Ah, Edinburgh, a city known for contrast, vibrancy, comedy, castles and, for a couple of weeks in August, a little congestion. You see, the Edinburgh International Film Festival competes with the infamous Fringe comedy festival, as well as half a dozen other festivals, and no-doubt a couple of weddings and a stag do. Hotel rooms are as scarce as A-listers from the film and comedy world are abundant and restaurants are practicing their, "I'm sorry sir, you should have booked in February," routine.



The festival has, in the past, played home to the world premiere of Serenity and the European first-show for Clerks II. Its programme is open to the public, and provides a wide variety of home-grown, European, American and international cinema. This festival sees two of the freshest movies of the year from the US play to UK audiences for the first time - Knocked Up and Ratatouille and they're joined by the indie likes of Hallam Foe and French warbler Les Chansons d'Amour.

In short, there's something for everyone of every age, gender and nationality, and it's probably one of the most relaxed and, in turn, exciting festivals on the calendar. It's also a good place to start or join in that ever-exciting early awards buzz, and with that in mind we thought it'd be a good idea to let you know what we and the critics think of the films on display so you can add them to your wish-list.

So without further ado we present, in no particular order, our fifteen favourites of the festival. We've gathered quotes from the Tomatometer and our critic friends too to spotlight the cream of the cinematic crop as chosen by our international pool of critics and ourselves respectively.