Edmonton International Film Festival: Ten Days of Premieres

The Edmonton International Film Festival turns forty in 2026, which puts it among the longest-running cultural institutions in the city. Its defining rule is simple and unusual: every film in the programme has to be an Edmonton premiere.

What it is

A ten-day festival of features, documentaries and short films drawn from submissions worldwide, screening across two cinemas. Films are selected from work completed within twenty months of the festival, so the programme is current rather than a retrospective.

The premiere requirement is the thing that shapes it. Nothing in the programme has played Edmonton before, which means the festival is not competing with what is already at the multiplex and you cannot catch up later in the same season.

Where it screens

• Landmark Cinemas 9, Edmonton City Centre, downtown, which carries most of the programme.

• Metro Cinema at the Garneau, on 109 Street, the city’s repertory house.

How to approach the programme

A festival programme is not a cinema listing, and treating it like one is how people end up seeing nothing. The shorts packages are usually the best value and the most reliable way to find something you would never have chosen. Documentaries sell out earlier than features. And the Q and A screenings, where the director is in the room, are the ones you cannot replicate on a streaming service later.

What it costs

Single tickets and multi-film passes are sold through the festival’s ticketing platform. If you intend to see more than three or four films, a pass is almost always cheaper than singles.

When it runs

In 2026 the festival runs from 24 September to 3 October, its fortieth edition. Dates and the full programme are published at edmontonfilmfest.com.

It is one of several things worth leaving the house for this month. The rest are in our guide to what is on in Edmonton for the rest of September.