Exclusive:Edinburgh Filmhouse: Reopening bid put back as fundraising drive is stepped up

Crucial backing for the Edinburgh Filmhouse hoped to be secured within next two months

A planned revival for Edinburgh’s historic Filmhouse cinema has been delayed until at least October – the second anniversary of its closure – to step up fundraising efforts for a significant refurbishment of the art house cinema.

A group of former staff spearheading a bid to bring the Lothian Road landmark back from the dead are hoping to secure crucial backing within the next two months. They have already raised almost £800,000 within the past six months, including a crowdfunding campaign that recently reached its initial £250,000 target and has now been extended to £300,000.

An initial overall target of £1.25m was set when the fundraising campaign was launched in September. It went on to win the backing of stars like Brian Cox, Emma Thompson, Alan Cumming, Ewen Bremner, Dougray Scott, Jack Lowden, Greg McHugh, Kate Dickie and Timothy Spall.

It was hoped the planned refurbishment would be carried out in the spring to allow the reopened Filmhouse to be used for this summer's Edinburgh International Film Festival. However, a more ambitious refurbishment than originally anticipated is now being planned to ensure the reopened Filmhouse is up to the best possible standards of modern-day cinema-going.

Filmhouse (Edinburgh) Ltd, the charity formed by the four former colleagues, is working with Glasgow-based cinema consultants Unick, who have worked on multiplex cinema projects around the world.

It emerged in April last year that Edinburgh-based pub company Caledonian Heritable had acquired the former cinema, which ran for more than 40 years before the sudden financial collapse of its parent company, Centre for the Moving Image, which also ran the film festival, in October 2022.

The former members of staff – James Rice, Rod White, David Boyd and Ginnie Atkinson – have since secured the backing of the company for their vision of bringing the Filmhouse back to life if they can raise enough money for a refurbishment. They have secured an interim lease that has allowed them access to the building to help plan the required work on the new-look Filmhouse.

It is hoped Edinburgh's Filmhouse cinema will be able to reopen by October.

Key priorities include creating more legroom and installing new seating in the three cinema spaces, revamping the cafe-bar, improving heating and ventilation, and creating better access throughout the building.

Ms Atkinson, a former Filmhouse chief executive, said: “The ambition is to reinstate a major cultural asset for the community. We want to attract new audiences as well as long-standing, loyal, customers and – crucially – to make the business sustainable for generations to come. Filmhouse is unique in its programme and its provision and clearly people want it back.

“The timetable has always been flexible, according to circumstances. There is a lot of planning and development work to be done before work can actually start in the building and that has been going on for some time, but a major factor is, of course, raising the required funds.

“We've secured £788,750 for both project development work and capital spend. Other funding is at various stages of discussion. We expect to know the results of all of this by the end of April.

The Filmhouse cinema in Edinburgh closed suddenly in October 2022 after the arts charity Centre for the Moving Image went into administration. Picture: Chris Scott

“Everything is chugging along nicely while we wait for the outcome on multiple fundraising fronts.

"The crowdfunder is the jewel in the crown because it demonstrates the huge and consistent public support, and this in turn encourages others. Topping £250,000 was a great milestone in every respect."