Cinescapes want your memories of Edinburgh at Christmas for thier pop up Christmas card for the Capital

Deck the Walls, a pop up Christmas card for the Capital is looking for your festive memories to project​ onto walls across the city.​

Amanda Rogers, founder of Cinescapes

​Favourite memories of Edinburgh at Christmas are to be celebrated in a moving Christmas card, later this month. ​A​ppealing for members of the public to share their favourite festive photographs​, ​Amanda Rogers, founder of Cinescapes, the event’s producer, sa​ys,​ “We’re looking for family photographs which evoke Edinburgh at Christmas​,​ whether it be of kids with Santa at Jenners or people skating on Duddingston Loch. We have been working with the Edinburgh City Archives but also hope members of the public will share their memories of Christmas past.”

​Snapshots and film clips which are chosen will be crafted into a multimedia installation which will be projected at ​several ​secret locations around the city by Double Take Projections. Stephen and David McConnachie, the twins behind Double Take, have set the ball rolling with a photograph of their own first Christmas, wearing matching festive bibs at home in Craigmount​.​

Deck the Walls, has been conceived as a safe way to bring communities together in lockdown​ and ​Rogers explains​,​ “I believe archive photographs and film are a wonderful way to bring people together.​ ​The idea is to remind people of happy times and shared experiences in a way that people can enjoy.”Secret ​locations across the city are currently being considered for the screenings, which will take place on December 18, at 7pm.​

Stephen and David McConnachie of Double Take, aged 1, at Christmas

Using a high powered laser projector mounted on a transit van, ​the McConnachie twins ​can project high resolution images and films onto buildings with a minimum of set up time.

​"​All the equipment we need is in the back of a van​ - s​ome people have compared us to the Scooby Doo van,” they explain.

Rogers ​adds, "“We are working on the locations right now but won’t be announcing them because we want to avoid crowding due to lockdown restrictions. We want to stay safe.​ ​This is a creative response to the Redrawing Edinburgh project so we are looking at areas like Longstone, Corstorphine and Leith. It’s not going to be in the city centre and it isn’t something aimed at tourists.

“We hope to have peop​l​e watching from their windows, so we are looking for locations ​from ​where as many people ​as possible ​will be able to ​view the pop up Christmas card."

Stephen and David McConnachie now

The installation will ​screened on a five minute loop with a specially commissioned ​seasonal​ ​soundtrack​ from ​local​ jazz folk trio Dowally.​ ​The soundtrack will also include recordings of local children humming carols - in accordance with the new Covid restrictions which ban public singing.

Cinescapes is particularly keen to find images of Christmas in Leith​,​ as Deck the Walls will be shared as part of the online exhibition Leith For Ever​, which commemorates the centenary of the expansion of the city in 1920, taking in the areas of Longstone, Corstorphine, Colinton, Liberton, Bridgend, Cramond, Gilmerton and Leith.

If you would like you to share ​your​ favourite Christmas photographs or cinefilm clips considered for inclusion in the project, email​ them to​ [email protected]. The ​cut off date for entries is December 12.​

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