Edinburgh International Film Festival Wraps Successful 2023 Edition
Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has wrapped its six-day 2023 edition with over 10,000 in-person attendees, and 71% of cinema screenings sold out.
A total of 10,277 guests attended the festival between August 18-23, with an overall cinema occupancy of 82%.
The festival played 75 cinema screenings, 10 outdoor screenings, and five discussion events, in a compact program concentrated on deeper engagement.
The program included 24 feature films, five retrospective titles, and five short film selections; with seven further features played on an outdoor screening weekend.
More than 75 guests attended the festival to present their films, including directors Hope Dickson Leach, Shane Meadows, Jeanie Finlay, Ira Sachs, and Ella Glendining; and actors Lorn Macdonald, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, and Ella Lily Hyland.
Cinemas participating in the festival included Vue Edinburgh Omni Centre and Everyman Edinburgh; while outdoor screenings took place at the Old College Quad at The University of Edinburgh.
This year’s festival was hosted by Edinburgh International Festival (EIF), following last year’s closure of the Centre for the Moving Image, the parent charity which previously ran EIFF.
In March EIF confirmed the return of the event in a one-off edition, headed by program director Kate Taylor, and run in collaboration with Screen Scotland.
“This year’s film festival has shown that there is an unquenchable appetite in this city for independent and international cinema,” said Taylor. We have been so delighted and moved by the conversations that have taken place between filmmakers and audiences, and the warmth with which people have engaged with the program.
“I am beyond proud to have worked alongside the EIFF team who, since March, have worked with great passion and speed to deliver something special, and we all hope that the event’s success offers a beacon for a brighter future for EIFF and film culture in the city.”
The festival opened with Johnny Barrington’s BBC Film and BFI-backed Scottish title Silent Roar; and closed with Babak Jalali’s drama Fremont starring Anaita Wali Zada and Jeremy Allen White.
The festival also held Talent Assemble, an industry gathering delivered in partnership with BBC Film, BBC Scotland, and MG Alba; and hosted the launch of The Lynda Myles Project, an event honoring former EIFF director Lynda Myles and aiming to create a new form of cinephile activism.
EIFF is backed by Screen Scotland, with support for audience engagement activities from the Scottish Government’s Festivals Expo Fund and the PLaCE program.