Edinburgh Film Festival Director on Lineup, ‘Obsession’ and Politics

The 2026 Edinburgh International Film Festival lineup is here, and director Paul Ridd thinks its their greatest competition slate since they rebooted the event three years ago. “I’ve been very proud of everything we’ve done in 2024 [and] 2025,” Ridd begins to The Hollywood Reporter. “But this one, I think, is really kind of surpassing expectations.”

It is indeed his and festival producer Emma Boa’s third year at the helm of this ship, and it’s safe to say they’ve navigated uncharted waters. In an unstable industry with IP, nepotism and maybe even now artificial intelligence ruling supreme, Ridd and Boa have doubled down on emerging filmmakers with original stories.

Their hyped-up competition schedule is indicative of that modus operandi: There’s Lindsay Ryan’s comedy debut Capsized, starring Rhys Ifans, about a houseboat holiday thrown into disarray; Thom Lunshof’s feature debut First Zone in which a woman navigates a flooded and desolate post-apocalyptic landscape; Paul Wright’s psychological portrait Mission with George MacKay; and Simon Rynink’s 1999-set Out There starring Michael Sheen, who joins a gang of misfits to uncover a UFO conspiracy in a sleepy Welsh town, among others.

It’s a lesson learned from Sundance, Ridd explains to THR — from the late, great Robert Redford himself, in fact. “Anyone coming away from that [would be] moved not only by his passing but also by the immense legacy that he’s left with that festival,” says Ridd, who heads to Park City, Utah every year looking to nab some of the most promising features (he came away this January with Louis Paxton’s The Incomer, which is set to open this year’s edition on August 13).

There is also, as always, an almighty batch of world premieres, U.K. premieres, Midnight Madness films, live-action shorts and animation shorts on the cards: Gregg Araki’s I Want Your Sex with Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman, Her Private Hell from Nicolas Winding Refn and the Cannes-premiering Sheep in the Box from Hirokazu Kore-eda among them. Ewan McGregor will make an appearance to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Trainspotting, Kenneth Branagh will impart wisdom, as will U.S. producer Christine Vachon at separate In Conversation events.

It is another year of chaos for Paul Ridd, but he’s confident that Edinburgh will also solidify its place on the festival circuit as a guaranteed launchpad for up-and-coming directors, while also providing the handful of Hollywood faces required to generate some buzz. Below, he catches up with THR about this year’s lineup, why Obsession was such a spark of genius from TIFF festival programmers, and his stance on the ever-growing burden of confronting world politics at film festivals: “We live in a very difficult and brutal and conflicted world, so naturally the art that emanates out of that world will reflect it and refract it and engage with it — and we want to be that platform.”

I wanted to kick off by asking about your opening statement on the lineup brochure, where you mention that Robert Redford and Sundance are a north star for Edinburgh. Can you elaborate on that influence?

I think anybody who was in Sundance this January, as I was fortunate enough to be, who was witness to some of the events, the memorials around Redford… Anyone coming away from that [would be] moved not only by his passing but also by the immense legacy that he’s left with that festival, which is also in a period of transition as it changes city. For us, obviously, we’re new to this, this is the third year of our rebooted version of the festival — the festival does have a decades-long history, it’s one of the oldest film festivals in the world. But in terms of what we’re trying to do, I think for us the inspiration of Sundance, with everything that it has done for independent filmmakers, emerging voices, new talent, taking that talent out into the world and giving it that commercial, as well as curatorial launch pad, that’s always been an ambition for what we want to do with [Edinburgh]. That speaks to the DNA of what we’re about. So, having the Sean Connery Prize for feature filmmaking excellence, having the Therma Schoonmaker Prize for shorts, it’s all about finding those new voices, those new and emerging filmmakers who we can give a proper world premiere launch to and then hopefully enable some possibilities for them going forward, whether that’s for the films that they show or the films that they want to make.

We’ve had a really strong success rate in the last year, just from the 10 films that we had in competition. Seven of those films have gone on to have U.S. or U.K. distribution, or both. But when Sundance first started, when it was first launching, the discovery of Sex, Lies and Videotape and all those great movies in the ’90s that turned the festival into a huge launch pad for the industry, that’s the direction of travel that I hope we’re heading towards.

Is it fair to say, then, that when you’re going to these festivals and checking out potential films for the Edinburgh lineup, the priority is more on emerging voices and lesser-known filmmakers than those star-studded U.K. premieres?

It’s a mix. For us, a lot of our discovery happens through our submissions process — films that are sent to us for consideration from the filmmakers or producers — [and] a lot of it happens from all the networking that we do with those producers or sales agents. When we’re talking specifically about films that have played in other festivals, like our opener, The Incomer, or the Berlin prize winner, Queen at Sea with Juliette Binoche, or the Nicolas Winding Refn movie [Her Private Hell], I guess it’s trying to find that balance between U.K. premieres that also almost [serve as] a gateway for certain audiences to get to the films that we’re showing in competition or out of competition — the ones that are world premieres, that don’t necessarily have those big names attached. Any festival is always going to be looking for a mix, but for us, yes, the fundamental building blocks of what we’re trying to achieve, and the way in which we’re trying to live up to that moniker of being the home of independent cinema in the U.K., is fundamentally connected to those new and emerging voices.

The Incomer performed well at Sundance. How soon did you know you’d like it to open Edinburgh? How important is it that it’s a Scottish story?

I think we knew from the moment we saw it that we wanted to have it in the festival, and I think having that slot for opening is perfect, because the film itself is such a unique vision and has such a unique voice to it. There’s no specific goal for us to always open or close with a Scottish movie. The first year, The Outrun opened, last year Sorry, Baby from the amazing Eva Victor. I think what unites these three openers is they’re fierce, independent voices, and they embody something exciting.

I’m very happy that we’re opening with a Scottish film and closing with a Scottish film this year. That’s a fantastic moment for Scottish cinema, but then there’s so much other Scottish work. This year has been a bit of a bonanza for Scottish films at festivals, and for us, having the premieres of Bel and Borges and Me and Douglas Gordon by Douglas Gordon and The Education of Jane Cunning, all of this stuff, it speaks to how exciting Scottish filmmaking is at the moment. I think you’ll love The Incomer. It feels like the most crowd-pleasing film that we’ve opened with so far.

I’m intrigued. Do you think this is something of a standout year for Scottish film? Why is that?

I think it speaks to all of the amazing work that is being done at a Screen Scotland level, but also on the wider infrastructure. It’s such an exciting time right now for Scottish film production, Scottish TV is such a great moment right now… All the Scottish work coming through in our festival, it just speaks to the fact that there’s a lot of exciting work that’s happening right now, and I think that’s just all the work that’s been done in the last few years to kind of cultivate those talents.

I know you have to be diplomatic when it comes to the competition lineup, but across the slate as a whole, what gets you excited? What captures the ethos of Edinburgh best?

I feel very confident that we’ve got the best competition lineup so far for us. I’ve been very proud of everything we’ve done in 2024, 2025, but this one, I think, is really kind of surpassing expectations. It’s wonderful to have really cool movies, like from my perspective, a celebration of Trainspotting with a big cast and crew Q and A, and a big DJ night with [Trainspotting novel writer] Irvine Welsh and [English DJ] Darren Emerson. That’s really exciting. If I were just picking two films out of competition that sort of embody what we’re all about… There’s a really beautiful short out of competition called Without Kelly that’s just stunning. It just lives with me. And then there’s the Gregg Araki movie I Want Your Sex. I’ve been a hardcore Gregg Araki fan since day one. So having that film is beautiful. But I don’t want to pick out any more, because I don’t want to give any specific bias to anything! I feel very confident that every film has a really compelling reason to be in the program.

That Trainspotting slot with Ewan is a great get. Kenneth Branagh, Ken Burns, too. What work goes into getting these names on stage, or are they surprisingly happy to do it?

Every conversation is different. Ewan’s recently moved back to Scotland, and he’s obviously made a big commitment to supporting Pitlochry [Festival Theatre] and being involved with us and doing lots of stuff. He’s come home in many ways, and obviously with the celebration of Trainspotting, that’s a very compelling reason to be at the festival, given that was his big breakout role. Then with Kenneth, we’ve always wanted to have somebody at the festival that is a multidisciplinarian, someone who’s worked in theater, someone who’s worked in film, someone who’s worked in adaptation. When you think about that huge body of work, celebrating that — even just in terms of the one screening we’re doing with Kenneth of his Hamlet film — I think that really speaks to our ambition to be not just a film festival that’s just showing films, it’s also about relating to the other arts things are happening in Edinburgh and August. So all the theater fans will, I’m sure, lap up that opportunity to see and hear from Kenneth Branagh.

And then people like Christine Vachon, she’s one of the most important producers in the world right now. Being able to secure her to come and talk about her amazing career is fantastic, but they’re all completely different conversations, and they all have different contingent elements to them. Some could be tied to things that are in the program, some could be conversations that we’ve been having for some years about facilitating people to come, but everybody, when you mention Edinburgh and when you mention everything that happens in Edinburgh in August, I think a lot of these people are just excited to be there, not only to support us, but just to see everything else that’s going on. August is the biggest arts festival in the world [here], so that’s a very compelling draw.

And the U.K. Film Conference, that’s a new edition this year?

Yes. So we’ve run industry workshops for the last couple of years, and we’ve done amazing sessions with great producers, commissioners, and filmmakers, but the film conference itself, that falls on the Saturday, [is new]. It starts with a big conversation between Ben Roberts, the CEO of the BFI, and Clare Binns, the creative director of Picturehouse. That will really set the tone for that day, which is just being plotted out now, to really engage in a conversation that will be open to industry pass holders, press, and public to talk about the future of independent film. [It’s] such a complex thing at the moment. We’ve been so thrilled to see the success of stuff like Obsession and Backrooms, because it gives you a bit of a boost to the sense that independent film and new voices and non-IP work have potential.

Does the success of films like Obsession and Backrooms pique your interest in the horror space a little more?

Yeah. Genre is a big part of what we’re doing, whether that’s been Midnight Madness or out of competition or even in competition [lineups]. When you look at the success of someone like Kane Parsons or the director of Obsession, Curry Barker, what you’re looking at is not just the success of original, non-IP genre work, but also filmmakers who are emerging from a kind of different space, a different tradition of working through YouTube and coming up with content that way. We look at that as an amazing boost for the audiences that want to come and engage with that work in cinema, and any news that a big independent film is doing well in the cinema is good news for us. But just looking at how those films were made and how they were developed, is an interesting new horizon for us.

You have those U.K. names, but also this touch of Hollywood with Christine [Vachon], the Martin Scorsese doc, or I Want Your Sex. Why is it so important to keep that string connecting Edinburgh with the U.S. taut? Does it help develop the profile of this festival?

Of course. You only have to look at Christine’s slate as a producer to see the kind of international filmmakers that she works with, so having somebody in our festival who is meeting and mingling with filmmakers that are emerging through our program is very exciting for us. In terms of that explicit connection to the U.S., obviously we are an international film festival, it’s in our name, so it behooves us and it benefits us to engage with the international industry. And that’s not just the U.S. — that’s the rest of the world [too].

As an international film festival director, what’s your reaction to the studio sit-out at Berlin and Cannes?

Obviously, we can’t speak to the priorities or outcomes of major film festivals or any other film festivals. That’s their concern. Coming out of Cannes, I was very, very encouraged by the quality and breadth and range, and even the star quality of the official competition, and even stuff in the sidebars as well. I didn’t feel like there was a massive impact in terms of the overall quality and you still had big American movies like the James Gray film [Paper Tiger]. That conversation about whether or not studios are reluctant to engage with festivals or don’t see them as useful launch pads… That’s a much, much bigger conversation about how studios approach release strategy, how they approach film criticism, how they’re positioning a movie. But from our perspective, we haven’t had any pushback from any of the big distributors that we’ve worked with. I think there’s still clearly a value seen in what we can do as a launch pad for films that have distribution into the awards conversation and into that distribution strategy. So we’re not feeling that burn at all.

I mean, we’ve just talked about Obsession, and we’ve just talked about Backrooms — those are two examples of very different approaches. Obsession was born out of a film festival. Obsession was an acquisition that came out of Toronto, and Toronto is the gold standard for genre when it comes to Midnight Madness — all credit to Peter [Kuplowsky, Midnight Madness programmer at TIFF] and that team for everything they did to support Obsession, and then to get that distribution deal that’s led to this huge global phenomenon — that I have to admit, I did not see coming. It’s amazing that it’s done so well.

In Berlin, talent were constantly asked about their political opinions at the film press conferences. It caused quite the controversy, as we all know. What’s your stance on whether movies should be political and talent having to answer on geopolitics at film festivals?

Well, I wouldn’t want to speak to the specifics of Berlin, because all I can say is that I’m very excited about what Tricia [Tuttle, Berlinale director] has coming up next and what she’ll do next year. It was obviously a very complex and difficult situation for lots of different people involved in the festival, and to have that moment be such the dominant thing about that festival, when there was so many films and so many amazing political works that could have been the subject of more conversation… For it to become about one area of focus for the press feels like a huge shame, because that’s not useful in terms of how we approach things.

Fundamentally, as a film festival, as Edinburgh, we are a platform for work. We’re not a mouthpiece, so we’re always that platform rather than a mouthpiece position. We’ll always want to show work that reflects our current situation, that engages with politics, that engages with different positions, and maybe presents different perspectives on different issues and different contexts and narratives. It’s the nature of the world that we live in. We live in a very difficult and brutal and conflicted world, so naturally the art that emanates out of that world will reflect it and refract it and engage with it, and we want to be that platform.

Finally, Paul, with the big news out of the TV festival, I have to ask: There’s no world in which you’ll be moving to Manchester anytime soon?

(Laughs.) Absolutely not. I moved up to Edinburgh in the beginning of 2024 with the sole purpose and vision to work with the team, and I’m one part of a much bigger infrastructure in terms of all the different teams that work tirelessly to deliver this festival… I see Edinburgh as beautiful and exciting, [the] biggest arts festival in the world. We are deeply connected to what’s going on in Edinburgh all year round, but specifically in August, because there’s that opportunity to cross-pollinate audiences [with the Fringe]… The idea of moving the film festival out of that cradle of creativity would be madness to us.