Fundraising campaign underway to revamp and reopen Edinburgh’s Filmhouse cinema

Former staff are leading revival bid

A £1.25 million campaign to refurbish and reopen Edinburgh's boarded-up Filmhouse cinema has been launched as it emerged that former staff are already back working in the building.

An initial £250,000 crowdfunder campaign is underway to encourage supporters to back efforts to revive the historic art house cinema on Lothian Road almost a year after its sudden closure when its operator went into administration.

It is hoped that public funders, philanthropists and film industry figures will also support the “long overdue” work to make the reborn Filmhouse “attractive and accessible.”

The campaign has secured the support of the Scottish Government, which is providing £60,000 via the Screen Scotland agency to fund initial planing and development work.

A five-strong rescue team has been given six months to raise funding and put refurbishment plans in place by pub operator Caledonian Heritable.

The Edinburgh-based firm, which owns The Dome and Ryan’s Bar in the city, acquired the building for £2.65 million in April after it was put on the open market following the sudden financial collapse of arts charity Centre for the Moving Image (CMI) in October.

Aberdeen City Council has just named a separate charity as the preferred bidder to reopen the city’s Belmont cinema, which was previously operated by the CMI.

An image from the Scottish coming-of-age romantic comedy film Gregory’s Girl was projected onto the Filmhouse building after its closure last October. Picture: Jane Barlow

A new charity, Filmhouse (Edinburgh) Limited, will run both the capital cinema and its revived cafe-bar, with Caledonian Heritage said to be in "advanced negotiations" to agree a 21-year lease which would allow the Filmhouse to reopen its doors in 2024.

Its directors have committed to revive the Lothian Road building as “an independent cinema venue celebrating the diversity of filmmaking worldwide,” but also ensure that a revived Filmhouse "can better attract new audiences.”

The Filmhouse, which began operating in 1978 in a former church building, was also home to the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

The rescue team, who revealed that work is needed throughout the “run-down” building to ensure a reborn Filmhouse can “survive and thrive” in future, previously generated £764,000 worth of pledges for a potential purchase of the building, but fell well short of a £2 million target.

The Filmhouse cinema in Edinburgh closed suddenly at the beginning of October after the arts charity Centre for the Moving Image went into administration. Picture: Chris Scott

The new charity has been formed by Ginnie Atkinson, former chief executive of the Filmhouse, former programme manager James Rice, former head of programming Rod White, former head of technical David Boyd and financial consultant Mike Davidson.

They hope to reopen the Filmhouse by next summer - in good time for the film festival - once its screens, cafe-bar, foyer areas and toilets are overhauled.

Caledonian Heritable has already started a programme of external repairs and has also committed to donate the projection equipment in the building if the fundraising campaign is successful.

The initial £250,000 is intended to pay for “crucial maintenance and essential improvements,” including installing new seating and creating more leg room.

The Filmhouse cinema in Edinburgh has been closed since October. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

The crowdfunder page states: “We are a group of former colleagues who have formed a new company, Filmhouse (Edinburgh) Ltd.

“We are armed with a viable, long-term business plan to restore and improve Edinburgh’s unique cultural cinema.

"Similar to the original Filmhouse, for which serving the public good through cultural and educational activity was fundamental, the new company has charitable status.

"We have the support of the council and Creative Scotland/Screen Scotland, who have provided £60,000 in initial development funding in anticipation of a long-term lease and reopening.

"Many people have given their time and energy in different ways, driven by the belief that it is unthinkable for a city such as Edinburgh not to have a cinema like it.

"A huge amount of work has gone on in pursuit of re-opening. The prospect of saving Filmhouse is more real now. We need your support more than ever. We can sign the lease and set an opening date as soon as we know we have the funds to cover the core necessities."

An image of actor Anna Karina from the film Vivre Sa Vie was projected onto Salisbury Crags in Edinburgh last autumn as part of a campaign to save the Edinburgh International Film Festival and the Filmhouse cinema in the city. Picture: Jane Barlow/PA

Ms Atkinson said: “When we found out Caledonian Heritable had bought the building we wrote to them saying how important the Filmhouse was as a cultural entity in the city. That's what started the conversation.

“It probably feels as if there has been a very long silence. It's taken a bit of time to work out this journey, but we’re now at the point where we have a six-month licence to occupy the building, which gives us exclusivity in terms of negotiating a long lease.

"In order for us to do that, we want to know we have enough funding to finance a refurbishment.

"The Filmhouse was already suffering from neglect, particularly the seating, and will probably have been closed for 18 months by the time it reopens. Things were already pretty bad.

"A lot depends on how much we can raise. A basic standard of refurbishment is needed, but we’d hope to get beyond that.

"We can’t just reopen and say ‘isn’t it wonderful?’ The euphoria of having the Filmhouse back would only last for a certain amount of time.

"We had serious pledges of support from within the film community for the last crowdfunder.

“The good thing with this new campaign is that it's not a fast and furious one. It will be able to run for a lot longer. We’re trading that urgency for more of a reality now.”

David Smith, Screen Scotland’s director of screen, said: “Ginnie, James, David and Rod have worked incredibly hard over the last few months to secure this opportunity for the city and Scotland.

"I know everyone shares the same ambition – one also held by those many campaigners who raised their voices in support of the Filmhouse – to see the projectors kick back into life and the seats full of cinema-lovers for decades to come.”

Council culture convener Val Walker said: “We’re clear in our commitment to maintaining 88 Lothian Road as a world-class hub for independent cultural cinema.

“We’ve been working closely with our partners – Creative Scotland/Screen Scotland, the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise – on forging a sustainable path forward for this Edinburgh institution and spiritual home of the film festival.

“We’ll continue to support our partners, the building owners and Filmhouse (Edinburgh) Ltd in our common goal to return it to its rightful place in Edinburgh’s cultural landscape."