Who says austerity and cuts are damaging enthusiasm for the arts? Well, a lot of people, and they very much are, but that didn’t stop people snapping up tickets for the Edinburgh film festival this year as the annual fortnight of burgeoning talent in the field of world cinema.

Chris FujiwaraElliot Gould, Guest, Jim Broadbent, Chris Fujiwara Edinburgh Film Festival 2012

Chief executive Ken Hay said: "We are delighted with how audiences have engaged with this year’s Festival. As well as the increase in the number of admissions, there have been unprecedented levels of online interaction across multiple digital platforms. Our planning for the 68th EIFF in 2014 is well underway: Chris Fujiwara and his team have already started to construct another programme that will offer hidden gems, discoveries and films to challenge and dare our growing audience."

Among the cinematic gems responsible for luring punters into theatres was Fire In The Night, the documentary about the Piper Alpha disaster that combines archive footage, audio recordings and interviews with some of the survivors won the Audience Award. Elsewhere, Leviathan - directed by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel - won the Michael Powell Award for best British film. This year's festival opened on June 19 with Breathe In, starring Guy Pearce.

Chris FujiwaraChris Fujiwara is already planning for 2014

The EIFF started in 1947 and has been championing independent film ever since then. At the beginning, it was focussed on documentary films, but since then has opened up to both judge and give a platform to many different genres. Summer in Edinburgh is quite the thespians paradise, with the film festival taking place in June, and the famous Fringe festival hitting town in August.