77th Edinburgh International Film Festival Unveils Lineup, Closes with 'Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland’s Girl Bands'

Since Yesterday: The Untold Story Of Scotland’s Girl Bands (EIFF / Credit: Euan Robertson)

The 77th edition of the relaunched Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) runs from Thursday 15 August to Wednesday 21 August, 2024 with a lineup of 37 new feature films, 18 World Premieres including 10 World Premieres competing for the new Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence, 4 retrospective screenings, 5 short film programs including the new Thelma Schoonmaker Prize for Short Filmmaking Excellence competition, an In Conversation event with filmmaker Gaspar Noé and a strand of Midnight Madness screenings.

Opening Night film is Nora Fingscheidt’s The Outrun, starring Saoirse Ronan, and the Closing Night film is the World Premiere of Carla J. Easton and Blair Young’s new documentary Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland’s Girl Bands.

The competition films are Arash Rakhsha’s urgent documentary All The Mountains Give; Jack King’s powerful Yorkshire-set drama The Ceremony; Mary Jiménez and Bénédicte Liénard’s richly poetic Fugue (Fuga); Will Seefried’s haunting queer drama Lilies Not For Me; Daisy-May Hudson’s stirring film Lollipop; Abdolreza Kahani’s subversive comedy drama A Shrine; Bryan Carberry’s clear-eyed take on artificial intelligence smiles and kisses you; Nina Conti’s absurdist road movie Sunlight; Kelsey Taylor’s dark psychological thriller To Kill A Wolf; and Manuela Irene’s delicately moving Xibalba Monster (Monstruo de Xibalba).

The Out of Competition films are Sophie Fiennes’s immersive documentary about theatre-makers Cheek by Jowl and The Scottish Play in Acting; Daniel Reisinger’s bittersweet comedy And Mrs starring Aisling Bea and Colin Hanks; Halfdan Ullmann Tønde’s Camera D’Or Winner Armand featuring Renate Reinsve; Nathan Silver’s elegantly observed comedy Between the Temples; Guan Hu’s Un Certain Regard Main Prize Winner Black Dog; Constance Tsang’s Blue Sun Palace about loneliness and human connection; Ben Rivers’ Bogancloch about a hermit living in the Scottish wilderness; Suzanne Smith and Sylvia Solf’s dance-filled South African documentary Joy Dancer; Wei Liang Chiang and You Qiao Yin’s compassionate drama Mongrel; Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha’s profoundly moving meditation on loneliness My Favourite Cake; Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s Sundance Grand Jury prize winning documentary A New Kind of Wilderness; Ishan Shukla’s unique and timely animated nightmare Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust; Greg Kwedar’s transcendent prison drama Sing Sing; Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s brutal take on classic Western and Samurai films Steppenwolf; Mark Cousins’s new documentary on Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things; Polly Steele’s starkly honest documentary The Mountain Within Me; Euros Lyn’s fresh reimagining of the vampire genre The Radleys, starring Damian Lewis and Kelly Macdonald; and Alice Lowe’s uniquely entertaining Timestalker.

Bookending the new Midnight Madness strand is the UK Premiere of Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus and the UK Premiere of Coralie Fargeat’s celebrated new body horror The Substance. Feature-length titles in the strand are Jack Clark and Jim Weir’s Australian psychological horror Birdeater; Kit Redstone and Arran Shearing’s enigmatic and unexpected King Baby; Damian Mc Carthy’s dread-inducing haunted house story Oddity, co-presented by The Evolution of Horror Podcast; and James Clarke and Daniel Shephard’s adrenaline fuelled thriller Sunray: Fallen Soldier which stars a cast of former Royal Marine Commandos.

2024 Edinburgh International Film Festival Film Film Lineup

Opening Films

THE OUTRUN (Nora Fingscheidt, UK) UK Premiere
A powerfully honest drama about addiction, survival, and the power of nature to renew hope. With an extraordinary central performance from Saoirse Ronan, striking use of Orkney locations and an evocative sense of mood, place and time, Amy Liptrot’s best-selling memoir is vividly adapted for the screen.

ALIEN: ROMULUS (Fede Álvarez, US) UK Premiere | Midnight Madness.
A spectacular new entry in the iconic franchise. Whilst exploring a derelict space station a group of young people encounter the most terrifying life force in the universe in this ferociously entertaining new vision for Alien.

Closing Films

SINCE YESTERDAY: THE UNTOLD STORY OF SCOTLAND’S GIRL BANDS (Blair Young, Carla J Easton, UK) World Premiere presented by Girls on Film and EIFF
A revealing, funny and enraging documentary tracking the history of Scottish girl bands from the 1960s to the present. This scrapbook panorama view of Scottish pop music explores bands, cliques and movements that emerged in the country across decades, exposing the challenges faced in a male dominated world.

THE SUBSTANCE (Coralie Fargeat, US) UK Premiere
Starring a superb Demi Moore, get set for high-style gore in this dark and bloody comedy. A Hollywood superstar facing the ageism and sexism of an industry that is swiftly forgetting her is faced with an intriguing proposition.

The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence

ALL THE MOUNTAINS GIVE (Arash Rakhsha, Iran) World Premiere
A powerful documentary about the Kolbari covert goods trades between the Kurdish cities and towns of Iran and borders of Iraq, the film follows friends Hamid and Yasser as they balance fragile work and family lives.

THE CEREMONY (Jack King, UK) World Premiere
A fight over stolen property – and a tragic death – brings together two migrant workers as they search for a suitable burial place. Shot in black and white against a rolling Yorkshire landscape, this drama packs a powerful punch.

FUGA (Mary Jiménez, Bénédicte Liénard, Belgium) World Premiere
A richly poetic journey to the heart of the Peruvian jungle, where a lover must be laid to rest. This drama – where we uncover lives of intimidation and violence – has a unique visual and sonic style.

LILIES NOT FOR ME (Will Seefried, US) World Premiere
Told through elegant flashbacks, two men wrestle with their sexuality in the repressive English society of the 1920s. Exploring a neglected period in queer history, this drama is defined by a haunting mix of romanticism and unflinching honesty.

LOLLIPOP (Daisy-May Hudson, UK) World Premiere
A stirring drama about a mother desperate to maintain custody of her children, following her release from prison. When things seem dark for Molly (Posy Sterling), an encounter with an old friend may spark something new.

A SHRINE (Abdolreza Kahani, Canada) World Premiere
A mobile religious shrine acts as a get-rich-quick scheme for an ambitious man. But there may be consequences… This subversive comedy drama also offers an intriguing and offbeat window into the diasporic Iranian community in Montreal.

SMILES AND KISSES YOU (Bryan Carberry, US) World Premiere
The relationship between a man and his life-size AI-animated doll is explored in this moving documentary. A clear eyed and open hearted take on machine learning and loneliness, in an age of algorithmic dating apps.

SUNLIGHT (Nina Conti, UK) World Premiere
An absurd, original and darkly comic road movie about a monkey, a man and a dead man’s watch. Written, produced and directed by EdFringe favourite Nina Conti, the comedian stars as a life-size iteration of her stand-up sidekick.

TO KILL A WOLF (Kelsey Taylor, US) World Premiere
Reimagining the classic fable Little Red Riding Hood, a young girl is discovered in the snowy Oregon landscapes by a social pariah. This dark psychological drama interrogates trauma, grief and redemption in a dangerous world.

XIBALBA MONSTER (Manuela Irene, Mexico) World Premiere
A young boy forms an unlikely friendship with an ageing hermit while struggling to make sense of the death of his parents. This delicately moving film explores the circle of life, the human experience and the order of the natural world.

Out Of Competition Features

ACTING (Sophie Fiennes, UK) World Premiere
In an old castle, a dozen young actors work on Shakespeare’s Scottish Play (Macbeth) with an insightful theatre director. This immersive documentary looks behind the scenes at the acting process, and is a celebration of artistic collaboration.

AND MRS (Daniel Reisinger, UK) World Premiere
When Gemma’s (Aisling Bea) fiancé (Colin Hanks) dies shortly before their wedding day, she decides to marry him anyway. An unconventional romantic comedy which explores fidelity, strength and the lengths we go to honour our commitments.

ARMAND (Halfdan Ullmann Tønde, Norway) UK Premiere
Camera D’Or Winner, Cannes 2024
Elizabeth (Renate Reinsve) is shocked to discover that her son has been accused of crossing boundaries at school. A tightly wound and exhilarating drama examining the assumptions that adults can make when trying to uncover the truth.

BETWEEN THE TEMPLES (Nathan Silver, US) UK Premiere
A cantor having a crisis of faith is reunited with his high school music teacher, who is intent on having a late life Bat Mitzvah. This elegantly observed comedy drama delicately balances farce and romance.

BLACK DOG (Guan Hu, Taiwan) UK Premiere
Un Certain Regard Main Prize Winner,Cannes 2024
Returning to his hometown following time in prison, a young man befriends a stray whippet in this tale of companionship and redemption. This profound and moving drama is a soulful delight for dog lovers everywhere.

BLUE SUN PALACE (Constance Tsang, US) UK Premiere
Far from home, Amy and Didi have built new lives for themselves in Flushing, Queens. But tragedy will break the world they have created. A beautiful drama about absence, grief and the human need for connection.

BOGANCLOCH (Ben Rivers, UK) UK Premiere
Observing a solitary soul at the edge of the world, this mesmerising documentary follows forest-dwelling hermit Jake Williams as he lives a self-contained existence in the Scottish wilderness. The director revisits his subject after Two Years at Sea (2011).

JOY DANCER (Suzanne Smith, Sylvia Solf, US) World Premiere
A dance-filled documentary about South African choreographer and activist Gregory Maqoma and composer Thuthuka Sibisi, and their creation of a dance theatre piece based on the true story of the first Black South African choir travelling to the UK.

MONGREL (Wei Liang Chiang, You Qiao Yin, Taiwan) UK Premiere
An undocumented Thai careworker in a remote region of Taiwan navigates a lack of status and currency alongside the people he looks after. This compassionate drama observes people disenfranchised by a system that barely acknowledges them.

MY FAVOURITE CAKE (Maryam Moghadam, Behtash Sanaeeha) UK Premiere
An elderly Iranian widow befriends a lonely taxi driver in Tehran, railing against strict social structures. A profoundly moving meditation on ageing, loneliness and love in unexpected places – and a reflection on societal repression of both men and women.

A NEW KIND OF WILDERNESS (Silje Evensmo Jacobsen, Norway)
Grand Jury Prize & World Cinema Documentary Winner, Sundance 2024
When a tragic event shatters the world of the Payne family, they are forced to give up their idyllic, off-the-grid lifestyle in the Norwegian wilderness. An ode to nature and resilience, this documentary is warm, potent and deeply moving.

SCHIRKOA: IN LIES WE TRUST (Ishan Shukla, India) UK Premiere
Animation NETPAC Award Winner, Rotterdam 2024
In a dystopian world where differences are erased, pressures mount towards revolution. Spectacularly animated using video game technology, our societal fears about social control and liberation are confronted in this unique and timely nightmare.

SING SING (Greg Kwedar, US) European Premiere Presented by We Are Parable and EIFF
With a career-best performance from Colman Domingo, this poignant drama unfolds in the walls of the notorious Sing Sing prison in upstate New York. A story of resilience and the restorative impact of art, it offers us pieces of hope in even the darkest places.

STEPPENWOLF (Adilkhan Yerzhanov, Kazakhstan) UK Premiere
A woman searching for her son encounters a corrupt sociopathic investigator who will stop at nothing to carve the way forward for them both. This is a dystopian, modern and brutal take on classic Western and Samurai films, with an unlikely female heart.

A SUDDEN GLIMPSE TO DEEPER THINGS (Mark Cousins, UK) UK Premiere
This riveting documentary focuses on the life and work of Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, 20 years after her death. Exploring the artist’s life and her wordless language of colour, new ways of seeing are found.

THE MOUNTAIN WITHIN ME (Polly Steele, UK) World Premiere
Following an almost fatal injury, rugby player Ed Jackson’s recovery is charted through a new-found love for mountaineering. This courageous documentary is starkly honest and unsentimental in its examination of a life forever changed.

THE RADLEYS (Euros Lyn UK) World Premiere
A bloodthirsty, dark comedy about a suppressed family of vampires. Adapted from Matt Haig’s (The Midnight Library) titular novel by comedian Jo Brand and writer Talitha Stevenson, this is a fresh, inventive reimagining of the vampire genre.

TIMESTALKER (Alice Lowe, UK) UK Premiere.
Screening with short film DON’T HATE ME (Grace Campbell, UK)
Would you chase true love across centuries? With a reincarnation twist, this romantic comedy is full of big hair and a big heart. Emotionally insightful and entertaining, and with a terrific supporting cast, this hilarious and moving film is truly unique.

Midnight Madness

BIRDEATER (Jack Clark, Jim Weir, Australia) UK Premiere (M/M)
Screening with short film MAKE ME A PIZZA (Talia Shea Levin, US) UK Premiere
When Irene joins fiancé Louis on his stag-do in the remote Australian bush, the night slowly devolves into chaos. Blending psychological horror with an exploration of toxic masculinity, audiences will be on the edge of their seats.

KING BABY (Kit Redstone, Arran Shearing, UK) UK Premiere
Screening with short film DUCK (Rachel Maclean, Scotland)
Prompted by a royal vision, a king and his servant carve themselves a queen. A surreal comedy about serving others, arrogance, and the slippery nature of power. Enigmatic performances make for a royally unexpected watch.

ODDITY (Damian Mc Carthy, Ireland) UK Premiere
Screening with short film ONE MORE ROUND (Zach Magid, Andrew Tyrell, US) UK Premiere
A medium is determined to find her sister’s murderer with the support of an unnerving wooden mannequin. Set in rural Ireland, this ghoulish haunted house horror is a dread-inducing thrill ride from start to finish.

SUNRAY: FALLEN SOLDIER (James Clarke, Daniel Shephard, UK) World Premiere
Screening with short film MEAT PUPPET (Eros V, UK) UK Premiere
Created by and starring former Royal Marines Commandos, this adrenaline fuelled thriller follows a war veteran seeking justice in a violent criminal world. The film also offers a hard-hitting portrayal of PTSD.

Lynda Myles Celebrates…

GALA AND KIWI (Axel Cheb Terrab, Argentina) World Premiere
Screening with short film SIESTA (Gustavo Rene Sanabria, Argentina)
During a wild drunken night, two women face hard truths about their friendship. This gritty and emotional drama is a dazzling showcase for new talent, and will be introduced by producer, screenwriter and former EIFF Director, Lynda Myles.

Special Events and Retrospectives

I KNOW WHERE I’M GOING! (Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell, 1945 UK)
Iconic editor Thelma Schoonmaker delivers an extended intro to Powell and Pressburger’s 1945 romantic masterpiece. Moving, funny and deeply serious in its exploration of love, history and the secrets buried in the remote Mull landscape.

IN CONVERSATION: GASPAR NOÉ

We are joined by the iconic filmmaker and master provocateur for a wide-ranging discussion of his career and filmmaking.

SUSPIRIA (Dario Argento, 1977 Italy)
Director Gaspar Noé presents a cult classic. An American newcomer to a prestigious ballet academy comes to realise that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.

THE UNTOUCHABLES (Brian De Palma, 1987 US)
The Festival welcomes The Connery Foundation and members of the Connery family to present a special screening of Brian De Palma’s iconic gangland thriller.

PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE (Brian De Palma, 1974 US)
Featuring a knockout soundtrack, spectacular production design and standout performances from Paul Williams, William Finley and Jessica Harper, prepare for a sensory delight.

Competition Shorts

PATERNAL ADVICE (Lisa Clarkson, Scotland) World Premiere
A starkly realist short from Scottish director Lisa Clarkson exploring tough love and masculinity passed down the generations.

HOMEWORK (Jamie di Spirito, UK) World Premiere
A powerful film about the secrets kept between a mother and her daughters from British director Jamie di Spirito. Director: Jamie di Spirito.

MY DAD AND THE VOLCANO (Gavin Reid, Scotland) World Premiere
Scottish director Gavin Reid explores his relationship with his father and his art in this quirky and poignant documentary short.

MY EXPLODING HOUSE (Liberty Smith, UK) World Premiere
An experimental documentary by British director Liberty Smith investigating her mother’s thirty-year-old memory of their old house being blown up for a television film.

NICO (Max Olson, US) World Premiere
American director Max Olson debuts their unique visual style, in this bold and haunting short about a trans man who reminds an elderly widow of her late husband.

MANNY WOLFE (Trevor Neuhoff, US) World Premiere
A funny and moving spin on classic noir featuring a werewolf actor who can’t catch a break in Hollywood, directed by Trevor Neuhoff.

SHOAL (Cardumen) (Inés Villanueva) World Premiere
Given the task of writing a song about molluscs and existentialism, a young singer works on her entry during a birthday party in this beautiful Argentine comedy from Inés Villanueva.

THE JUBILEE (Wilma Smith, Scotland) World Premiere
Blending live-action with napkin-based stop-motion animation, this Scottish short directed by Wilma Smith explores dementia through a new and potent lens.