Edinburgh International Film Festival comeback should be cause for celebration – Brian Ferguson

Edinburgh International Film Festival comeback should be cause for celebration, says Brian Ferguson

There are many magical moments to whet the appetite across the vast cultural feast taking shape across Edinburgh's events and venues this August.

But there should still be something special when the first audiences return to the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF).

In the official guide this year, programme director Kate Taylor freely admits the line-up showcases "a festival that almost ceased to exist".

The loss of the EIFF is as unthinkable now as it was back in October when the news broke that both the event and its beloved Filmhouse headquarters had suddenly ceased trading due to the financial collapse of its operator.

The sense of shock, confusion, anger and bewilderment at the treatment of these two cultural institutions – and the lack of any real explanation or apology – is still palpable in Edinburgh. But today is undoubtedly the most optimistic and significant for the EIFF’s future since then.

Taylor was one of three senior figures involved in the 2022 event who set about trying to bring the festival back from the dead.

Their tentative rescue plan secured enough backing from the Scottish Government, its Screen Scotland and Creative Scotland agencies, and the city council for a six-day event, staged as part of the Edinburgh International Festival.

A programme with just 24 new feature films, less than a third of what was on offer last year, undoubtedly feels a lot thinner and the absence of the Filmhouse will be keenly felt in August.

But, for me, Tayor and her team deserve great credit for what they have come up with in the space of less than four months, since the festival got the green light from its funders.

The most impressive element is the sheer range of international work lined up, from the likes of Argentina, Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea and the United States.

The thinking behind last year's drive to attract more diverse audiences to the EIFF has been retained across a carefully-curated programme offering choice selections of cinematic activism, queer stories, cutting-edge animation, stylish thrillers and a modest, but impressive showcase of Scottish talent, old and new.

Crucial links to the EIFF's past have pride of place, including the launch of a work-in-progress documentary and project inspired by trailblazing former director Linda Myles, the first woman to take the helm of a film festival anywhere in the world.

Although the reborn EIFF will deploy just two cinema venues, the Vue and the Everyman in the east end, the EIFF's Cinema Under The Stars event will make a comeback at Edinburgh University's Old College Quad, with a line-up notably more dedicated to serious and new world cinema than before. And at Edinburgh College of Art, new "Sunday Salon" events will be staged in partnership with the book and art festivals.

With the International Festival clearly playing a key role in the EIFF's survival and revival this year, closer collaboration between Edinburgh's major cultural events is not only sensible given the pressures on public funding, but full of potential for exciting and imaginative alliances.

But that is for the future. This August, there will be a sense of relief, joy and celebration the EIFF is firmly back in the family fold.