Recent history suggests that success lies ahead for the film which manages to scoop the Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature.

Gavin Hood's Tsotsi won an Academy Award in 2006 following its success at EIFF the previous year, while last year's winner Control achieved global success.

The 2008 competition is, perhaps, the toughest for some time, given the combination of veteran expertise and raw talent on display.

This is particularly evident in the contrasting style of the films which book-end the 2008 Festival, The Edge of Love and Faintheart.

The former is directed by John Maybury, who won the Michael Powell Award a decade ago for his Francis Bacon biopic Love is the Devil, while Faintheart was largely developed by users of MySpace as part of an online competition, our own Hannah McGill describing it as, "a total pleasure."

EIFF favourite Shane Meadows makes a welcome return with the UK Premiere of Somers Town. Meadows re-unites with This is England star Thomas Turgoose to further cement his place as a great British filmmaker.

Scotland is well represented with two World Premieres in Stone of Destiny and Kenny Glenaan's Summer, both featuring actor Robert Carlyle to very different effect.

Perhaps the most shocking of the Brit pack at the Festival is Oliver Blackburn's debut feature Donkey Punch, following the misadventures of a trio of holidaymakers.

It's the kind of thriller which makes 'Holiday Nightmares' look like a weekend in the Cotswolds, which is, oddly enough, the setting for fellow debut director Duane Hopkins' Better Things.

Altogether more sedate, Hannah sees Better Things as the most eagerly-awaited British debut of the year.

Just as distinct is Helen, in which the titular character becomes entangled in the life of the woman she plays in a police reconstruction. Slow-burning, psychological drama doesn't get much better.

The EIFF audience will also be the first to see Dummy, as Matthew Thompson's debut feature receives its World Premiere at this year's Festival. Thomas Grant and Aaron Johnson turn in outstanding performances as brothers who find very different ways to cope with a family tragedy.

Topping it all off is James Marsh's stunning documentary Man on Wire, charting Philippe Petit's attempt to walk a wire strung between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre.

So, who will walk away with the coveted Michael Powell Award? Judging by the quality of the nominees, I’ll just fall back on that old cliché – everyone’s a winner.