Highland community cinema launched as Covid hit defies odds with audience numbers

Perched on the tip of a Scottish peninsula sits a community cinema with an interesting story to tell. 

It all began with a group of film enthusiasts in Cromarty, on the Black Isle in the Scottish Highlands, who wanted to share their experience and love of watching films together with the surrounding community. 

After a frantic period of blood, sweat and tears going into fundraising efforts, feasibility studies, design and securing land and planning permission, Cromarty Cinema opened in January 2020 - just in time to be shut down when the pandemic hit weeks later.

After having to close due to the pandemic just weeks after opening for the first time in 2020, the cinema, today, has a dedicated audience | Cromarty Cinema

Some £280,000 went into the film house, which is built using state-of-the-art materials to keep the air source heat pump-heated building well-insulated to reduce carbon emissions.

But the plush, razzamatazz-coloured seats, each one sponsored by loyal supporters of the community cinema, including author Ian Rankin, didn’t sit empty for long. 

Keeping in line with social distancing rules at the time, they were able to fill the 35-capacity space by about half. 

In 2021 it was able to take on a part-time manager and continued to build their audience as restrictions faded away.

One of the founders, Fraser Mackenzie, who is also one of the band of 25 volunteers running the cinema | Katharine Hay

Today, the cinema’s latest figures show it now has an average capacity of 63 per cent, which is believed to be significantly above the UK average. 

The cinema’s success come as others in small towns are having to close due to high running costs and poor attendance, including the Oban Phoenix Cinema which closed earlier this year. “The national attendance for cinemas in the UK at the moment is about 30 per cent, so we’re doing pretty well,” said co-founder Fraser Mackenzie.

“It was such a knock when Covid happened, after all the effort that went into it.

“So it’s great to see the level of attendance we have now, and how much is has become part of the community.”

Mr Mackenzie paid tribute to the band of volunteers, which he says are vital to the cinema’s success. A 25-strong group, they run the venue from front of house work to cleaning jobs to overseeing private hires and special events including lectures and Q&A sessions. 

“We are heavily reliant on our team of volunteers,” Mr Mackenzie said. 

“Without them, we just wouldn’t exist.”

Despite Cromarty being a popular draw for tourists in the summer months, the cinema has found audience numbers increase over the winter period. This could be, in part, due to the weather and a desire for more indoor activities. But it also shows the community cinema has a loyal audience locally, and is not just reliant on the influx of tourists to the area in the summer.

Gražina Ščučkaitė, Cromarty Cinema's part-time manager | Katharine Hay

A big part of this is down to the diverse range of content on offer, Cromarty Cinema’s manager Gražina Ščučkaitė said. Ms Ščučkaitė said the cinema runs almost like a third screen to Eden Court, a cinema in Inverness which supports Cromarty with licensing costs, and which shows a mix of blockbusters, arthouse, independent, cult and classic films.

“Eden Court’s support means we can have a more diverse programme here which means we can cater for many different tastes,” she said.

“It’s not just blockbusters. In Cromarty, foreign films, art films, and adventure documentaries do really well. There’s a real audience for a diverse mix of films here.”

Due to the the cinema’s origins, founded by a group of film enthusiasts, Cromarty already had a strong base of cinema fans from the start.

In 2004, a handful of the current team of volunteers, including Mr Mackenzie, and one of the founders and trustees for Cromarty Cinema Tanya Karlebach, formed the Cromarty and Resolis Film Society.

It wanted to offer film screenings in venues around town, which led to the Cromarty Film Festival, which has been running annually since 2007.

A desire for a permanent legacy of the film festival led to the birth of what is now Cromarty Cinema today.