It was just a blip.

That's the good news, Bob Last tells me. What at the time seemed dangerous, maybe even deadly, turned out to be no more than a wrong turn. And, two years on, the Edinburgh International Film Festival is back on track – or at least has got the satnav working again.

With this year's film festival – director Chris Fujiwara's second – just days away from opening, the mood in the camp is positive, according to Last, who in November was appointed chairman of the Centre of the Moving Image, the body which runs both the Festival and the Filmhouse cinema itself.

"Chris brought back a critical credibility, and without an international critical credibility there was nothing to build on," says Last, reflecting on 2012's festival, which saw things begin to take an upturn.

We are sitting sipping coffees in the Filmhouse café. Last – once-upon-a-time a music label boss, who introduced us to the Human League and the Fire Engines, and who also produced films including Terence Davies's House Of Mirth and Sylvain Chomet's gorgeous animated vision of Edinburgh, The Illusionist – is entertaining company. Spend time with him and you can end up discussing the critical undervaluing of the Edinburgh music scene; the time he sat backstage at a Human League gig discussing graphic novels with David Bowie; the prospects for Terence Davies's film version of Sunset Song and the kind of beer he prefers (Rolling Rock). But mostly we talk about the Film Festival, its recent troubled past and what he believes is its hopeful future.

Perhaps in the first place we should be thankful it's happening at all. Last admits that in 2011 he was worried about the festival's future: "I think I shared everyone's real concerns that it felt like things were imploding; that frankly, from the outside, it looked like it could have been terminal."

But by the time Last took up his current position, Fujiwara and chief executive Ken Hay had steadied the ship. Last sees his job as to help ensure that everyone – the board, the stakeholders, even the industry – buy into the festival's future and to see it reaffirm its status in the top rank of film festivals again.

"I guess there had become a mismatch between the historical reputation and the delivery, so we're getting back on track," he says. "It's not about looking back to some glory days, because the whole environment is completely different. The film business is different and the economic environment is different. So you have to deliver more for less, which is about being smarter and making better decisions, and that's not easy. But I think we have the building blocks in place."

When appointed, he saw his first task as making sure the festival's stakeholders all bought into the festival's long-term ambitions and to draw a line under "the previous chaos". It's not about instant change, he says. "This year you won't suddenly see some exponential growth. That takes time."

In fact, he thinks, sudden change was what nearly derailed the event. "That was one of the mistakes that was made before: 'Let's throw all our sticks in the air and change it overnight.' And although it's a huge challenge we have re-engaged with what really drove the festival's reputation. We're not throwing the baby out with the bathwater."

Is that what had happened?

"As far as I can tell. I have to not spend too much time looking back and analysing that. It's not my job. But broadly speaking, the need for real change and reinvention was correctly identified. But clearly the solution was completely wrong and turned out to be very destructive. What's been very encouraging is that our reputation, particularly outside our local audience, is strong. People are very prepared to understand that as a blip."

The ecology of film festivals has, of course, changed dramatically since Last first started attending as a teenager back in the late 1970s. But he says there is no reason to believe that the only way for Edinburgh is down. It is never going to be the same as Cannes or Berlin, but it's not meant to be, he says. Those two events are market-driven and as a producer he knows the industry neither wants nor needs Edinburgh to be that. The Scottish festival is about bringing the international film community to Edinburgh and giving them a stage.

It should be remembered that Last remains a producer as well. Which brings us to Sunset Song, Terence Davies's long-mooted adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's novel. He started working on it eight years ago. Are we any closer to seeing it?

"All the money is there on paper. Is it all in the bank? Not yet. But it's a lot closer than it's ever been. The BBC is on board, the BFI is on board, Creative Scotland are on board. We have our primary cast. We have a substantial private investor. So it looks very close. We might shoot it in 65mm, which would be very exciting. We have shot some tests up in the Mearns. It's the first time there's been a 65mm camera in Scotland. Panavision very kindly flew one in for us. The idea of Terence and 65mm -" He doesn't need to complete that sentence – the prospect is too tantalising for words.

The film industry in Scotland has its challenges, he says. Creative Scotland has been hugely supportive of the film festival, but as a film producer he admits that Scottish Screen has been missed. And digital technology has changed the landscape in both music and film. Still, some things haven't changed.

"I can remember when digital was emerging everyone going, 'Oh, movies are going to change because they're all going to be interactive and the audience is going to choose its ending' and all that. Load of cobblers. Because actually when you go to a movie, you want someone else to tell you what the story is. People forgot that."

The format evolves, the form remains. You might say the same about festivals.

Edinburgh International Film Festival runs from June 19-30, www.edfilmfest.org.uk