Conference to debate future of film festival

A MAJOR conference will debate the future of Edinburgh’s troubled film festival next week.

Festival organisers, industry experts and academics will debate how to revive the fortunes of the long-running event, which faces an uncertain future.

St Andrews University’s Centre For Film Studies has joined forces with the Royal Society of Edinburgh to stage the event at the latter’s headquarters in the capital.

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The festival, which started in 1947, has had a turbulent 18 months thanks to the departure of a string of key figures over the past year and drastic budget cuts. Organisers were forced to virtually halve the number of film premieres and new producer James Mullighan left after bosses chose not to renew his contract. Among the participants at the event on Monday will be Robin MacPherson, professor of screen media at Edinburgh Napier University, Sonja Henrici, of the Scottish Documentary Institute, and Diane Henderson, head of programming at EIFF.

Monday’s conference will also mark the launch of a new Scottish Film Festivals Study Network, which the society is funding.

Dr Alex Marlow-Mann, research co-ordinator at the centre, said: “We hope that these discussions between respected scholars and film festival organisers will help build on the festival’s legacy as the world’s oldest continually running film festival and ensure its future is as bright as its past.”