Edinburgh International Film Festival joins forces with Fringe to use 'unique' new venues

The festival taking place in August will see 'unusual' venues used to show films.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival has announced a 'landmark' collaboration with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to use new venues.

The 77th edition of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) will take place between August 15 and 21 this year, with “non-traditional” venues among those being used to show films.

Spaces in Summerhall and others at the heart of the Fringe will serve as unique EIFF venues, closer to wider Fringe activity including theatre, music and comedy,

The future of the world’s oldest continually running film festival was thrown into doubt in 2022, when organisers went into administration, along with the Filmhouse cinema. But EIFF went ahead last year as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, and a new organisation was established to lead a “revitalised” future.

Edinburgh Filmhouse is set to reopen two years after it closed with the help of £1.5 million funding from the UK Government.

EIFF Director, Paul Ridd has said:

“We are so excited by the possibilities of August in Edinburgh and the shape of our programme as it comes together. Our collaboration with the Fringe will grow a powerful relationship between audiences across artistic forms. We will tap into the creative energy that is everywhere in the city, encouraging critics, tastemakers and above all audiences to engage with each other and all that is on show.”

This year’s cinema hub will be the Cameo Cinema on Home Street, one of the original venues for EIFF and home to some of its most iconic moments, including a speech from Orson Welles as part of the Festival in 1953.