The Edinburgh Film Festival's industry programme is returning in an expanded form this year, anchored by a new one-day symposium called the UK Film Conference, dedicated to the state of independent British filmmaking. Festival director Paul Ridd said the initiative grew out of the increasing strength of the festival's competition strands, offering a chance to gather visiting industry figures to discuss the current and future state of independent cinema. This reflects the festival's broader push, since Ridd took charge in 2023, to attract higher-profile names and build a more substantial industry offering.

The conference takes place on Saturday, August 15, opening with an In Conversation session between BFI chief executive Ben Roberts, the inaugural keynote speaker, and Picturehouse creative director Clare Binns. It also features a session on low-budget filmmaking, "Low Budget, High Ambition", and "Would This Get Made?", in which panellists including Christine Vachon, Stefanie Fahrion, Alice Ojha, Laura Wilson and Simon Renshaw consider how past films might fare if pitched today. The day closes with "New Nightmares", a genre-filmmaking discussion hosted by Chris Mayo featuring Max Minghella, Prano Bailey-Bond, Chee Keong Cheung and Joby Stephens, with Ridd saying he hopes to eventually grow the programme to include works in progress and market premieres.