The Edinburgh international film festival has announced the introduction of two new significant international awards; best new international feature award and best international short film at this year's festival.

The film festival prides itself on its focus on the discovery and recognition of British film, and the Michael Powell award has recognised films such as Control, Tsotsi and 2008 winner, Somers Town directed by Shane Meadows.

The festival hopes that the two additional international awards will broaden the appeal of the EIFF to international filmmakers and in turn offer audiences a greater opportunity to experience the best of world cinema.

The best new international feature award will carry a cash prize of $7000 (£5,000) and will be open to features, originating outside of the UK, that receive their world or international premiere at the festival in any sections of the programme.

All live-action shorts, of 50 minutes, in the curated programme will be eligible for the best international short film award and the cash prize of $1400 (£1,000).

The films will be judged by a three person jury that will be separate to the jury presiding over the Michael Powell award.

Hannah McGill, artistic director of the festival explained how the awards fitted with the ethos of the festival:

'Our raft of awards now represents the full breadth of our programme, and offers an additional boost in both publicity and prize money to filmmakers from all over the world. Prizes aren't everything, of course, but we have seen our previous award-winners go from strength to strength after their EIFF premieres, and these new awards are intended to underline the festival's most important work: supporting burgeoning careers, recognising excellence and innovation, and bringing exciting new work to worldwide attention,' said McGill.

The Edinburgh international film festival will run from June 17-28.

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