Edinburgh Film Festival to open with Scottish comedy The Incomer

We’re already looking forward to the upcoming 79th edition of Edinburgh International Film Festival, which runs 13 to 19 August, and today marks the first piece of programming news: the event will open with Louis Paxton’s debut feature The Incomer.

Set on a remote island off the Scottish coast, the film follows 30-something siblings Isla and Sandy, played by Gayle Rankin and Grant O'Rourke, who live an isolated life as the only two residents on their windswept isle. Cut off from the mainland for decades since the death of their parents, they have created their own strange mythology and mores. Their way of life comes under threat when Daniel, an awkward council worker played by Domhnall Gleeson, arrives on shore. Daniel has been tasked with uprooting the oddball siblings and reintegrating them back to civilisation on the mainland, but Isla and Sandy have other ideas.

EIFF’s gala screening will be a homecoming for Paxton, who grew up in Scotland’s capital. “Opening the Edinburgh International Film Festival with my debut feature is a dream come true,” he says. “Screening in my beloved hometown, and the festival where I started as a teenage usher, sharing this story with a Scottish audience, is nothing short of mind-blowing. I couldn’t ask for a more meaningful premiere."

The Incomer was warmly received when it had its world premiere at Sundance, where it won the NEXT Innovator Award. In our review, we called the film “a headstrong folktale that has humour, heart and understanding of what ‘home’ means, wherever it may be,” and we were particularly taken with its supporting cast, which include Michelle Gomez as Daniel’s ruthless boss Rose, and Emun Elliott as Rose's Rambo-esque henchman.

EIFF’s director Paul Ridd said: “With wit, grace and intelligence, this striking, unpredictable and beautifully acted Scottish debut dazzled, moved and amused us immensely when we first saw it back in January. We are thrilled to open this year's edition with a film that embodies such a stirring and inspiring spirit of creativity, empathy and invention in filmmaking. This is precisely the kind of film that EIFF is all about.”

Keep an eye out here for more EIFF programme news, and check out our August issue for a full preview of this year's festival.

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The 2026 Edinburgh International Film Festival takes place 13-19 August. More info at edfilmfest.org