Interest

Calls to Save Edinburgh Filmhouse

Two MPs for the Scottish National Party have called for the Edinburgh Filmhouse to be saved as a cultural centre, following a protest in support of the boarded-up building on Sunday March 19.

The Edinburgh Filmhouse was the venue for the screenings in the Edinburgh leg of the Scotland Loves Anime festival, from when the festival began in 2010 through to the 2021 event. (The 2020 edition of the festival was online-only due to the Covid pandemic.)

The Edinburgh Reporter newspaper reports that protesters gathered outside the building on Sunday, demanding that the Filmhouse should be saved.

Additionally, the SNP MP Joanna Cherry described the Filmhouse as a "much loved cultural asset for Edinburgh locals and a vital hub for the Edinburgh International Film Festival." She called on the administrators selling the site to "prioritise cultural use over commercial gain and work with Scottish Screen and the City Council to make sure arthouse cinema continues to flourish in Edinburgh.”

Fellow SNP MP Tommy Sheppard accused Edinburgh City council of being "asleep at the wheel" regarding the Filmhouse's future, which he said could not be "decided by land speculators and corporate investors."

The Scotsman newspaper reports that Scottish actress Tilda Swinton added her support for the building. Swinton described the Edinburgh Filmhouse as "largely paid for and owned by the public" and said it should be "in the hands of legitimate cineastes who will nurture its future and the legacy of cultural cinema in Edinburgh and beyond."

The 2022 edition of the Scotland Loves Anime festival had already been scheduled at the Filmhouse when the venue stopped trading in October that year. The charity which ran it, Centre for the Moving Image, said that it had experienced rising costs and also reduced trade caused by the Covid pandemic. The 2022 Scotland Loves Anime festival was transferred to the nearby Cameo Picturehouse cinema.

According to the Scotsman, the Filmhouse was put on the open market by administrators FRP Advisory in November 2022. They rejected two bids that would have let the cinema reopen, but the administrators were hampered when councillors refused to transfer the Filmhouse's licence.

However, the paper says, the Filmhouse "is rumoured to be on the verge of being snapped up by a hospitality business."