Edinburgh’s flagship cinema is set to reopen on Friday 27 June after almost three years of inactivity. Details have already been shared of how the building will look in the wake of its £2 million refurbishment, and now its inaugural programme has been announced. 

Appropriately, Giuseppe Tornatore’s ode to the cinemagoing experience, Cinema Paradiso, will welcome back audiences, providing a reminder of the communal power of experiencing a film in a packed screening room. Also on the opening weekend is Scottish sleeper hit Make It To Munich , which follows 18-year-old Ethan Walker, who embarks on a 1200km cycle ride to Munich for Scotland’s Euros opening game against Germany just months after nearly losing his life in an accident. It'll be screened with a Q&A from its makers. We were fans of Make It… when it was shown at the Glasgow Film Festival, writing, ‘Snatching disaster from triumph is a familiar narrative, but Robertson’s film at least turns that old adage on its head to depict a welcome Scottish success story.’ Read the full review. 

Maintaining a local flavour across the opening weekend will be Edinburgh-based filmmaker Matt Palmer, who’ll screen a free double bill of Calibre starring Jack Lowden and Tony Curran alongside his Netflix-breaking hit Fear Street: Prom Queen, which released this year. 

A silent film classic will also visit the cinema: Lotte Reiniger’s The Adventures Of Prince Achmed, the paper-cut animation from 1926, will be screened alongside a live soundtrack from local Edinburgh act S!nk, in a performance that promises ‘swirling, spiralling strings, saxophones, accordion, percussion and voices.’ 

Also screening at the cinema are a selection of recent acclaimed films from around the world, including Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, Sébastien Marnier’s Origin of Evil, Christian Petzold’s Afire, Gints Zilbalodis's enchanting animation Flow, Hlynur Pálmason's Godland, Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera, Maryam Moghadam & Behtash Sanaeeha’s My Favourite Cake, Mario Martone’s Nostalgia, Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beasts, Ilker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge, Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte's Count Of Monte Cristo, Manuela Martelli’s noir 1976, Víctor Erice’s Close Your Eyes, Robert Zemeckis’s Here and Celine Song’s acclaimed Past Lives. 

Alongside this ragtag group of film from the past few years is a trio of big hitters: The Brutalist and Oppenheimer will be shown in 70mm, while Robert Egger’s well-received adaptation of Nosferatu will be screened in 35mm. Select films on this initial run will be half price. 

Filmhouse will once again partner with many of Scotland’s film festivals offering a fabulous space in which to welcome their audiences, alongside technical and marketing packages French Film Festival UK, Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival, Take One Action!, Edinburgh Short Film Festival and Iberodocs Film Festival amongst many others. Alongside this, the cinema will also screen events such as National Theatre Live for the first time. While details of the cinema’s involvement with the Edinburgh International Film Festival are yet to be announced, it’s a safe bet that Filmhouse will play a major part in proceedings. 

Rod White, Programming Director of Filmhouse, said: ’Looking into the films that simply didn’t make it on to Edinburgh cinema screens at all during Filmhouse’s closure only hammered home the need for it in this great City of Culture. It’s been tough – whilst Filmhouse was closed – to watch some brilliant films come and go from cinemas without being able to offer a venue to watch them in... The good news is, Filmhouse has never been a better place to watch a film (and talk about it afterward!) than it is today and we simply cannot wait to welcome everyone back, or, for the first time! ‘

News of the reopening broke last week, with details of an additional fourth screen and full refurbishments in screens one, two and three (including, as was the central complaint about the old Filmhouse, a major upgrade on the comfort of its seating). The building’s café-bar will also be fully refurbished to fit 100 patrons. 

We weighed in on the Filmhouse debate in our Mouthpiece column, writing, ‘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 column here.