August '25 in 25 Pics
After a jam packed journey of cultural discovery, we came to the end of our August festivals season - with a plethora of extraordinary experiences and a myriad of unforgettable memories. So we thought we'd leave you with some of our favourite images from across the 2025 August festivals.
Lebanese-French dance company Maqamat performed an interactive dance performance - Dance People - in the beautiful surrounds of the Old College Quad, a performance where the line between audience and performer dissolved.
The magnificent Assembly Hall atop the Mound is one of the most prestigious venues on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as well as the original home of the Scottish Parliament and the current home of the Church of Scotland - with local lore having it that the steps in the Quad are the inspiration for the titular Thirty-Nine Steps.
Pictured at an early rehearsal, the Sing in the City choir took part in The Edinburgh Military Tattoo's 26 performances - inviting all 1000 members to join the finale song, together with a Ukrainian Community Choir and voices from Erskine Stewart’s Melville School Choir.
A remarkable moment at the Edinburgh Art Festival during UÝRA: Espiral da Morte in Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh — an unforgettable afternoon of calm, reflection, and resistance shared together, learning more about the patterns of Indigenous memory beneath the trees. [photo Ruby Pluhar]
The Edinburgh International Book Festival returned for its second year to the grounds of the Edinburgh Futures Institute, with a reconfiguration of the outside spaces to create a much sought after 'village' atmosphere conducive to all things books, words and ideas.
This summer saw the return to life of Scotland's leading independent cinema, Edinburgh's Filmhouse, and it was an emotional moment for all concerned to see the building rebranded for the Edinburgh International Film Festival - the reuniting of two cinematic siblings.
Dance and theatre legends Crystal Pite and Simon McBurney united with internationally acclaimed Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) to confront the climate crisis through spellbinding movement and sound in Figures of Extinction. [photo Andrew Perrry, Edinburgh International Festival]
The Scotsman Fringe First Awards were created to encourage and recognise outstanding new writing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and one of the first winners this year was Lost Lear, part of the Culture Ireland Showcase, a play exploring dementia through a loose adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear.
In celebration of their 75th anniversary this year The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo included a storyteller - Terence Rae - to take audiences on a journey through their history, providing a cohesive narrative thread and creating a deeper emotional spectator experience.
A kind of glamour about me was the new performance commission by pioneering feminist artist Linder which opened the Edinburgh Art Festival, with the work nodding to Walter Scott’s early meaning of “glamour” as illusory magic. [Photo: Charlotte Cullen]
Film critic, Mark Kermode was joined by Brian Cox, Kate Dickie and Michelle Gomez at the Edinburgh International Book Festival [with Director Jenny Niven on the right] in a discussion on the latest film releases and reminiscing about the vintage age of cinema. [photo: Book Festival]
Edinburgh International Film Festival presented the World Premiere of Paul Sng’s immersive documentary Reality Is Not Enough as the closing night film of this year’s Festival - a thrilling and revealing exploration of Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh, one of the most controversial writers of our times.
Friends and family gathered at Princes Street Gardens to hear Stephen Deazley, artistic director of Edinburgh’s Love Music Community Choir, lead the crowd in a mass singalong, joined by Scottish national treasure Dougie MacLean, composer of the iconic anthem Caledonia.
Central to the growth of 'contemporary circus' at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe - and across the world in general - is Brisbane's Circa who this year brought their new show Wolf to Edinburgh, a collaboration with Berlin’s Chameleon Theatre, and pictured here limbering up beside the city's Scott Monument.
Led by Dance Director, Aileen Robertson, The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Dancers celebrate the cultural tradition of highland dancing while taking a great leap forward in showing how contemporary the art form can be and showcasing athleticism, fun and energy. [photo: Ian Georgeson Photography]
Jupiter Rising lit up Jupiter Artland’s magical landscape with the folkloric, wyrd, and wonderful including unique site-responsive performance and the return of the infamous late night stage, showcasing progressive club nights with stars such as Roxanne Tataei.[photo: NeilHanna]
It's not often you see such huge crowds for literary events but the Edinburgh International Festioval is no ordinary event and The Front List brought high profile authors to the c1000 capacity McEwan Hall - including Asako Yuzuki whose word-of-mouth sensation Butter has had the book industry in a frenzy since it appeared in print.
Alongside film screenings,the Edinburgh Internationa lFilm Festival runs a talks programme which this year saw legendary British film producer Jeremy Thomas in conversation with filmmaker Mark Cousins - discussing his breakout collaborations with Jerzy Skolimowski (The Shout) and Nicolas Roeg (Bad Timing, via iconic films with Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor), to recent work with Takeshi Miike (Thirteen Assassins).
The world premiere of Mary, Queen of Scots imagined a Renaissance where punk meets haute couture, and where Mary and Elizabeth's relationship inspires a rich, resonant journey through memory, history and myth - with Roseanna Leney, principal dancer with Scottish Ballet taking the lead role. [photo Duncan McGlynn]
The Pipes and Drums of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards first performed with The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo 75 years ago, so it was especially fitting to welcome them back for the 75th Anniversary Show, celebrating the Heroes Who Made Us.
Wandering around Edinburgh in August you may have spotted some striking new billboards. Alice Rekab’s Let Me Show You Who I Am - developed with SCORE Scotland’s young people - told stories of belonging and identity, through themes of diaspora and migration.
One of the most atmospheric venues at the Edinburgh Intrenational Book Festival is the Spiegeltent - Dutch for 'mirror tent' - which is a large travelling tent, constructed from wood and canvas and decorated with mirrors and stained glass, used throughout the festival to host author events and informal panel discussions.
The winner of this year’s The Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence, decided on by an audience vote and funded by The Connery Foundation was Abdolreza Kahani’s Mortician, beating ten feature-length World Premieres and being presented the award by Jason Connery [centre] on behalf of The Connery Foundation.
You never know who you might meet on the streets of Edinburgh at festival time because their reputation draws audiences from al over the world and all shorts of actors, artists, musicians and comedians.