The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has been running since 1947, where actors, filmmakers and fans join together in the city to celebrate new released and old classics for 12 days of film appreciation.
Hundreds of screenings take place in cinemas across the city, ranging from enthralling shorts and challenging documentaries to big budget features and innovative animations.
The 74th EIFF is celebrating the return to cinema and bringing people and communities back together - physically in cinema and outdoor screenings, and virtually through the festival’s dedicated streaming platform.
Though smaller than previous years, 2021’s offering has a fascinating selection of films including Cannes opener Annette and the Billy Crystal written and directed Here Today. Proceedings will kick off with Pig starring Nicolas Cage on the 18th of August.
History
Born in 1947 alongside the Edinburgh International Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the first week-long film festival was created to bring documentaries to a wider audience.
Over the years ambitions grew and the festival expanded to welcome international movies as well as retrospectives, with early subjects including John Huston and a young Martin Scorsese. New talents were nurtured such as Bill Forsyth, Stephen Soderbergh and Stephen Frears.
Red carpet events and premieres also became part of the package, and over the years Hollywood stars such as Steven Spielberg, Sir Sean Connery, Tilda Swinton, Catherine Zeta Jones, Michael Douglas, Sienna Miller and Judd Apatow have graced the festival with their presence.
Watch
Want to see more? EIFFtv on YouTube has videos with Stanley Tucci, Kevin Bacon & Kyra Sedgwick, Richard E Grant and more.