Edinburgh International Film Festival has announced the dates for its landmark 80th edition as it prepares to celebrate eight decades of bringing the best of cinema to Scotland.
The festival will return to the capital from 12 to 18 August 2027, with organisers promising a programme of new films, world premieres, special events and industry activity.
The anniversary follows a successful 2026 edition which saw admissions increase by 35 per cent compared with the previous year.
EIFF will celebrate its 80th edition alongside Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which also trace their origins to 1947.
Festival director Paul Ridd said the team was working on plans to mark the milestone with an ambitious programme.
He said: “EIFF’s 80th edition is a huge milestone and we are planning to do it justice with an exciting range of films, events and unforgettable moments.”
Organisers say the festival will continue to focus on discovering new filmmakers and presenting world premieres, alongside its major competitions.
The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence offers £50,000 to the winner of the festival’s feature competition, while the Thelma Schoonmaker Prize for Short Filmmaking Excellence carries a £15,000 award.
Both competitions are decided by audiences attending the festival.
The 2026 festival ran from 13 to 19 August and featured screenings and events across Edinburgh.
One of its highest-profile events was a celebration of Trainspotting which reunited Ewan McGregor and Ewen Bremner in the city 30 years after the release of Danny Boyle’s landmark film.
The festival also hosted talks and appearances from film figures including Kenneth Branagh, Ken Burns and Bruce Dern.
Around 60 per cent of films shown in the 2026 programme were world premieres.
The announcement of the 80th edition marks another step in the recovery of EIFF following a turbulent period in its recent history.
The Centre for the Moving Image, which previously ran the festival as well as Edinburgh’s Filmhouse cinema, went into administration in 2022.
A new organisation was subsequently established to operate EIFF, with the revitalised festival launching in its current form in 2024 under chairman Andrew Macdonald and festival director Paul Ridd.
That first edition opened with the UK premiere of Saoirse Ronan film The Outrun and closed with the world premiere of Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland’s Girl Bands.
The festival describes itself as the world’s oldest continually running film festival, having first been staged in 1947 as the International Festival of Documentary Films.
Its 80th edition will take place from 12 to 18 August 2027, with further details of the programme to be announced next year.
Open submissions for filmmakers are expected to begin in January.