Questions over film festival collapse are stacking up as pleas for help are revealed

The Centre for the Moving Image, which went into administration this month, ran both the Edinburgh International Film Festival and the Filmhouse cinema. Picture: Aleksandra Janiak

The opening gala of the Edinburgh International Film Festival is always a big date in the city’s cultural calendar, but this year's felt a little bit special.

The EIFF was back in full effect for the first time since the Covid pandemic, but was also back in August again after a lengthy absence. A new era under new creative director Kristy Matheson opened with the dazzling debut feature from Edinburgh filmmaker Charlotte Wells.

But of the hundreds present at premiere and its lavish after-party at the National Museum, how many would have predicted that less than two months later Nicolca Sturgeon – one of many familar faces to head down the red carpet – would face questions in the Scottish Parliament about the seemingly sudden collapse of the operator of the EIFF and the Filmhouse cinemas.

Creative director Kristy Matheson was appointed to lead the Edinburgh International Film Festival into a new era. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

Despite growing warnings of dark times ah ead over due to a “perfect storm” of factors, including lingering Covid concerns, the state of the economy and soaring household bills, it was one of the biggest shocks I can recall across the Scottish cultural sector.

Only the devastating fires at Glasgow School of Art and Edinburgh’s Old Town had anything like the same sudden impact.

The demise of the EIFF and the Filmhouse certainly seems to have come like a bolt from the blue for their staff.

But there is growing evidence that alarm bells were being rung loud and clear in the corridors of power.

Government arts agency Creative Scotland has admitted that the CMI had raised concerns about its future viabilty and the prospect of insolvency in mid-September. Workers hung out to dry are entitled to wonder whether enough was done to help turn a clear cash crisis around.

But as my latest report makes clear, the CMI was given a six-figure bailout of Scottish Government funding in March after delivering a “high risk” warning about the anniversary event.

Asking for help to shore up its finances following the late withdrawal of a headline sponsor and tackle “immediate issues of operational delivery” looks pretty ominous to me, admittedly in hindsight.

But the questions on this particular saga are only just beginning to stack up.

Questions over film festival collapse are stacking up as pleas for help are revealed - Brian Ferguson