Edinburgh Filmhouse hits £60,000 target to reopen safely

EDINBURGH'S Filmhouse is set to reopen in September after a successful fund-raising appeal raised the £60,000 required to ensure the three-screen independent cinema can operate safely in the post-covid age.

Edinburgh's Filmhouse

Posting on their Facebook page, the Filmhouse revealed: “We hit our fund-raising target”. In an accompanying film, Filmhouse chief operating officer Dougie Cameron thanked everyone who had donated.

Speaking from Filmhouse Cinema 1, he said: “Today we broke through our fund-raising target to reopen - it’s been overwhelming - in three weeks we’ve raised £60,000. A huge ammount of that has come through out front door with cheques, with hand-written letters, which have been amazing to read... how much everyone supports us.”

Like many city institutions, the Filmhouse closed its doors in March as the lockdown struck. Faced with an immediate future with no income, the fund-raising campaign was launched to ensure its survival. Asking people to donate £40, the cost of an annual Filmhouse membership, the appeal was launching by Juliet Tweedie, head of development at the Filmhouse, who revealed the precarious position of the much loved complex.

She said: “We have all been so touched by the outpouring of love and support for Filmhouse since we closed our doors in March. The last three months have been very challenging... we anticipate that as well as a reduction in admissions when we do re-open, due to constraints on capacity in the building and changing habits of customers, we will have to invest hard cash into making the building safe and navigable for our customers and staff.”

The price placed on doing so was the target sum of £60,000.

In the film, Dougie Cameron explains what that sum will be used for, saying: “I want to take the time to tell you a little bit about what we’re going to spend the money you have donated to us on. First and foremost we are going to keep out people safe so we are investing in kit and training to make sure that everyone is safe when we reopen our doors.

“Secondly, making sure our customers are safe..signage, sanitation points, even our ventilation and our air handling systems, we are looking at. Third, when we reopen we’re not going to be as efficient as we were before..”

Looking around Cinema 1, Cameron explains the ramifications of social distancing, both at the current two metre guidance and also at a reduced one metre distance. He says: “At one metre, the row in front of me will be empty, the row behind me will be empty and the two seats on my left and to my right will be empty.

“That means in this grand old auditorium of 282 seats we will only be able to sell 49 seats at one metre social distancing and 29 seats at two metres.

“So, we’re excited and ready to welcome you back in the doors, but we’ve got a long way to go so if anyone hasn’t given yet and would like to, we’re going to keep our fundraising page open, please feel to donate.”

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