Started in 1947, the EIFF is one of the true homes of innovative and exciting cinema. For over half a century, the Festival has presented some of cinema's most important and exciting moments and played host to the world's greatest filmmakers.

The longest continually-running film festival in the world, EIFF has come a long way from its beginnings as a documentary-based festival established in the wake of World War II. Its spirit was and is bold and its focus international: in the early years, it premiered such timeless classics as Robert Flaherty's Louisiana Story, Roberto Rossellini's Germany Year Zero and Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu Monogatari.

During the 1960s, EIFF introduced the Retrospective. Years ahead of its time, the Festival re-evaluated and paid tribute to the diverse talents of John Huston, Sam Fuller, Douglas Sirk and even a young Martin Scorsese.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Festival consolidated its reputation as a pioneering force for UK audiences, screening films from the New German Cinema, the new wave of American Independents and homages to the masters of Japanese Cinema, as well as pioneering studies of black and feminist filmmakers. Festival audiences were able to witness masterpieces from across the whole spectrum of film culture - from Spielberg's ET: The Extraterrestrial, to Abel Gance's silent classic Napoleon - complete with a full orchestral score. New talents were nurtured - Bill Forsyth, Stephen Soderbergh - and gems like My Beautiful Launderette discovered.

The last 10 years have seen a strengthening of the critical fortunes of the Festival through the strong artistic direction of Mark Cousins, Lizzie Francke and, currently, Shane Danielsen, all of whom have exhibited not only a continuity of passion and commitment to excellent cinema from home and abroad but the very necessary evaluative perspective that skilled curation brings.

Some of the notable films screened in the last few years: Mrs Brown, The Full Monty, La Vie Revée des Anges, Seul Contre Tous, Love is the Devil, Ratcatcher, East is East, Run Lola Run, Billy Elliot, Amores Perros, Amelie, 16 Years of Alcohol, Young Adam, Infernal Affairs, American Splendor, Motorcycle Diaries, Old Boy, Hero, The Beat that My Heart Skipped, Green Street, Tsotsi, Thumbsucker, Serenity and Wah-Wah.

Shane Danielsen's five years have been made distinctive by true discoveries from international cinema and landmark retrospectives; in 2002, Kon Ichikawa, in 2003, Henri Georges Cluzot; in 2004 Valerio Zurlini, and in 2005 Michael Powell.

The Saltire Society Award for Documentary Film is selected during the Festival.