Edinburgh Film Fest’s Paul Ridd on Renée Zellweger and Bond Movies

The city of Edinburgh is preparing to host its 78th International Film Festival this year, but for director Paul Ridd, it’s only chapter two of a shiny new era.

“We think of last year as our year zero,” Ridd tells The Hollywood Reporter. “We essentially had to rebuild the organization from scratch, from the bottom and work up — a new infrastructure, a new team, a new footprint, a new office, a new board.”

Ridd took over the role as director in December 2023. Now, with one successful edition under his belt, he’s coming into EIFF 2025 with confidence. The Scottish fest has set Eva Victor’s Sorry, Baby for its opening night gala, has Renée Zellweger’s directorial debut premiering as well as the Peter Dinklage and Elijah Wood-starring The Toxic Avenger making its entrance on the cult Midnight Madness strand.

Among other buzzy projects, Ben Wheatley will debut his new film, Bulk, and Helen Walsh will present her Wales-set romantic drama On the Sea. On the industry side, Ridd lauds the expansion of the fest’s curated program, now spanning six days instead of three: Ken Loach, Andrea Arnold, Andrew and Kevin Macdonald, Thelma Schoonmaker and Nia DaCosta — gearing up to release 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple next year — will host In Conversation events.

“We’re not really driven by any thematic element,” says Ridd. “It’s more just being able to find those real, quality world premieres to sit in competition with us — from major hits out of Sundance and Berlin and Cannes, to additional world premieres out of competition. And then a big emphasis on shorts, because we want to be a discovery festival. And what better way for the industry and for audiences to discover new talent than through lots of shorts programs?”

One woman in no need of discovery is none other than Renée Zellweger, set to make her directorial debut with the nine-minute animated short, They, on Aug. 16. Ridd admits: “[We’re] balancing that red carpet-ness with being fundamentally about the directors, about giving filmmakers a platform to launch their films.”

“But,” he continues, “when you have someone like Renée Zellweger… her producers approached us with this film. We were shown the film very early on this year, [and] to be able to see something which is so confident and so different from what we were expecting. When you see the film, you will understand,” he teases. “I think that took us by surprise. So what we’re about is celebrating Renée, the filmmaker.”

Edinburgh will, of course, award its Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence, a bounty of £50,000 ($67,300) to one of its 10 world premieres in competition. Scottish actor Connery has a long-running legacy here (the award is funded by the Sean Connery Foundation) and, in that spirit, the fest’s line-up will include a special strand called “Sacred Bonds,” showcasing all six of Connery’s James Bond movies in 4K restorations.

“It was about continuing something we did last year, which was honoring the connection between our prize and the Connery Foundation and also the legacy of Scotland’s biggest star,” says Ridd about the Bond-heavy line-up. “It is quite a unique proposition for audiences who might have seen those movies many times on TV, but maybe haven’t seen them on the big screen and in these beautiful 4K restorations.”

On whether it was a conscious move to celebrate Bond at a time when the cultural conversation is swirling around who is set to lead Denis Villeneuve and Steven Knight’s new 007 movie at Amazon MGM, Ridd smiles. “If it so happens that at the same time as we have our festival, there’s some major news about this franchise, then I think that’s just a nice boost for us.”

At the heart of the Edinburgh Film Festival is its setting: in August, the beloved arts fest, Edinburgh Fringe, as well as the TV festival, will help light up the city with creatives simply excited about art. This seasonal chaos is something Ridd’s event capitalizes on — but it also sets EIFF apart from big players such as Cannes, Berlin or Venice.

“Leaning into that unique proposition for arts audiences is very, very strong,” says the director. “There’s a long history and lineage of great programming and diverse perspectives there that you honor and continue. … And crucially, the selling of our tickets: it gets our program of 43 features, countless shorts, programs, repertoire content, all of that stuff, in front of an audience that is in Edinburgh for the fringe, whether that’s local or international audience for the fringe.”

He continues, referencing the Edinburgh Fringe origins of now-celebrated TV and film stars: “I think what we’re excited about, from an audience perspective, is getting people interested in and risk-taking with the kinds of films that we show, in the same way as they take risks when they go and potentially discover the next Phoebe Waller-Bridge or Richard Gadd outside of our festival.”

There’s an abundance of choice, but what is Ridd most looking forward to about this year’s instalment? “There’s nothing quite like the feeling that I had last year on closing night, partly because it was closing night and it was all done, and we’d managed to do this all together as a team.”

It’s also, of course, seeing the life-changing impact of winning EIFF’s big honor. He recalls seeing the reaction of Jack King, who won last year’s Connery award for indie migrant feature The Ceremony: “To see the look on his face when he won, and knowing what that meant for his film, and how well it was going to do going forward, getting U.K. distribution… That’s a very special feeling, because it means there’s a direct consequence for all of this hard work that we’re all doing as a team.”

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2025 runs Aug. 14-20.