Scottish Film Events: June 2025

There’s a bunch of film festivals heading your way in June. First up, Refugee Festival Scotland (13-22 Jun). The multi-arts festival has over 150 events planned across the country, many of them cinema-related. Take the opening night screening at CCA, Glasgow, Within the Fragments of Gurbet, a documentary in which filmmaker Bircan Birol brings together fellow migrants and refugees living in Glasgow to map their own version of their new home. Also look out for Javad Daraei: Two Dead Films and One Still Alive, in which Daraei presents a pair of short films he made in Iran alongside footage from a new short he’s currently making in Scotland (Cameo, Edinburgh, 18 Jun). Find out more about Daraei’s films in our June issue, out this week.

Also look out for SAFAR Film Festival, the UK-wide celebration of Arab Cinema. The programme blends premieres of contemporary Arab cinema with a smattering of classics thrown in, and Glasgow Film Theatre hosts the festival’s Scottish events (19-27 Jun). Highlights look to be two urgent documentaries: Sudan, Remember Us, which follows four young Sudanese activists fighting for freedom in their war-torn nation using spoken word and poetry, and A State of Passion, a moving portrait of Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah and the heroic work he’s performed in emergency rooms in Gaza.

The UK Green Film Festival also takes place up and down the country, with screenings at GFT (29 Jun-2 Jul), DCA (21-29 Jun) and Eden Court in Inverness (23-26 Jun); head to ukgreenfilmfestival.org for the full lineup. And in Edinburgh, check out some filmmakers of the future with the inaugural Edinburgh International University Film Festival, which aims to showcase films by university students from across the UK; it runs 31 May to 2 June at the Scottish Storytelling Centre.

We’re also looking forward to a pair of upcoming retrospectives at Glasgow Film Theatre celebrating two of cinema’s greats. Coincidentally, both filmmakers are masters of slick, hard-edged thrillers, and both are named Michael. They are, of course, Michael Mann (Manhunter, Heat, The Insider, Collateral and Miami Vice screen) and Michael Haneke (The Piano Teacher, Funny Games, Code Unknown, Hidden and The White Ribbon screen). Full details at glasgowfilm.org/cinemasters

Cameo’s year-long celebration of the late David Lynch continues apace with all eight episodes of Twin Peaks season one screening at the Edinburgh cinema this month in double-bills over four consecutive Saturday evenings (7, 14, 21 & 28 Jun). The chance to see this masterful TV series on the big screen is incredibly rare, so don’t miss it.

Many great Q&A screenings are happening across June too. If we're to choose just one, we'll plump for Cameo's screening of Lollipop (2 Jun), Daisy-May Hudson's vivid drama about a single mum trying to keep custody of her kids. The screening is presented by Reclaim the Frame's Eilidh Akilade (who also happens to be our brilliant Intersections editor), who'll be chatting with Hudson after the screening.