The 2026 Edinburgh International Film Festival will open with The Incomer, the debut feature from Edinburgh-born filmmaker Louis Paxton. 

Focus and Universal have taken international rights on the title, which debuted at Sundance. The film stars Domhnall Gleeson (Ex Machina, The Paper), Gayle Rankin (House of The Dragon, Glow), and Grant O’Rourke (Outlander). The wider cast features John Hannah (Sliding Doors, The Last of Us), Michelle Gomez (Green Wing, Doom Patrol), and Emun Elliott (The Gold Sexy Beast). 

The Incomer is set on a remote Scottish island and follows siblings Isla (Rankin) and Sandy (O’Rourke), who have lived in peaceful isolation for decades, hunting seabirds, chatting to mythic creatures, and defending their isle from dreaded Incomers. The official synopsis reads: “Their world is upended with the arrival of Daniel (Gleeson), an awkward council worker, tasked with uprooting them to the mainland.” 

The film was written and directed by Paxton, produced by Shirley O’Connor and Emily Gotto, and co-produced by Wendy Griffin. The BFI and Screen Scotland supported the film, with additional support from musician Moby and Lindsay Hicks’ U.S. production company Little Walnut, Trevor Noah’s Day Zero Productions, UK’s Head Gear Films, and Ireland’s Inevitable Pictures. 

Universal Pictures International will release The Incomer in the UK and Ireland later this year.

“With wit, grace and intelligence, this striking, unpredictable and beautifully acted Scottish debut dazzled, moved and amused us immensely when we first saw it back in January,” EIFF CEO and Festival Director, Paul Ridd, said of the film in a statement. 

“We are thrilled to open this year’s edition with a film which embodies such a stirring and inspiring spirit of creativity, empathy and invention in filmmaking. This is precisely the kind of film that EIFF is all about.” 

The 2026 EIFF runs from August 13-19.