From the 17th to the 28th of June Edinburgh will come alive with the great and the good of the film world as it hosts its annual International Film Festival. Born in 1947 alongside the world-famous Edinburgh International Festival, a critical launching pad for the best in performance art and breaking comedy acts, it has become one of the best-loved audience film festivals, as well as a critical hub for the international film industry.

While there is a strong emphasis on innovation, discovery and showcasing new talent, the EIFF is always a reliable venue for the best of intelligent, popular filmmakers. This year will see Carlos Cuaron reunited with the stars of his 2001 film Y Tu Mama Tambien, the very lovely Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal. Since then Bernal has gone on to critical acclaim in The Motorcycle Diaries and the fantastically whimsical The Science of Sleep.

In Rudo and Cursi, the sexually charged teens of Y Tu Mama Tambien are replaced by young men on the brink of adulthood. What hasn't changed is the rivalry between the two. Rudo (Diego Luna) and Cursi (Gael Garcia Bernal) are half-brothers, and the film opens with them kicking hell out of a soccer ball - and each other. They are almost too old to shoot for football stardom, when a sleazy talent scout spots them playing and offers them an unexpected chance. However, only one of them can drive off with the scout in his two-seater sports car to the big time.

From this unpromising-sounding premise Carlos Cuaron creates a crackling exploration of moral ambiguity that never gives in to the high emotions running through it. What in the hands of lesser directors could turn into hokey sentiment is never allowed to slip into anything other than dry humour. It is to the credit of the actors that they walk this line without ever relinquishing our interest and sympathies. The raw tension and magic created between the two in their breakthrough film is heightened here to create a film with more edge and humour that seems destined to become an even bigger cult clasic than Y Tu Mama Tambien.

Luna and Bernal will be making a personal appearance on the EIFF's red carpet, joined by Carlos Cuaron, whose award-winning director brother Alfonso Cuaron will also be making a return appearance at the festival. Other actors making a return visit include Robin Wright-Penn, Alan Cumming and Ian Hart. However, the biggest name will undoubtedly be festival Patron Sir Sean Connery, who will be present for the special celebration of returning EIFF alumni as part of the Homecoming Scotland programme running throughout 2009.

Another date in the Homecoming Scotland calendar is the huge crowd-pleaser, EIFF's free outdoor cinema event. This year it celebrates the work of the Festival's Patrons; Sir Sean Connery, Tilda Swinton, Robert Carlyle and Seamus McGarvey.

Taking place on Friday 19th and Saturday 20th June, the films getting the big screen treatment are Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, You Only Live Twice, The Chronicles of Narnia, Stone of Destiny and Charlotte's Web. The fantastic family event takes place in the stunning surroundings of the historic Grassmarket, overlooked by Edinburgh Castle.

Animation is particularly strong at the EIFF this year. Bills that combine a number of shorts from the best established and up-and-coming animators offer audiences the opportunity to familarise themselves with some of the most exciting and imaginative animation from around the world. For a full-length feature, check out Australian offering Mary and Max, a witty stop-motion voiced by Toni Collette and Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

It is a dark but lovable tale of friendship against all odds.  Australian schoolgirl Mary inadvertently becomes penpal to Max, a middle-aged, obese New Yorker with a somewhat unique mindset.  Despite their mismatched identities, they build a connection that endures. The latest offering from Oscar winner Adam Elliot, Mary and Max opened the Sundance festival with its world premiere, took a prize at the Berlinale and now looks set to wow the audience at the EIFF.

Billed as 'sex and the credit crunch, as interpreted by one of the world’s greatest living filmmakers – and one of its most notorious sex stars', Steven Soderburgh brings his eagerly awaited new film, The Girlfriend Experience to Edinburgh's festival screens. A dark, raw-edged study of a working girl whose moneyed clients are all facing an uncertain future, the film has garnered huge amounts of media interest, not least because of its casting of real-life sex star Sasha Gray.

Although playing a Manhattan call-girl is hardly a stretch for Gray, her casting is more than a stunt. She has real presence, which combine with the film's urgent sense of time and place (Soderburgh filmed it in the run-up to the 2008 presidential election when the global economy was showing the first signs of collapse) to make The Girlfriend Experience a conversation-provoking must-see.