The Top 10 must-see films at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival

Published on Wednesday 2 June 2010 11:50

We look at the top ten films you should see at this year's film festival.

• A scene from 'The Illusionist'

&#149 The Illusionist

The opening night gala in the Edinburgh Festival Theatre, newly adapted for film premieres, has been called a "perfect opening act". It is the much-anticipated second outing by the French animator Sylvain Chomet, after his cult hit The Belleville Rendezvous. Set in the Western Isles and Edinburgh, with stunning backdrops, it is the story of an over-the-hill magician and his young companion.

&#149 Toy Story 3

The Pixar studio's animators will be in town to present the preview of the 3-D film, the third installment in the massively popular family franchise, with voices by the likes of Tom Hanks, Timothy Dalton and Whoopi Goldberg.

&#149 Third Star

The closing night gala film is typical of the festival's quest for a British discovery. Hattie Dalton, who won a Bafta in 2005 for her short film The Banker, about a man who works in a sperm bank, makes her feature film debut. It's described as a "life-affirming" road movie about terminal illness, where James, a young man played by Benedict Cumberbatch, takes his friends on a road trip to his favourite beach in Pembrokeshire.

&#149 Jackboots on Whitehall

Winston Churchill takes refuge in Scotland in an alternative story of the Second World War, with quirky stop-motion caricatures voiced by Ewan McGregor, Richard Grant, Timothy Spall and Alan Cumming.

&#149 Get Low

Robert Duvall stars as an American old-timer who decides to stage his own funeral party – before he dies. With Bill Murray and Sissy Spacek, it is billed as one of the "big exciting comedies" of this year's festival.

&#149 The Secret in their Eyes

This Spanish film was the surprise winner of this year's Oscar for foreign language film but has yet to be seen in Britain. The thriller centres on an ex-detective trying to write his first novel but drawn back to an old case.

&#149 Restrepo

Winner of the grand jury prize at the Sundance festival in Utah for best US documentary, Restrepo follows a battalion of US soldiers stationed in the Korengal valley of Afghanistan in 2007. Directors Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger are said to have achieved an extraordinary level of access to US fighting men.

&#149 The Runaways

With Twilight's Goth princess Kristen Stewart and emerging child star Dakota Fanning, this is a biopic of the Runaways, the short-lived but noisy 1970s all-girl teenage rock band formed by guitarist Joan Jett and drummer Cherrie Currie.

&#149 The People vs George Lucas

A film about Star Wars obsessives, and sure to appeal to them. Playing with the slew of fan art around the Star Wars series, the film delves into how diehard fans revere and revile George Lucas, and how they feel about the way he has revisited the films and characters that became their demi-gods.

&#149 Superhero Me

Like The People vs George Lucas, this is seen as a cult hit waiting to happen. Documentary film-maker Steve Sale fashions his own spandex suit and sets out to find what it really takes to be a home-made superhero, with alarming consequences.

• Edinburgh International Film Festival: Lights, camera, action and 22 world premieres

• Alistair Harkness: Eclectic Edinburgh International Film Festival programme still takes risks