Filmhouse pulls out all the stops for its first birthday
The cinema will mark one year since its reopening with special screenings of Don’t Look Now, 2001: A Space Odyssey, projection box tours and much more
It’s been almost one year since Filmhouse reopened, and it’ll mark its first birthday from Friday 26–Sunday 28 June and into July with a series of special screenings, events and special guests to showcase all that the cinema is known for.
Classic screenings are the lynchpin of the programme, with Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey screening in 70mm from Friday 5 June. Also on the programme is Boogie Nights, Paul Thomas Anderson’s classic story of Hollywood’s grimy underbelly, as well as Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, which will be followed by an in conversation between novelist Ian Rankin and writer Justin John Doherty. They'll discuss Doherty’s new book on the film, Don’t Look Now And Then. Audiences will also have another opportunity to watch Cinema Paradiso, which was the first film to be screened at Filmhouse when it reopened.
New films screening during the birthday celebrations include The Fall Of Sir Douglas Weatherford, a Peter Mullan vehicle from Edinburgh-born filmmaker Sean Robert Dunn; Steven Spielberg’s hotly anticipated Disclosure Day, which promises a return to the tone of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind; and Rohan Kanawade’s romantic Cactus Pears.
Across the birthday weekend, cineastes can also get a glimpse into Filmhouse’s projection boxes and there will be evening birthday party celebrations with live music. There will be special discounts on food and drink over the birthday weekend to coincide with the launch of a brand-new menu in the Filmhouse Bar Café.
Andrew Simpson, executive director of Filmhouse, said: ‘The first year of the new Filmhouse has been quite a ride. Since June 2025, 125,000 people have sat down to watch a film here, and more than 200,000 have walked through the doors of our building. Re-establishing Filmhouse as a place for people to meet, socialise, eat and drink, enjoy themselves, and most thrillingly of all, experience the magic of cinema in all its forms has been a very special experience for all of us here.
‘We welcomed the public back to the new Filmhouse ten days after finishing the first part of a huge refurbishment project, with a lot of work, including the opening of the brand-new Screen Four, carrying on after we had opened the doors. That we've delivered an enormously varied programme of films, events, educational work, and hosted dozens of festivals – from EIFF and the BFI London Film Festival to the French and Spanish Film Festivals, the Jali African Film Weekender, Take One Action, and many more – is a massive testament to our team, all the people we work with, and our brilliant audience. We've got lots of things we want to improve and build upon, and we've got big ambitions for the future. The first birthday celebrations are an important marker for us on that journey, and we want to take the opportunity to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us over the past year, and to extend an invitation to those who are yet to try out Filmhouse, by inviting you all to party with us in June. There's something for everyone, and it's going to be a lot of fun, and we hope to see you there (we'll bring the cake). Cinema lives. 'mon the hoose!’
Filmhouse reopened its doors on Friday 27 June last year after a refurbishment costing more than £2 million. The opening was the culmination of a three-year long campaign to reopen the cinema after its sudden closure in October 2022, following the liquidation of its parent company Centre For Moving Image (CMI). CMI blamed rising costs and falling profits for its closure, which resulted in the loss of more than a hundred staff and the closure of Edinburgh’s Filmhouse, Aberdeen’s Belmont Filmhouse and the Edinburgh International Film Festival (which returned in a scaled-back form a year later). Since then, various campaigns have been undertaken to secure funding for the cinema which have included support from patrons Jack Lowden and Charlotte Wells, as well as Dougray Scott, Brian Cox, and Emma Thompson.
Funding for the refurbishment initially came from a crowdfunder campaign titled Open The Doors!, which raised more than £324,000 in September 2023. The project also received funding from the UK Government’s Levelling Up Community Ownership Fund (COF), which has supported community groups to take ownership of assets and amenities at risk of being lost. COF granted Filmhouse £1.5 million, with other capital funding coming from donations trusts. Further project support came from Screen Scotland, Creative Scotland, and the City Of Edinburgh Council.
In the month of its reopening, we wrote: ‘A klaxon-loud sentiment of “use it or lose it” needs to exist at the heart of every community-focused venture, but so should there be an irresistible lure that tempts people away from the city’s well-kept but anodyne cinema chains. Within its revamp, let’s hope that a communication plan is in place that transforms its café-bar and shiny new screens into a living room for the city where all manner of niches can rub shoulders with the mainstream; where the film anoraks can grab a pint with the casuals, and low-budget passion projects can enjoy the same buzz as blockbuster releases. More than simply reopening its doors, the Filmhouse needs to make itself invaluable again.’ Read the full article.
Main picture: Aly Wright.