Edinburgh Film Festival 2024: 9 brilliant films to book tickets for now

‘It’s a coup for us to open with “The Outrun”, Nora Fingscheidt's film of Amy Liptrot’s 2016 novel about recovery from alcoholism. Liptrot is a Scottish author and the film was shot in Orkney and at Edinburgh’s FirstStage Studios, so there's a meaningful connection with Scotland and the city itself, but it also feels international. Saoirse Ronan delivers an incredible central performance in it.’

‘This is a fantastic Norwegian film starring Renate Reinsve from “The Worst Person in the World”. It's set around a primary school and a scandal that unfolds when a child makes an accusation against another child. It has the same quality as Thomas Vinterberg’s “The Hunt”. The first section plays out largely as a single debate but then it does something you’re not expecting, something wild and becomes this whole other film. An incredible film.’

‘We’re launching Midnight Madness, honouring the festival's tradition of late-night cinema. The festival has always showcased genre titles – the UK premiere of “Alien” happened here – and a film like “The Substance” fits that perfectly. I'm so excited by the visceral reaction people will have when it's 2am and the last 20 minutes kicks in. What a ride – it’s such a cool film.’

'Mark Cousins’ new film is a documentary about Scottish artists Wilhelmina Barns-Graham. It won the main prize at Karlovy Vary film festival and it's a really vivid, powerful film about an unsung artist. Documentaries are really integral to the Edinburgh programme – they don't have their own dedicated strand.'

‘This is another doc: a Norwegian film about a family that abandons quote-unquote conventional civilisation to live off the land, and how they readapt to a more traditional lifestyle after a tragedy. It’s very moving in how it observes the family and their efforts to live up to their environmental principles. It feels like “The Wolfpack” in the way it grounds you in the experience of these people who’ve lived a very different kind of life.’

‘Director Daisy-May Hudson made 2015's “Half Way”, a documentary about her experience of extreme poverty in the UK. And her new drama is about a woman who is released from prison and tries to start a normal life with her kids, but then faces problems because of the complexities of social services. It reminds me of “God's Own Country” in the hopeful twist it puts on social realism. It's such a breath of fresh air.’

‘For a completely different perspective, look out for this Competition entry. It’s an Iranian diaspora story set in Montreal, and it's about how an Iranian community comes together around this one guy who's a bit of a charlatan. He cons people into believing that they can forgo a trip to the Middle East and pay tribute to this shrine that he builds instead. It reminds me of a film like “A Serious Man” in its religious paranoia and the sense of the world around this guy narrowing and narrowing. It's a very funny film.’

‘This film is shot in Yorkshire by a director called Jack King, and it’s a really beautiful character study about two illegal immigrants working together at a car cleaning shop who set out to get rid of the body of a colleague who’s killed himself. That makes it sound incredibly depressing. But this is a really uplifting piece – a tender story about people bonding across language and circumstance barriers. It's beautifully shot in black and white, too.’

‘This is our Closing Film, a really rousing documentary about the history of girl bands from the ’60s to the present day. It shows how they wrestled with the sexism and misogyny of the music industry, but also how they survived. Bands like The Hedrons and Lung Leg feature, but there’s music in it from every conceivable genre.’

The 77th Edinburgh International Film Festival runs August 15-21. Head to the official site for the full programme and to buy tickets.