This week, submissions opened for the 79th edition of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF).
The festival showcases filmmaking from Scotland and around the world and features both seasoned professionals and young filmmakers attempting to make their mark.
The festival runs concurrently with the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) and Fringe in August.
EIFF is one of the most prestigious in Scotland’s autumn film festival circuit and last year featured new work from filmmakers from 36 countries across the globe.
The EIFF is offering tens of thousands in prize money to film hopefuls entering their festival (C) Edinburgh International Film Festival / X
The festival this year will run from 13 to 19 August.
Filmmakers are being asked to prepare submissions for a range of prizes and for featuring at the festival by 17 April.
Two awards are up for grabs at the festival.
The first being the Sean Connery prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence, which was last year awarded to Abdolreza Kahani’s Mortician, a Canadian drama film concerning the Iranian expatriate experience.
The Award is given to the most accomplished feature film that had its world premiere at the festival and comes with a cash prize of £50,000.
Films must have their world premiere at the festival to be considered and eligible films are selected at the discretion of the festival director.
The other prize is The Thelma Schoonmaker Prize for Short Filmmaking Excellence, awarded to the finest short film showcased at the festival, awarded last year to Joanna Vymeris’s Mother Goose.
The award carried a cash prize of £15,000 and is open to any short film which has its world premiere at the festival.
Again, eligible films are selected at the discretion of the festival director.
EIFF defines a short film as anything shorter that 30 minutes long and a feature film as anything longer than that.
Festival organisers outlined a series of criteria for films to be considered for featuring at the festival:
“Films must have, at minimum and without exception, the UK Premiere available. EIFF is particularly interested in World Premieres.
“Films must not be older than 12 months by the start of EIFF 2026 i.e. cannot have been publicly screened anywhere, online or in person, prior to 13 August 2025.
“EIFF regards a short film as 30 minutes or under and a feature film as anything over 30 minutes.
“Films that are available to purchase are not eligible. This includes Blu-ray/DVD/online digital download formats.
“Promotional films are not eligible (e.g. films promoting tourism, charitable appeals, etc.).”
Films are to be submitted via festival submission platform FilmFreeway, with fees varying based on when a film is submitted.
If filmmakers submit now, they can get early bird submission, which will cost them $55 (around £40) for a short and $80 (around £59) for a feature.
On 6 February, however, early bird submission ends, and it rolls onto regular submission, which will cost $75 (around £55) for a short and $100 (around £74) for a feature.
Regular submission ends on 13 March and late submission begins, which will cost $95 (around £70) for a short and $125 (around £93) for a feature.
Refunds are unavailable once films are submitted, even if a film is not selected.
The final deadline for submission is 17 April.
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