As part of the CMIs closure, operations at EIFF were shut down.
Both venues have since relaunched and rebranded thanks to successful local campaigns.
The festival has been through some difficult times recently.
Paul Ridd
Over the week, the festival will screen more than 80 films across four sections.
We had 2500 films submitted to us, including shorts and features, Ridd explains.
Hundreds of films were also submitted directly to us through our relationships with producers and filmmakers.
Theres two reasons for that.
And then, from an industry perspective, it is useful when attracting press and industry folk.
The Cameo will serve as the festivals hub.
So they will first go and screen the film at the Cameo, Ridd explains.
And then they will move around our additional satellite venues, Summerhall, Inspace, and 50 George Square.
So theyll be showing the film in radically different spaces on the same night.
Those plans will come with obvious logistical concerns, particularly in a busy, cobble-stoned city in Edinburgh.
But they also best display the ambition at the center of Ridds revitalization project.
Tickets to film festival screenings will also be available to buy on the Fringe festivals popular app.
Is his theory too idealistic?
Unless youve passed through the Scottish capital in August, its difficult to explain the scale of Fringe festival.
Theres very rarely much oxygen for other events in the city to breathe.
So will EIFF really be able to pull in new audiences?
So there are hooks there within even the competition itself.
Ridd continues: Around the competition, weve also got films that have those hooks likeThe Outrunwith Saoirse Ronan.
Weve also got stuff likeBetween the Temples, which stars Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane.
Then theresArmand, which has Renate Reinsve fromThe Worst Person In The World.
The titles Ridd mentions here will be screened in the festivals out-of-competition slots.
They choose not to drink blood despite their natural cravings until one day they are exposed.
Its been incredibly encouraging because were a new entity.
Other Midnight Madness films include Kit Redstone and Arran Shearings Rotterdam titleKing Babyand Damian Mc CarthysOddity.
The winner of the Sean Connery Prize will take home 50,000.
The award, rebranded earlier this year, is a collaboration between the festival and the Sean Connery Foundation.
Jason Connery has a strong relationship with the festival going back years, Ridd explains.
And, of course, his father had a strong relationship with the festival.
Edinburghs new shorts competition, now named after legendary editor Thelma Schoonmaker, carries a 15,000 cash prize.
Both competitions, however, will be decided by an audience vote rather than a jury.
He adds: That, I think, is the paramount importance of festivals.
