Edinburgh's Film Festival Opens With Christine Vachon and Ken Burns

The Edinburgh International Film Festival opens its 79th edition today, running through August 19, with an industry programme that puts a working producer and a documentary filmmaker ahead of any single premiere.

Nineteen Days, One Small City

This year's festival opens with Louis Paxton's "The Incomer" and runs its industry side alongside the public screenings rather than after them. Screen Scotland's rundown of the 2026 programme grouped the guest list around two ideas: people who make films get to talk shop, and the public gets to watch them do it. The festival's new UK Film Conference begins August 15, with sessions built around the future of independent film and low-budget production in the UK specifically — a subject Edinburgh has leaned into as larger UK festivals have drifted toward premieres and red carpets.

Photo: Peaceray · CC BY 4.0 · source

The Producer Who Made Carol and Past Lives

Christine Vachon is on the industry programme to talk through a career built on backing films most studios wouldn't, including "Carol" and "Past Lives." Variety's coverage of the lineup grouped her alongside Ewan McGregor and Kenneth Branagh as the names driving ticket interest in the industry side of the festival, which is a different kind of draw than a premiere red carpet — audiences here are showing up to hear how a film like "Past Lives" actually got financed and made, not just to see it.

Vachon's presence also fits Edinburgh's stated pitch this year: a festival built around films that needed someone stubborn behind them to exist at all.

Photos: Melinda Seckington at · · ; Kevin Paul · ·