to its impressive heritage in the form of a celebration of Lynda Miles, who ran EIFF from 1973 to 1980 with stunning success on a small budget - the first woman to occupy such a role at any film festival in the world at the time.

As well as pioneering screenings of the cream of the then 'New Hollywood' such as Martin Scorsese, Myles also initiated a number of reappraisals and new viewpoints, notably "The Women's Event" which she organised with Claire Johnston and Laura Mulvey at the 1972 Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Inspired by her legacy, this year's EIFF will see the launch of The Lynda Myles Project, a collaboration between previous film festival director and award-winning filmmaker Mark Cousins, Susan Kemp, and curatorial collective Invisible Women.

Running from August 18-23, in total, the hand-picked programme will showcase 24 feature films, retrospectives, shorts and outdoor screenings.

EIFF's opening night will see the world premiere of new UK film Silent Roar, a teenage tale of surfing, sex and hellfire set in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides directed by Johnny Barrington.

The closing night gala will be new US film Fremont, a stylish deadpan dramedy about an insomniac Afghan woman unable to dream the American dream starrring Anaita Wali Zada, Gregg Turkington and Jeremy Allen White, star of TV hit The Bear.

In between those two points, the high quality programme also includes Chinese punk comedy Art College 1994; Afire, the German winner of the Silver Bear at the Berlinale; Kill, a new Scottish thriller and Retrospectives including Shane Meadow's Dead Man's Shoes, a gripping and grisly revenge thriller which world premiered at EIFF in 2004.

In the sad absence of the Filmhouse, The Old College Quad at the University of Edinburgh will provide a stunning setting for a weekend of outdoor screenings, Cinema Under the Stars, offering audiences a welcoming selection of films set to make the heart sing.

Scottish Culture Secretary Angus Robertson said: “I’m delighted to see so much Scottish and international film talent represented in this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival programme.

"The Scottish Government is proud to support the festival with £155,000 from the PLaCE Fund – run jointly with the City of Edinburgh Council - and £59,000 from our Expo Fund."

It won't be an easy task following in the footsteps of those names who have defined the festival's long-running success over the decades since it was founded in 1947.

Names such as journalist Hannah McGill, who was artistic director from 2006 to 2010; critic Mark Cousins who made a major impact in a brief tenure from 1996-97 before becoming an award-winning filmmaker; and Jim Hickey who presided over a golden era from 1981 to 1988.

But the drive to revive this film world institution first established in Edinburgh in 1947 remains strong.

In more good news for the event's future, acclaimed Scottish producer Andrew Macdonald has been appointed to form and chair the new EIFF for 2024 and beyond.

Andrew is to recruit a board and executive team to lead the Festival’s development from September 2023.

For tickets and information about this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, visit https://www.eif.co.uk/edinburgh-international-film-festival