5 days ago
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The Edinburgh International Film Festival has announced a marquee lineup of filmmakers, actors and industry figures for its expanded 2026 industry program, featuring Kenneth Branagh, Ewan McGregor, Bruce Dern and Ken Burns alongside producers, executives and emerging talent across five days of talks, panels and networking events.
Branagh will receive the festival’s inaugural Outstanding Contribution to Cinema Award and participate in an on-stage conversation. McGregor will take part in a separate in-conversation event in partnership with BAFTA Scotland. Both Burns and Dern will take part in one-on-one Q&As at the event.
Acclaimed indie producer Christine Vachon (Carol, Past Lives) will headline multiple industry talks at Edinburgh, including a session called “Would This Get Made?” alongside executives from Film4, BBC Film and U.K. distributor Altitude discussing what projects greenlit in past decades would make it if pitched in 2026.
On August 15, the festival will launch its inaugural UK Film Conference, billed as a state-of-the-nation assessment of independent British filmmaking. The conference will open with a keynote from British Film Institute CEO Ben Roberts in conversation with Picturehouse director Clare Binns, examining the future of UK independent film.
The genre-focused “New Nightmares” session will feature filmmaker Max Minghella and directors Prano Bailey-Bond, Chee Keong Cheung and Joby Stephens, moderated by horror content creator Chris Mayo.
Additional programming includes a session on adapting literature for cinema featuring authors, screenwriters and producers from the festival’s official selection films “Extra Geography” and “Borges and Me.” An industry talk titled “Unmaking the Colonial Gaze in Cinema” will explore colonialism’s generational impact on cinema with filmmaker Paul Sng.
The five days of programming, running August 13-19, will include daily networking brunches and drinks in partnership with organizations including the British Film Institute, Women in Film and Television, BAFTA Scotland, Screen Scotland and ScreenSkills.
“We could not be prouder of this year’s Industry Programme at EIFF which offers up a diverse and starry range of guests, talks, lively discussions and networking opportunities for Scottish, UK and international folk looking to make connections and hear from some leading experts in their fields, all more accessible than ever before,” said EIFF CEO and Festival Director Paul Ridd. “Our inaugural UK Film Conference is something of the jewel in our crown, but there are so many more must-attend events elsewhere in the programme, all encompassing our fundamental mission to be the home of independent cinema in the UK.”
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