From 2008, the Film Festival is no longer part of August's festival programme.  It's moved to June, when its organizers hope it will get more attention both within Edinburgh and in the woldwide film festival calendar.

The third of Edinburgh's "original" Festivals, the Edinburgh International Film Festival or EIFF was established alongside the International Festival in the post-war atmosphere of 1947. Though not the world's first film festival - the Venice equivalent can trace its roots back to 1932 - the EIFF proudly trumpets its record as the longest-running, having escaped the budgetary woes which forced the cancellation of Cannes during the 1950's.

From its beginnings as a documentary-only festival, the EIFF expanded to take in nearly 200 films in 2006, screened across a two-week period in the second half of August. All of the films screened are UK premieres; many film-makers also choose the Festival to launch their creations in Europe, and a few world premieres can be found amidst the programme.

Like the International Festival itself, the EIFF runs out of a small, well-coordinated network of venues, ranging from a modern multiplex to classic arthouse establishments in the city's West End. Pushing the definition of the "Edinburgh" Festival to a new extreme, there's even an outpost 40 miles away in Glasgow.

Although not primarily a competitive festival, the EIFF does hand out a clutch of awards, including the prestigious Michael Powell award for the best new British feature film. Less conventional is the festival's Mirrorball programme, which for 10 years has celebrated the music video as an artform - recently adding documentaries and retrospectives to this increasingly popular strand.