The 2011 Edinburgh International Film Festival starts on Wednesday 15 June and invigorated by the appointment of a new artistic director, as well as input from guest curators and various collaborations, its 65th edition looks set to open new directions and offer an innovative festival experience to its audience.

Opening with the UK premiere of John Michael McDonagh’s Irish comedy-thriller The Guard (starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle), the programme includes Alex de la Iglesia’s latest, The Last Circus, which we’re very much looking forward to, and Norwegian director Andre Ovredal’s mock doc The Troll Hunter, which sounds very intriguing. This year, the festival celebrates its documentary roots with a third of the programme paying tribute to the genre, led by Liz Garbus’s portrait of the chess legend Bobby Fischer against the World.

Also debuting at the Festival in 2011 is Reel Science, an exploration of the depiction of science on film, which sounds great. Events include the joint UK premiere of James Marsh’s (Man on Wire) Project Nim as well as a film-and-eye-tracking technology demonstration and the opportunity to watch Christopher Nolan’s psychological thriller Memento alongside top Edinburgh neuroscientists.

Among the guest curators, Gus Van Sant has curated a mini-retrospective of Derek Jarman’s Blue, The Last of England and The Angelic Conversation and Hungarian director Bela Tarr is presenting a selection of film classics from his home country.

We also like the emphasis on music with Sound Tracks, a programme of screenings, discussions, networking opportunities and gigs across the festival, in association with Domino.

Other initiatives include Project: New Cinephila, an experimental platform for established and aspiring film critics. Electric Sheep is very proud to be contributing to one of the panel discussions, ‘Critical Approaches II: Tools, Formats and Experiments’ on Thursday 16 June at the Inspace Gallery. We will also have a stall, come along to meet us and take a look at our new book, The End: An Electric Sheep Anthology!