Here you'll find a selection of the festivals supported by Screen Scotland and Creative Scotland.
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Africa in Motion (AiM) is an annual African film festival taking place in Scotland, consisting of film screenings and complementary events. Bringing the best of African cinema to Scotland—making it possible for Scottish audiences to engage with African stories and industry professionals from the continent. AiM has established itself as a major annual event within the Scottish cultural calendar, whilst also maintaining an international profile as one of the leading African film platforms. The festival caters to a varied and diverse audience from all over Scotland, the UK and further afield.
Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival is Scotland's festival of experimental film and artists' moving image and the flagship event of award-winning Alchemy Film & Arts in Hawick, Scottish Borders, known for the warmth and hospitality with which it is delivered. Alchemy works year-round with communities and artists on a programme of screenings, workshops, residencies, community filmmaking and its international festival, which screens a diverse range of experimental film in a warm, intimate and inclusive setting.
CinemaAttic has a year-round programme of festivals and screenings, including the Catalan Film Festival, which aims to bring independent cinema, specialising in Iberian and Latin American Culture, to local communities in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and beyond. To achieve their goals of creating communities around their events and being socially inclusive, they collaborate with organisations in the arts and third sectors to explore ways to enhance inclusivity and accessibility.
Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is the longest continually running film festival. With an emphasis upon new talent, discovery and innovation, EIFF’s vibrant programme of films and events showcase Scottish and international filmmaking at it’s best.
Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival (ESFF) focuses on showcasing creative, independent and diverse films from the Hispanic world with both Spanish and Latin-American titles, including new and classic films. The focused programme of 15 features, includes a programme of family events, panel discussions, workshops and culinary events, often with filmmakers in attendance.
Edinburgh TV Festival is famous for its provocative, informative and entertaining sessions, all created by seasoned TV producers ensuring they are of the highest quality and relevance. Offering more than 60 keynotes, debates and masterclasses, plus scores of networking opportunities, the festival draws around 2200 professionals from across the globe. The Edinburgh TV Festival maintains a reputation for being the must-attend event in the TV calendar.
French Film Festival was set up in 1992 and screens every November and December with launches in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London’s Cine Lumiere, and with the participation of venues throughout the UK. The festival exists to throw a focus on Francophone cinema in all its diversity and embraces independent cinemas outwith the main cities as well as established art house venues. An engagement with young audiences is pursued through links with universities, colleges and schools, with a range of special screenings and workshops by film professionals. Supporting educational packs are made available to teachers and community groups. Heritage cinema, from classics to documentaries, have a prominent place alongside animation, shorts and films by first- or second-time directors. Guests are encouraged to attend to support their films including actors, directors, writers, and musicians.
Folk Film Gathering seeks to continue the Utopian impulse of the 1950s Scottish Folk Revival, and takes inspiration from Hamish Henderson’s vision of Scotland as a small nation in dialogue with the world. The festival celebrates what might be considered ‘the people’s culture’, both in Scotland and further afield, celebrating and exploring the connections between the local and the global through cinema, as a means of bringing together the experiences of different communities in solidarity. The festival is hybrid, with in person screenings at the Cameo in Edinburgh as well as North Edinburgh Arts, the Grassmarket Community Project, and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. It is organised by Transgressive North.
Glasgow Film Festival (GFF) is an one of the UK's leading film festivals. With audience central to GFF's programming and ethos, their aim is to enable audiences to experience the best international cinema. The GFF programme regularly features: new local and international film from all genres; mainstream crowd-pleasers to groundbreaking art-house experimentation; the return of well-loved classics alongside rare cult gems; with filmmaker guest appearances, interactive workshops and discussion panels to complete the mix.
Glasgow Short Film Festival is the leading short film festival in Scotland, with a strong international profile. The festival hosts the largest annual showcase of emerging Scottish talent, encouraging greater diversity of film in Scotland, providing a platform for filmmakers to incubate ideas, and introducing Scottish talent to international networks. The festival facilitates routes into the film industry and provides professional development opportunities. However, it also celebrates the rich intrinsic value of short film in itself – including fiction, documentary, animation, horror, films for families, comedy, and artists moving image. The festival takes place in various venues in Glasgow, including a schools’ programme, and tours elements of its programme in the UK and abroad.
Havana Glasgow Film Festival celebrates local identities and cultures, highlighting the similarities between Havana and Glasgow and the thriving artistic talent that exists within both cities.
Hebrides International Film Festival (HIFF) runs across venues in Lewis, Harris, Uist and Barra including the award winning An Lanntair Arts Centre with pop up cinemas in Stornoway town centre and in Uist. The theme for HIFF's annual film festival is Islands, Environments and remote communities. HIFF screens international feature documentaries and dramas which link to this theme and brings international film makers to deliver masterclasses to local and visiting film makers. The festival is committed to encouraging and nurturing cinematic quality film to be made on the Islands of the Outer Hebrides.
Hippodrome Silent Film Festival (HippFest) is Scotland’s first and only festival of silent film with live music and takes place in Scotland’s first and oldest cinema, the Hipppodrome, in Bo’ness. HippFest celebrates silent film – films made without synchronised sound - roughly from the first four decades of film production along with new music commissions, workshops, and community events. The festival’s imaginative programme is inventive, participatory, relevant, and unfamiliar – unearthing unseen or underappreciated gems from cinema history. As well as the Hippodrome Cinema in Bo’ness, the festival takes place at venues in the surrounding area and partially online. Hippfest also tours elements of the programme nationally and internationally. The festival has built an international reputation, and attracts local, national and international audiences.
The Montrose LandxSea Film Fest, launched in 2023, is an environmental film festival offering bold cinematic experiences, that aim to spark cultural engagement on critical climate issues through discussion and interactive events. Set in the coastal town of Montrose in Northeast Scotland, the festival takes place over a weekend in September at the community-owned Montrose Playhouse, a state-of-the-art multi-screen cinema and arts hub opened in 2021.
Samizdat is Scotland’s first event dedicated to screening classical and contemporary Eastern European and Central Asian cinema. Launched in 2022, the festival focuses on talented, marginalised and subversive voices from their regions of interest. The festival is also online, in partnership with Klassiki, to deliver events in an accessible and hybrid format to UK audiences and internationally. The festival aims to create a space where diverse groups of attendees can meet and learn about Eastern European and Central Asian culture, politics, and life through cinema. Samizdat takes place at CCA, in Glasgow.
Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF) is the primary queer film festival in Scotland, with the goal of getting people watching, talking about and making more queer films. The festival has a deep focus on community building around the festival and its various year-round project such as the Queer Filmmaking Group, their work with the refugee group LGBT Unity, and their touring activity across the country. SQIFF is a pioneer in accessible and inclusive events and their work has had a huge influence on the festival and cinema exhibition scene in Scotland and beyond, due to their dedicated and innovative work in this area.
Sea Change festival focuses on women in film, promoting inclusive and fair working for women and non-binary people in the film workforce and on screen. The festival is based on Tiree and travels to at least 5 other islands in Argyll, enabling audiences to experience a rich diversity of British and international filmmaking. The programme includes films for all ages - including young people and families, as well as workshops, industry masterclasses, discussions and collaborations with local businesses such as the Balephuil gin distillery. Amongst the programme there are films that stimulate discussion particularly relevant to coastal audiences, about how the sea and its landscapes can shape lives. Sea Change is produced by Screen Argyll who provide year-round screenings, film education opportunities, and opportunities to share cultural experiences, for their remote community.
Take One Action Harnessing the transformative power of film, Take One Action's programme is brimming with stories of individuals and communities whose very resilience, tenacity and hope are radical acts of defiance. With concepts of truth and democracy stretched beyond recognition, with the rise of nationalist parties and independent journalism under threat, Take One Action's screenings and events offer a welcome opportunity to celebrate our common humanity and our ability – individual and collective – to bring about a kinder, fairer, more sustainable world.
Weird Weekend is an annual cult film festival based in Glasgow, Scotland, established in 2018, produced by Matchbox Cine. The festival and its related monthly screening series are dedicated to the orphans, outcasts and outliers of cult cinema - strange and compelling films that due to circumstance or sheer personality have fallen through the cracks of the canon. The key aims of the festival are to safeguard films and film history for audiences; to expand the canon of ‘cult’, and to facilitate wider participation in film screenings through increased access provisions. Weird Weekend largely takes place at the Phoenix in Govanhill, Glasgow, as well as being fully online.