Save the Filmhouse: New protest set for 15 April

Campaigners behind the Save the Filmhouse group are organising a National Protest for the Arts on 15 April, coinciding with World Art Day

Article by Jamie Dunn | 06 Apr 2023
  • Save the Filmhouse protest, 9 March, 2023

Six months on from Filmhouse – Edinburgh’s much-loved independent arthouse cinema – having its doors closed and boarded up without any public or internal notice, the Scottish film scene is still hurting. But they haven’t been helpless.

The Centre for the Moving Image – the parent company to Edinburgh Filmhouse, Edinburgh International Film Festival and Belmont Filmhouse in Aberdeen – entered into administration on 6 October. Very quickly afterwards, a campaign group made of former audience members, filmmakers, film exhibitors, programmers, journalists, students and former staff got together to oppose the closure. Since then, they’ve helped raise money for the 100+ staff who lost their jobs with no notice, and in three weeks the group crowdfunded £700,000 to attempt to buy back the Filmhouse building from the administrators.

That bid wasn’t successful, but the group has continued its fight to secure the Filmhouse building on Lothian Road as a cultural cinema. This activity seems to have been energised recently by the fact that the administrators have failed to find a buyer with one bidder, the Signature Pub Group, pulling out when it became clear they would be unable to attain an alcohol licence for the premises, which they intended to turn into a cinema-themed pub.

On 19 March the group held a demonstration outside the boarded-up Filmhouse building, and it seemed to catch the attention of the right people. Two days after the protest, The City of Edinburgh Council said: “Councillors today expressed unanimous support for the Filmhouse on Lothian Road, and reiterated the Council's position in favour of retaining cultural film and film education as the central use for the venue.”

Following that 19 March protest, there have also been words of support online from leading Scottish figures from the film industry including Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald, Succession star Brian Cox and former Edinburgh Film Festival patron Tilda Swinton. In a statement, Swinton said: “The Edinburgh Filmhouse belongs to Edinburgh. It is not a privately owned commodity to be sold – without the bounds of unequivocal transparency – to a private buyer.”

There’s another chance to show your support for Filmhouse at a bigger protest happening on Saturday 15 April on Festival Square, just a few doors down from the boarded-up Filmhouse building. Described as the "National Protest for the Arts", the organisers are inviting workers and patrons from across Scotland’s cultural venues to join in the protest.

“This protest is both an invitation to exercise our democratic right to defend the Arts and a proud celebration of the Arts as an essential component of our lives – not an added luxury,” say the organisers. “We march to protest against Climate Change, we stand up for Women’s rights on International Women’s Day… We should also stand up for our right to cultural life, as recognised in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

The group's demands are as follows:
• More financial support from the Scottish Government for the arts sector.
• Greater access to Arts and Culture for all residents of Scotland.
• Fair Pay in the Arts sector for artists and arts workers.

If you miss Filmhouse and believe in the cause, you can show your support by joining the National Protest for the Arts on World Art Day, Saturday 15 April at 12pm. More information can be found on the Save the Filmhouse website or the group's Twitter (@SaveFilmhouse) and Instagram (@savethefilmhouse) pages.