Samizdat Eastern European Film Festival
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Samizdat Eastern European Film Festival 2026
Named after the practice of clandestine dissemination of censored and forbidden texts in communist states, Samizdat Eastern European Film Festival returns for its 5th edition, bringing an ever-eclectic mix of some of the most exciting, powerful, thoughtful, weird and wonderful filmmaking from Eastern Europe and the Caucasus to audiences in Edinburgh!
The latest instalment of our beloved animated shorts programme, Politics of the Imagination: Animations of the Eastern Bloc (1958–1992), celebrates the interplay between the imaginative and the political in animation from the region, where formal playfulness became cover for a secret language of social and political critique.
Meanwhile, the spotlight from our genre strand, Love Stories: Eastern European and Caucasian Romance, is Levan Akin’s And Then We Danced: a stunning exploration of queer identity in modern-day Georgia, the intoxication of first love, and the fraught tensions between the responsibility to uphold tradition and the desire for freedom of expression.
Our special strand this year is Re-membering the Archive: a collection of documentaries that review the past, make sense of the present, and mend the broken imaginaries of the future. The practices of working with home videos, photographs, and commercials here become a form of temporal repair.
On Saturday, in collaboration with the Scottish Documentary Institute's Doc Screen initiative, we present Radu Jude and Christian Ferencz-Flatz's Eight Postcards from Utopia: a humorous, incisive, fast-paced journey through post-revolutionary Romania, told through a montage of TV advertisements.
On Sunday, the focus shifts to the personal, with Fragments of Ice: Maria Stoianova's tender reimagining of her father's VHS archive painting a poignant portrait of Ukraine in transition, just before and right after regaining its independence.
Finally, we will be finishing off our Filmhouse run with a Halloween special: a landmark of Polish cinema, Mother Joan of the Angels – an austere religious horror that follows a priest sent to a remote 17th-century convent following reports of demonic possession.
Audience Access Fund
At Samizdat, we know that the cost of tickets – as well as things like childcare or travel – can make it harder for some people to attend events. We have the Audience Access Fund to support with such costs, no proof of eligibility required: just email us at hello@samizdatfest.co.uk.
The 2026 edition of Samizdat is supported by Screen Scotland’s Film Festival and Screening Programme Fund and Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI.
All copy provided by Samizdat Eastern European Film Festival team.
Showtimes
Showtimes Everybody Digs Bill Evans | 12:10PM Late Fame | 12:30PM The Death Of Robin Hood | 12:45PM De Gaulle: Liberté | 2:00PM, 7:50PM Queen at Sea | 2:30PM, 5:10PM The Cycle Of Love | 2:55PM, 8:50PM The Unfaithful Wife (La Femme infidèle) (4K Restoration) | 3:30PM Film London Jarman Award 2026 | Screening and Q&A with Rhea Storr | 5:30PM Mirror | 5:35PM Just an Illusion | 6:05PM National Theatre Live: The Misanthrope | 8:00PM The Incomer | 8:45PM
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Site Note
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We open 30 minutes before the first showtime of the day.
We open 30 minutes before the first showtime of the day.
accessible
All theaters are ADA accessible with wheelchair seating.
All theaters are ADA accessible with wheelchair seating.
hearing
Closed captioning and assistive listening devices are available at the box office.
Closed captioning and assistive listening devices are available at the box office.
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