Edinburgh International Film Festival
World-class world cinema (late-Aug)
This longstanding two-week film festival – running since 1947 – brings to the silver screen many World and Art House movies that are otherwise hard to find. Its program of shorts is another great and unusual strength.
Otherwise there's plenty of mainstream cinema too and the festival is strong on Scottish talent and always has a few British and world premiers, including by famous directors such as directors as Woody Allen and Steven Spielberg.
But perhaps the festival's greatest hallmark is its "retrospective" which showcases the work of a different director every year.