Edinburgh Filmhouse and Film Festival: More than a glimmer of hope as serious rescue bid is launched – Scotsman comment

The news that Creative Scotland has secured the rights to Edinburgh International Film Festival and allocated nearly £100,000 towards its revival represents more than a glimmer of hope, given how bleak the situation previously appeared.

An image from the film Gregory’s Girl projected onto the Filmhouse in Edinburgh as part of the campaign to save it (Picture: Jane Barlow/PA)

The involvement of Creative Scotland – along with Kristy Matheson, who was creative director at the Centre for the Moving Image, the charity which ran the Film Festival and Filmhouse cinema until it went into administration in October, and help provided by Edinburgh International Festival – should give encouragement that this is a serious rescue effort. However, question marks still remain over the future of the Filmhouse, which hosted the festival, its counterpart in Aberdeen, the Belmont Filmhouse, and more than 100 people who lost their jobs.

A bid to raise £2 million to save the Edinburgh cinema through the Crowdfunder website has so far raised just over £145,000. The organisers wrote that they were now hoping to put together a “club deal”, combining the donations with “several major donors” able to provide more than £200,0000. One problem for them is that time is running out, with a closing date for offers set for Wednesday next week.

These are hard times, but allowing such a jewel in Edinburgh’s cultural crown to fall could mean our current troubles, which will surely pass, continue to cause significant damage far into the future. We hope that Scotland’s creative sector, all those who value what it does, and the government will rally round the Film Festival and both Filmhouses in their hour of need. If the current glimmers of hope are extinguished, bringing these valuable institutions back to life may prove a difficult task.