The cast and crew of Trainspotting will descend on Leith once more this summer to celebrate 30 years since the film debuted.
The special watch party, announced today, will take place at the historic Leith Theatre on Friday 14 August as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF).
Audiences will be treated to a special screening of Danny Boyle’s groundbreaking 1996 film, featuring live on-stage commentary from the cast and crew as they share exclusive behind-the-scenes anecdotes.
The event will be followed by a late-night club party celebrating the movie’s legendary soundtrack. Author Irvine Welsh and musician Darren Emerson, whose band Underworld provided the film’s iconic track Born Slippy, will both deliver headline DJ sets.
The screening marks a symbolic homecoming for the cult classic, which was based on Welsh’s incendiary Leith-set novel and helped define 1990s British youth culture. The cast featured stars Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Kelly Macdonald, Peter Mullan, Shirley Henderson, and James Cosmo.
The venue itself, the Grade B listed Leith Theatre, has recently signed a new 50-year lease and secured multi-million-pound refurbishment funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund after a two-decade community campaign to save the historic building.
The EIFF is joining forces with the theatre trust and Fringe venue operators Assembly Festival to host the anniversary night.
Paul Ridd, Festival Director of the EIFF, described Trainspotting as the most iconic Scottish film ever made.
Mr Ridd said: “The opportunity to hear directly from the people who made the film followed by the thrill of celebrating that iconic soundtrack together should make for a night for the ages.
“That we get to do all that in a venue as full of promise and renewal as Leith Theatre is the icing on the cake.”
Andrew Macdonald, the producer of Trainspotting and the current chair of the EIFF board, welcomed the movie’s return to the streets where it began.
Mr Macdonald said: “Hard to believe it, but it has indeed been 30 years since we made Trainspotting, and I am delighted that it is heading back to Leith where the whole story began, to celebrate this big anniversary. It is going to be a very special night.”
Following the special festival premiere, the film will be re-released in UK and Ireland cinemas from 21 August by Park Circus, before heading to international theatres.
Farhana Bhula, Director of Film4, added: “Returning Trainspotting to Leith for this special anniversary is a fitting tribute to a film that continues to shape the cultural conversation three decades on.”
Tickets and registration details for the 79th edition of the EIFF, which runs from 13 to 19 August, are available on the festival website.
