We’re excited to announce our in-competition programme for our 16th edition! The 2026 ESFF opens on Friday 6th November Filmhouse Edinburgh and continues until 21st November at the Filmhouse and Summerhall. FULL PROGRAMME With 7 nights of in competition short films competing for our 2026 awards, ranging from Chinese neo-noir to Finnish stop motion and from Kurdish documentary to Australian horror!

Wed 11 Nov at 14 and 18 The narrative revolves around a mystery writer caught unawares by his cousin, a vicar, who shows up unannounced for a visit. Since the servants have just walked out, the writer’s wife hides from the vicar, taking care of the cooking, cleaning and other household chores. To explain his wife’s absence as hostess, the writer concocts an excuse which only makes the vicar convinced that he has done away with his spouse. Things go from bad to worse and eventually Scotland Yard is called in to clear things up.

Márta Mészáros broke new ground as the first woman to win the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 1975 with Adoption. Kata (Katalin Berek), an unmarried factory worker in her forties, is caught in a secret affair with Joska (László Szabó), a married man with two children. Longing for motherhood, Kata faces heartbreak when Joska refuses to give her the family she so desperately wants. Meanwhile Anna (Gyöngyvér Vigh), a spirited ward of the state, is fighting for her independence so she can marry her boyfriend. As their lives intertwine, Kata and Anna forge a powerful connection which highlights the shared experience of women’s daily struggles, and the political and social forces that define them. Hungarian with English subtitles. Screening as part of the Glasgow Film Theatre CineMasters: Marta Mészáros season, urated by Invisible Women in collaboration with curator Maggi Hurt.

Chloe Moretz stars in this action film about a female WW2 pilot on a top secret mission who meets an evil presence on board her flight Tickets £3/£5/£7 on a sliding scale, with free entry for Grassmarket Community Project Members, open door meal attendees, and anyone else in need of a free ticket. Please select the ticket price that feels right to you; all income from tickets will be directly used to support the continued running of our cinema screenings. Notes Duration: 83 minutes Certificate 15 - strong language, sex references, bloody images, threat, racist terms The film will screen with English descriptive subtitles, transcribing both dialogue and key audio information from the film. The film will start promptly at 7pm without trailers The Grassmarket Community Project is a wheelchair accessible venue

With the Tour de France due to start off from Lucio, Lucio, 26, suffers from dystonia, a condition that causes speech and movement disorders. However, he has embarked on a crazy challenge: to walk and cycle around France in less than 99 days. Accompanied by his mother, he will discover France, his country that he only knows through television, and prove that with enough determination, you can make your dreams come true.

This Autumn, Glasgow Women's Library is delighted to present Collections On Camera: a series of film screenings and activities celebrating feminist cinema related to our collections. From much-beloved classics of DIY filmmaking to captivating documentaries, join us to celebrate women’s stories of joy and resilience. Archival documentary Sisters with Transistors, directed by Lisa Rovner, traces the forgotten history of women’s role in the rise of electronic music. Featuring pioneers such as Clara Rockwell and Laurie Spiegel, the film reveals how musical experimentation can give way to social liberation. Following the screening, join us for a panel discussion with Arusa Qureshi, music journalist and programmer, and Suzi Cook, GLOSS (Glasgow Library of Synthesized Sound) Co-Founder and one-half of Free Love. The film will be screened with subtitles and the panel discussion will be live captioned. Supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, awarding funding on behalf of Screen Scotland and the BFI National Lottery.

Exploring the challenges of modern family Exploring the challenges of modern family structures, the film follows a single father, a feminist bookshop owner, and a child seeking a place to belong as they navigate love, desires, and redefining what it means to be a family. By revealing their aspirations, their fears, their choices, writer/director Carine Tardieu depicts different ways in which humans create families. Based on the novel L’Intimité by Alice Ferney, the title scooped a César for best film.

On the evening of 24 December, somewhere in a On the evening of 24 December, somewhere in a drab suburb, young Abdou –a dreamy pizza delivery boy –meets the real Santa Claus, whose name is Marcel. The old man is worn out and weary, and a silly scooter accident threatens to derail his delivery run. Thanks to Abdou, who enlists the help of a few eccentric characters from the neighbourhood, the deliveries go ahead after all. Amidst the chaotic mayhem, Christmas is saved through music and song!

As cities around the world modernise, enclosing As cities around the world modernise, enclosing open-air dumps and outlawing waste-picking have become key strategies of urban reform. The Waste Commons explores the dramatic transformations surrounding the impending closure of Dakar’s city waste dump in Senegal and the lives that hang in the balance. The film follows charismatic Zidane, trailblazing Adja, and their community of waste pickers as they defend their carefully crafted worlds and their right to waste.

Agnès Varda’s tender evocation of the childhood Jacques Demy is a wonder-filled portrait of the artist as a young man and an enchanting ode to the magic of cinema. Shot in Demy’s hometown of Nantes (including the house he grew up in), this imaginative blend of narrative and documentary traces his coming of age as he finds escape from the tumult of the Second World War in puppet shows, fairy tales, opera, and, above all, movies – the formative experiences that would fuel his vivid Technicolor imagination and find unforgettable expression in his exuberant New Wave masterworks.