The building that formerly housed the Edinburgh Filmhouse is on course to return as a cinema, run by a team of ex-Filmhouse staff.
Screen understands that property management group Caledonian Heritable, which also own The Dome, Ryan’s Bar and the Theatre Royal in Edinburgh and who won the bid for the property at 88 Lothian Road, will not be part of the running of the cinema but will act as landlord.
Former Edinburgh Filmhouse staff Rod White, David Boyd, James Rice and Ginnie Atkinson will make up the board of the re-opened cinema, which would be a close approximation to the cinema’s previous incarnation, but run as a standalone, rather than part of a larger organisation.
More details will be confirmed about the cinema’s return later this month.
The Edinburgh Filmhouse building was sold for £2.65m in April. The building was put up for sale after parent company the Centre for the Moving Image (CMI) – which also ran the Belmont Filmhouse in Aberdeen and the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) – went into administration in October. FRP Advisory was appointed as administrator to oversee the sale of the building, with many concerned that the building’s days as a cinema were over, and that the site would return as a bar or hotel.
The future of the Belmont Filmhouse is still uncertain, with reports that several organisations have entered bids to take over the operation of the building, which is owned by the local council.
EIFF is set to return with a streamlined edition from August 18-23, under the umbrella of the Edinburgh International Festival, after EIFF’s IP was bought by Screen Scotland. Trainspotting producer Andrew Macdonald has been named chair of EIFF for the 2024 edition, and beyond.
Screen has contacted Caledonian Heritable for comment.
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