EIFF to close with Carla J. Easton’s Scottish girl band documentary

Edinburgh International Film Festival has revealed its closing film for 2024. The curtain will come down on the festival on 21 August with the world premiere of documentary Since Yesterday: The Untold Story Of Scotland’s Girl Bands. It’s the first film from Carla J. Easton, who has been part of the fabric of Scotland’s music scene for close to two decades now — both as a solo artist and with bands like Futuristic Retro Champions and TeenCanteen – and so she should be well placed to tell a compelling story of Scottish girl bands and the challenges they’ve faced in this male-dominated industry. Easton’s co-director Blair Young also brings plenty of experience of Scotland's indie music scene, having made promos over the years for the likes of Belle and Sebastian, Franz Ferdinand, Idlewild, Camera Obscura and Biffy Clyro.

EIFF say the film tracks the history of Scottish girl bands from the 1960s to the present, and describes the documentary as a scrapbook that takes a “panorama view of Scottish pop music” that “explores bands, cliques and movements that emerged in the country across the decades.”

Strawberry Switchblade in a still from Since Yesterday. Image: Peter McArthur

Speaking about Since Yesterday, EIFF director Paul Ridd said: “Since the moment we saw this spiky, fun and eye-opening film we knew it had to be a major part of our festival. Here is a fantastically fresh and engaging documentary about Scottish artists, Scottish art and the challenges faced by Scottish women in a male-dominated industry and sexist world.”

On X, Easton says "Prepare for the biggest and best Girl Band party of all time."

This closing film news comes hot on the heels of the festival revealing it has also bagged the UK premiere of Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus, the latest film in the long-running Alien saga. We also know that the festival will open with Nora Fingscheidt’s The Outrun starring Saoirse Ronan. Also in the mix, the much-anticipated body-horror The Substance.

It’s an exciting and eclectic quartet of films. We’ll get to see what the rest of the festival looks like a week today when the full programme is released on 10 July, with tickets on sale the day after.

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Edinburgh International Film Festival runs 15-21 Aug, full details at edfilmfest.org