BFF26: Borges and Me

Australian Premiere

Based on Jay Parlini’s acclaimed memoir, eccentric comedy Borges and Me follows a young graduate student on an unexpected journey through the Scottish Highlands with one of the 20^th Century’s greatest literary minds, Jorge Luis Borges.

In 1971, Jay Parlini (Fionn Whitehead, Dunkirk) a student at St Andrews University in Scotland, dreams of becoming a poet but finds himself uncertain and uninspired, in search of something that he can't articulate. Longing for guidance, he turns to celebrated poet Alastair Reid (Alan Cumming, Glenrothan BFF25), hoping Reid will become the mentor who can help him discover his voice. Through Reid, he is introduced to the mysterious and renowned Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges (Luis Gnecco) and is reluctantly drawn into Borges’s world of myth, humour and paradox.

As Jorge challenges Jay’s assumptions about life, art, love and mortality, Jay's search for a literary guide becomes something more profound, as he realises the power of language and discovers that inspiration is not something handed down by a mentor but found through personal experience.

OFFICAL SELECTION | Edinburgh International Film Festival 2026