Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has announced a new selection of guests attending this year’s Festival in support of World and UK Premieres and events.
Attending the Festival for the UK premiere of acclaimed film Dragonfly are director Paul Andrew Williams (London to Brighton, Bull), Andrea Riseborough (Oblivion, Birdman), Brenda Blethyn (Saving Grace, Pride & Prejudice) and Jason Watkins (The Last Honour of Christopher Jefferies, The Catch).
For the World Premiere of taut psychological crime thriller All The Devils Are Here director Barnaby Roper (The Interview, Scratch’n’Sniff) will attend the Festival with stars Eddie Marsan (Sherlock Holmes, Ray Donovan), Burn Gorman (Pacific Rim, Watcher) and Tienne Simon (Grime Kids, C. B. Strike).
In town for the World Premiere of the exuberant and thoroughly entertaining family film Grow, director John McPhail (Anna and The Apocalypse, Dear David) will be joined by stars Golda Rosheuvel (Bridgerton, Eye For An Eye), Jane Horrocks (Little Voice, Cabaret), Dominic McLaughlin (HBO’s Harry Potter series), Priya Rose (Young Becky, The Lazarus Project) and Jeremy Swift (Ted Lasso, Snow White).
For the UK Premiere of beautifully performed psychological thriller Islands, star Sam Riley (Maleficent, On The Road) will join director Jan Ole Gerster (Oh Boy!, A Friend Of Mine, Lara), Jack Farthing (Poldark, Spencer) and Stacy Martin (The Brutalist).
The UK Premiere of The Golden Spurtle will see director Constantine Costi (Karakorum, Abduction) in attendance alongside participants from the competitive porridge making documentary including Charlie Miller, the former self-titled Chieftain of the Golden Spurtle.
Attending the Festival are the Competition filmmakers who make up this year’s main competition, The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence. They are: Director Harry Lagoussis (Stratos), Zlatko Burić (Triangle of Sadness, Pusher) and Ella Rumpf (Raw, Tiger Girl) for Novak; Director Jaclyn Bethany (Indigo Valley, The Delta Girl), writer Alex Sarregeorgiou and star Francois Arnaud (The Borgias, I Killed My Mother) for In Transit; Campbell X (Stud Life, Des!re) for Low Rider; Filmmakers Per Bifrost (Autonomous, Giants and the Morning After) & Alexander Rynéus (The Glitter Factory, Giants and the Morning After) for Once You Shall Be One of Those Who Lived Here Long Ago; Director Mas Bouzidi (Flâneur, Four Grooves) for Concessions; Filmmakers Ondine Vinao (Holy Fools, Bottom of a Bottle), Ivy Freeman-Attwood (Bob Marley: One Love, On Point) and Ralph Ineson (The Witch, Fantastic Four) for Two Neighbors; Director Jesse Noah Klein (Shadowboxing, We’re Still Together) for Best Boy; Abdolreza Kahani (A Shrine, which screened in Competition at EIFF 2024, Delighted, Hich), Nima Sadrzadeh Jolgeh (A Shrine) and Gola (Head Over Heels, Tehran 1998) for Mortician; Filmmaker Elliott Tuttle (The Steps, Lina’s Song), Reed Birney (The Menu, House of Cards) and Kieron Moore (Code of Silence, Vampire Academy) for Blue Film; Director Helen Walsh (The Violators, The Gathering), Barry Ward (Jimmy’s Hall, Blood Cells), Lorne Macfadyen (Operation Mincemeat, The Little Stranger) and Liz White (Life on Mars, The Woman in Black) for On the Sea.
Across the wider programme, director Nadia Fall attends Brides alongside performers Ebada Hassan and Safiyya Ingar; Director Brendan Canty will attend for his Cork set film Christy; Director Gerard Johnson and star Polly Maberly attend for their darkly hilarious new thriller Odyssey; Director Urska Djukic attends for coming-of-age film Little Trouble Girls; Filmmaker Lucio Castro for the erotic thriller After this Death and Charlie Shackleton for his meta documentary Zodiac Killer Project.
Director Simon Rumley and star Steve Oram bring their unflinching film Crushed to the Festival; Director Julie Pacino and star Cara Seymour bring psychological horror I Live Here Now; Welsh language opera adaptation Fires of the Moon director Christopher Forster will be town; Surviving Earth filmmaker Thea Gajic; Director of the intimate documentary Walk With Me; Heidi Levitt, Directors Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni for their film Cutting Through Rocks; Director Harry Sherriff for darkly comic Misper and timely documentary Put Your Soul On Your Hand and Walk director Sepideh Farsi.
Previously announced guests include Eva Victor (Boys Go To Jupiter, As Of Yet) for the Festival’s opening night film Sorry, Baby. Ben Wheatley (Down Terrace, Free Fire), Noah Taylor (Shine, Vanilla Sky), Alexandra Maria Lara (Rush, Downfall) will attend for the World Premiere of Ben’s Midnight Madness opening night film Bulk.
Paul Sng (Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché, Tish) and Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting, Filth) attending for the World Premiere of Paul’s immersive documentary film Reality Is Not Enough, which will close the Festival on 20 August 2025.
Filmmakers from The Thelma Schoonmaker Prize for Short Filmmaking Excellence will also attend the Festival.
EIFF’s In Conversation strand also features a range of attending major filmmaking talent who will discuss their creative careers to date including legendary editor Thelma Schoonmaker, celebrated filmmaking team Ken Loach, Paul Laverty & Rebecca O’Brien (The Wind That Shakes The Barley; I, Daniel Blake) Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland, Touching the Void, One to One: John & Yoko) speaking with his brother, producer Andrew Macdonald (Trainspotting, Civil War, 28 Years Later), acclaimed filmmakers Nia DaCosta (Candyman, The Marvels) and Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank, American Honey, Cow, Bird) and producer Jeremy Thomas (The Hit, Bad Timing, Naked Lunch).
Edinburgh International Film Festival will run from 14-20 August 2025. Building on EIFF’s reinvigorated vision under new leadership from CEO and Festival Director Paul Ridd and Festival Producer Emma Boa, the Festival will continue to accelerate the discovery of new film talent and engage with audiences, industry members and local, national and international media.
The Festival team aims to create a world-class showcase for independent film and filmmaking talent. Ridd is supported by the EIFF Board, led by Chair Andrew Macdonald of DNA Films, producer of the iconic Edinburgh-based film Trainspotting; and Vice Chair Amy Jackson, producer of BAFTA award-winning indie, Aftersun; as well as Peter Rice, former Chairman of General Entertainment at Disney and President of 21st Century Fox; Teresa Moneo, Former Director of UK Film, Netflix; Isla Macgillivray, Partner at Saffrey; and Romana Ramzan, Producer at Screen Burn Interactive (formerly No Code Studio).
Paul Ridd, CEO & Festival Director said: ‘We are thrilled to be welcoming so many terrific filmmakers and performers from around the world to this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival to celebrate their work with us.
“One of the greatest joys of a film festival is the opportunity for audiences and industry to interact directly with the creatives behind the work shown onscreen, to hear directly about their vision, and to discuss films in a space that is both welcoming and productive.
“Our guest list this year is testament to all the hard work and passion that has gone on behind the scenes here in Edinburgh to make this edition special and to celebrate this wonderful medium in style.’
EIFF 2025 is supported by Screen Scotland.
Website: https://www.edfilmfest.org/
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