102 cinema workers at Edinburgh International Film Festival, the Filmhouse and Belmont Filmhouse in Aberdeen immediately lost their jobs when the Centre for the Moving Image ceased trading on 6th of October. Edinburgh and Aberdeen have lost their leading independent cinema, and for their film communities, essential cultural hubs. 

The Filmhouse is also not only home to one of the world’s longest running and most prestigious film festivals, The Filmhouse and Belmont are core venues to countless independent Scottish and UK film festivals and independent exhibitors throughout the year,without which screening their cultural cinema programmes in Edinburgh and Aberdeen would not be possible.

The Filmhouse and Belmont went to greath lengths to make films accessible to all, including many captioned screenings, screenings with audio description, baby and carer days, senior selections as well as generous discounts for students and others who would normally struggle to afford or hear/see/access films. With the loss of the Filmhouse cafe, Edinburgh also loses an accessible, city centre community space used by many different people who will struggle to find similar alternatives. 

EIFF, Filmhouse, and the Belmont are pivotal to U.K. film culture and provide vital support for independent filmmakers. The absence of all will result in the loss of a vital cultural film programme that has nourished and nurtured film audiences for decades. 

The Filmhouse, Belmont, and Edinburgh International Film Festival, the world’s oldest continually running film festival, offers Edinburgh and Aberdeen audiences the opportunity to experience some of the world’s most renowned cultural cinema, inspiring new talent and acting as a key platform for international independent filmmakers to showcase their work as well as Scotland’s cultural reputation globally. 

As our relationships with screen cultures become more individuated and dispersed, it is crucial to ensure that spaces like the EIFF, Filmhouse and Belmont, that host and kindle the shared experience, sociality, and a community of cinema going, are supported and nourished.

The film industry in Scotland is booming, bringing in approximately £567m to the Scottish economy annually. But a film is nothing without an audience and EIFF, Filmhouse and Belmont provide crucial exhibition spaces for cinema. Beyond screening films, all provide essential training and development opportunities for new and emerging filmmakers. The impact of losing either of these cultural institutions would be massive. 

We must save them before it’s too late.

Until more details are clear about how a path forward is possible, we are signing to declare our support for the organisations, the staff and the culture of these three cinematic institutions, and to lend our collective power to any steps that may reverse the effects of this decision.