Edinburgh Film Festival Reveal This Years Guest Line Up

We’re only 2 weeks away from this year’s Edinburgh Film Festival and today the festival have revealed a new batch of guests heading to Scotland’s capital in August.

The 2026 line-up opens up with Louis Paxton‘s  fantasy comedy The Incomer.  The director will be in attendance and he’ll be joined by the cast Domnhall Gleeson, Grant O’Rourke, Gayle Rankin and John Hannah. Staying with gala’s the closing film documentary Bel, director Louise Lockwood and film contributor Leah McAleer are confirmed.

Director Marc Turtletaub (Little Miss Sunshine), Alan Cumming and Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk) will be in town for the world premiere of Scottish set road movie Borges and Me. 2026 also marks 30th Anniversary of Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting which is set in the city. There will be a special screening of the film at the legendary Leith Theatre which Welsh, Ewan McGregor and Ewan Bremmer plus several more attending the screening.

For the World Premiere of road movie Northbound with director William Scoular and Bruce Dern in the city. The UK Premiere of Queen at Sea will have director Lance Hammer (Ballast)with Tom Courtenay and Anna Calder-Smith (Wuthering Heights) joining him.

We do love a scare and for Midnight Madness strand attendees include Bad Day At The Office director Chee Keong Cheung and stars Radha Mitchell (Silent Hill) and John Hannah. director James Nunn attends for taut survival thriller Hungry. Nick Nevern and cast Tamer Hassan , Leo Gregory and Vanessa Bauer attend for the explosive Rise of the Footsoldier: Retribution; for Abandoned, director Joby Stephens is joined by cast Grace Gallagher and Cameron Wright. for mindbending thriller Imposters will have it’s director Caleb Phillips. Midnight Madness strand closer Faces of Death will be presented by director Daniel Goldhaber and writer Isa Mazzei.

Other attendees include Extra Geography director Molly Manners, cast Marni Duggan, Galaxie Clear  and writer Miriam Battye (Succession) . Also in town  are These Violent Delights  directors Christopher Hampson and Oscar Samson and star Kayla-Maree Tarantolo. The UK Premiere of Edinburgh-set The Education of Jane Cumming will be attended by director Sophie Heldman.

Related Post: Edinburgh Film Festival 2026 Line Up Offering Diversity

Filmmaker Kieron J. Walsh for Skintown; Joseph Archer for Snapshot; Jake Harvey and Ollie Gardener and cast Sam Bottomley, Callum Scott Howells, Safia Oakley Green for The State of Us; director Fried Luk and cast member Olivia Luccardi  for Sacred Creatures; director Tyler Marie-Evans and Sadie Stanley, Ashley Benson, Madeline Petsch for Pretty Babies; director Simon Ryninks for Out There; director Bart Simpson for The Mad World of Harvey Kurtzman; Paul Wright  for Mission; director Thom Lunshof for First Zone; director Lindsey Ryan and cast Griffin Gluck and Sarah Catherine Hook for Capsized.

Across the wider Festival attending for the insightful The Last Resort will be director Maria Sødahl; Julianne Dressner and Miriam Shor for My NDA; directors Jake Kuhn and Noah Stratton-Twine for the The Peril at Pincer Point; director Tamra Davis for  The Best Summer; director Carlos Conceição for the  body horror Bodyhackers; director Finlay Pretsell for  Douglas Gordon by Douglas Gordon,  Abdolreza Kahani and actor Nima Sadr attend for  Empty Heaven; director Alexis Alexiou and cast members for Sea of Glass; director Theodore Schaefer for The Arrow at Rest at Every Instant of Its Flight.

Acclaimed performer Stacy Martin presents her directorial debut short Amaretti alongside filmmakers attending for shorts programmes across the Festival.

Previously announced guests include Christine Vachon, Kenneth Branagh, Ken Burns, Prano Bailey-Bond, Jay Parini,, Max Minghella, Sarah Brocklehurst, Miriam Battye and Paul Sng.

2026 Edinburgh Film Festival will run from 13th until 19th August.

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The founder of The People's Movies, started the site 20th November 2008.The site has excelled past all expectations with many only giving the site months and it's still going strong. A lover of French Thrillers, Post Apocalyptic films, Asian cinema. 2009 started Cinehouse to start his 'cinema education' learning their is life outside mainstream cinema. Outside of film, love to travel with Sorrento, Guangzhou and Manchester all favourite destinations.Musically loves David Bowie, Fishbone, Radiohead.

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