The Edinburgh Film Festival’s industry programme returns this year in an expanded format, centered around a new symposium on the state of independent filmmaking in the UK, aptly titled the UK Film Conference.
The festival launched the conference earlier this summer and tapped BFI CEO Ben Roberts as the inaugural keynote speaker. Roberts will take part in an onstage In Conversation session with Picturehouse Creative Director Clare Binns. The conference will run for one day, Saturday, August 15, and was born, Edinburgh director Paul Ridd explains, out of the increasing strength of the festival’s competition strands.
“We’re showing work that’s not been seen anywhere else in the world before, which is the driver for industry and press,” Ridd explains, “and if you’ve got those people in town, having a really good moment during the festival to build something where people can talk about the current state and future of independent cinema felt like an opportune moment.”
Alongside the conversation between Roberts and Binns, the UK Film Conference will feature ‘Low Budget, High Ambition’, a session focused on low-budget filmmaking and how UK producers are adapting to an ever-changing landscape. That session will be followed by ‘Would This Get Made?’, an innovative concept that will feature industry professionals being quizzed on how they would approach the production of a range of projects from the past if they came across their desks in 2026.
“We’ll be asking the speakers, would you make Trainspotting today? Or Four Weddings and a Funeral?” Ridd says of the unique concept. “It will be a really fun way to look at how these different individuals and organizations think about what their purpose is and what kind of things they’re making now.”
Speakers on the panel, hosted by Wendy Mitchell, will include producer Christine Vachon, Stefanie Fahrion (Film4), Alice Ojha (BBC Film), Laura Wilson (Altitude) and Simon Renshaw (Casarotto Ramsay & Associates).
The EIFF Industry Talk session ‘New Nightmares’, hosted by horror content creator Chris Mayo (Big Fat Cult), will conclude the UK Film Conference with speakers discussing the current state of genre filmmaking. Speakers include actor and filmmaker Max Minghella (The Handmaid’s Tale) and filmmakers Prano Bailey- Bond (Censor), Chee Keong Cheung (Bad Day at the Office) and Joby Stephens (Abandoned).
“In the long term we’re hoping to sort of grow out and build something that potentially feels more open to works in progress or more market premieres,” Ridd says of Edinburgh’s industry offering, which has expanded rapidly since he took the helm in 2023. Ridd is a former acquisitions head at Picturehouse and well-liked among industry folk, which has undoubtedly been useful in attracting high-profile names to the festival. Recent visitors and EIFF industry program participants have included Andrea Arnold, Nia DaCosta, David Hinojosa, and Ken Loach.
Beyond the UK Film Conference, high-profile industry guests this year include Ewan McGregor, Bruce Dern, and veteran documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, who will take part in career Q&A sessions, while Kenneth Branagh will be handed the inaugural EIFF Outstanding Contribution to Cinema Award. Burns will arrive in Edinburgh following the UK broadcast of his American Revolution docuseries. The series screened on PBS in the U.S. last November.
“We were fortunate in that Ken had already been invited to Edinburgh by the wider International Festival to take part in another event earlier in the month,” Ridd explains. “When we heard that was happening, we jumped at the opportunity to have him at our festival too.”
Another early addition Ridd made to the Edinburgh industry lineup was the NFTS Sean Connery Talent Lab. The scheme features 25 filmmakers who are chosen to work on a short project with support from BBC Film. Each team received a £25,000 production budget. The first set of shorts created from the Lab debuted at last year’s festival. This year’s shorts are Bubbles (writer/director Jagoda Tlok); Shutterbug (writer/director Fin Bain); My Little Blue Heart (writer/director Iqbal Mohammed); PANG (writer/director Lara Delmage); St Anthony (writer/director Declan Dineen) and The Angel in the House (writer/director Missy McNaught).
Elsewhere, filmmaker Paul Sng will chair an industry talk titled ‘Unmaking the Colonial Gaze in Cinema’ on the generational impacts of colonialism on the moving image. Outgoing BFI Filmmaking Fund Director Mia Bays will chair EIFF’s ‘Business of Film Roadshow’, a session on the filmmaking business, featuring speakers from film financier Head Gear and the law firm Lee & Thompson. EIFF will also once again host its annual session on navigating early career filmmaking with BIFA Springboard. The panel will feature BIFA Springboard alumni, who will discuss their journeys graduating from their first to second feature.
The EIFF and the wider Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Scottish capital’s historic performing arts event, have also continued their partnership for another year.
“We’re a completely independent entity, so we run our own business, but we are very invested in partnering and collaborating with Edinburgh institutions like the Fringe,” Ridd says. “We sell tickets through the Fringe app. We work through their channels to promote events, and we find ways to incorporate elements from other programs like hosts from other festivals presenting at our events.”
With the EIFF, Fringe Festival, Edinburgh Book, Art and International Festivals, the Scottish capital’s population more than doubles to over one million during the month of August. This year, city officials are prepping for widespread disruptions as Princes Street, the city’s main thoroughfare, will be partially closed following a fire at a former department store. City officials have said their safety and preservation works are expected to take several weeks to complete. Ridd expects minor disruptions to EIFF’s work.
“Obviously, these are all things that are outside our control, and when it comes to putting on a large-scale event in the middle of a very busy city at the height of its busyness of the year, everybody’s kind of aware of the challenges that we’re going to face,” he says.
“Fortunately, being part of an organization like Festivals Edinburgh, we’re able to get a head start on the plans, but it’s just something people are going to have to factor in as well.”
He adds: “I have confidence that we’re going to be able to run an effective and beautiful festival.
The 2026 Edinburgh Film Festival will run from August 13 to 19.
