Domhnall Gleeson stars in Edinburgh Festival opener The Incomer

Domhnall Gleeson will star in new film and opener for the Edinburgh International Film Festival, The Incomer.

According to the official synopsis, the comedy film is set on a remote Scottish island where two siblings survive by hunting seabirds, “retelling the stories of their ancestors, and defending the isle from dreaded ‘incomers.’” The story takes a turn when an “awkward council worker” shows up to uproot and relocate them.

The Incomer stars Gleeson alongside Gayle Rankin, Grant O’Rourke, Michelle Gomez and John Hannah. It was created by Louis Paxton, director of short film Satan Has a Bushy Tail and three episodes of both Wreck and BBC One series Shetland.

As well as opening the Edinburgh Festival, The Incomer premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in the US earlier this year and won the NEXT Innovator Award.

In March of last year, Gleeson received the Oscar Wilde award at the event’s 20^th anniversary in Los Angeles. His varied career has seen him appear in film franchises such as Harry Potter and Star Wars, and on hit films like Brooklyn, Ex Machina and Anna Karenina.

More recently, he starred as Ned Sampson in The Office spinoff series, The Paper, and appeared alongside John Krasinski and Natalie Portman in Fountain of Youth.

Also at the Edinburgh Festival, the Irish film Skintown is set to make its world premiere and is in contention for the Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence.

The Incomer will hit Irish cinemas on September 4.