The curtain was raised 63rd Edinburgh International Film Festival on Wednesday with the world premiere of Sam Mendes' film Away We Go.

A road movie with a difference, the gentle comedy revolves around a couple who are looking for a sense of home - the girlfriend is six months pregnant and they jet or drive around the US visiting friends and family trying to decide where to settle down.

It's a slow burner but a pleasant watch and suitably uncontroversial as a festival opener.

Sam Mendes, speaking to the audience before the screening, was keen to stress the importance of such events to help uncover great films and talent, citing the discovery of his Oscar-winning film American Beauty in the Toronto festival nine years ago.

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This year's festival features 23 world premieres and appearances by some of the biggest names in the film world, including festival patrons Sean Connery, Tilda Swinton and Seamus McGarvey.

It is the second year that the world's oldest annual film festival - the oldest to have not had a break - has been staged in June.

Last year it was moved from August. It used to be part of the main Edinburgh Festival, but it suffered from the huge choice of entertainment offered at that time by the rest of the arts, from the main festival's classical concerts to rock gigs and the theatre and comedy of the Fringe.

I spoke to the festival director Ginny Atkinson about the change of date. She explained that it had been a risky but successful move - they'd had a few complaints from American visitors who liked to do the film festival at the same time as the other arts in one August visit, but that had been outweighed by the reaction of locals.

That was seconded by Annie Griffin, director of Channel 4's The Book Group and the writer and director of 2005 BAFTA-nominated film Festival, about the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She moved to Edinburgh years ago and loves the opportunity to see lots of films at a more leisurely pace than in August.

We chatted over lunch at the Cafe Royal, a location in Chariots of Fire, and a stop on a tour of Edinburgh's film-related location and places of interest hosted by Brian Pendreigh, a film journalist with The Scotsman who had been on the sets of films around the country and has written a number of in-depth books and directories about Scottish actors, films and locations.

The tour had started at our hotel, the colourful and funky new Hotel Missoni, the fashion label's first, where Brian had shown us a DVD of locations.

Next door is the Deacon Brodie's pub (435 Lawnmarket, Edinburgh EH1 2NT) which serves a mean haggis and is named after the infamous local who Robert Louis Stevenson based Jekyll and Hyde on. Brodie, a respected council member, furniture maker and locksmith made extra copies of keys to rob customers, feeding his addictions to women and gambling. Rumour has it he was hanged on a pole of his own making.

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