10 highlights of the rebooted Edinburgh International Film Festival line-up

Nina Conti and Shenoah Allen star in Sunlight, a road trip comedy following a woman in a giant monkey costume and a suicidal radio host as they attempt to forge new lives.

A new era for the Edinburgh International Film Festival will be unmistakably underway when the event returns to the city’s cultural landscape.

Now under the leadership of new director Paul Ridd, the world’s oldest continually-running celebration of cinema has joined forces with Fringe venues for its 77th edition.

Here are just a few highlights from the newly-announced programme, which will boast 18 world premieres, a new strand of midnight screenings, a celebration of Sir Sean Connery and seven days of events across five venues.

New Scottish music documentary Since Yesterday will close this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival. Picture: Euan Robertson

The Outrun, August 15: Irish screen star Saoirse Ronan plays the lead role in director Nora Fingscheidt’s eagerly-anticipated adaptation of Orcadian writer Amy Liptrot’s acclaimed memoir. Ronan’s character Rona returns to Orkney to try to rebuild her life after more than a decade living in London, where she slipped into drug and alcohol addiction.

Alien: Romulus, 15 August: It is 45 years since the EIFF played host to the world premiere of Ridley Scott’s groundbreaking science fiction masterpiece Alien. Now the event has secured the world premiere of Fede Álvarez’s new addition to the franchise as the curtain-raiser for the festival’s strand of “midnight madness” screenings.

Black Dog, 16 August: Eddie Peng stars as a former stunt cyclist recently released from prison who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a stray dog. The Chinese drama, directed by Guan Hu, arrives in Edinburgh after widespread acclaim at Cannes earlier this year, where it won the festival’s coveted Un Certain Regard prize.

Sunlight, 17 August: Nina Conti has been one of the most popular comics at the Fringe in modern times with her acclaimed ventriloquism. Now she has made her feature film debut with a comedy road movie and “unconventional love story, set in New Mexico, which she has written, directed and starred in.

The UK premiere of Alien: Romulus will be staged at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival. Picture: 20th Century Studios.

The Untouchables, 18 August: Sir Sean Connery won an Oscar for his role in Brian De Palma’s classic gangland thriller, set in 1930s Chicago. Members of Sir Sean’s family will present the special screening of the 1987 movie.

And Mrs, 19 August: Twelve years after Aisling Bea won the coveted So You Think You're Funny award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Irish comic and actress will be starring as a reluctant bride-to-be in writer Melissa Bubnic and director Daniel Reisinger’s comedy. When her fiancé drops dead, she insists on marrying him anyway - vowing to overcome public opinion and the law of the land.

The Radleys, 20 August: Comedian Jo Brand and writer Talitha Stevenson have adapted Matt Haig’s bloodthirsty best-seller for the big screen. Kelly Macdonald and Damian Lewis are among the stars of a dark comedy focusing on a family of vampires.

The Substance, 20 August: Demi Moore stars in the body horror comedy, which will be screen as part of the festival’s midnight madness strand. She plays a fading Hollywood star who decides to use a black-market drug to create a younger version of herself after being fired from an aerobics show on her 50th birthday.

Nina Conti stars in Sunlight, a road trip comedy following a woman in a giant monkey costume and a suicidal radio host as they attempt to forge new lives.

A Sudden Glimpse To Deeper Things, 21 August: Award-winning filmmaker Mark Cousins has previously created portraits of Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Wells. Now turns to Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, one of Britain’s leading 20th century abstract artists, which see Oscar-winning Scottish actress Tilda Swinton as the voice of the Fife-born painter, who died 20 years ago.

Since Yesterday, 21 August: Filmmakers Blair Young and Carla J Easton tell the story of Scottish pop is told by through the experience of generations of “girls bands,” from the vocal harmony groups of the 1960s and post-punk outfits to the indie fanzine-inspired groups of the 1990s and present day bands. The Mckinleys, The Ettes, Strawberry Switchblade, The Twinsets,Sophisticated Boom Boom and The Hedrons are among the acts featured.