Several stars at this year's Scottish BAFTAs have called on people to come together to help save one of Edinburgh's most loved film institutions. Described as a "bedrock of Edinburgh's film culture", The Edinburgh Filmhouse stopped trading at the start of October leading to over 80 people losing their jobs.
Not only that, when the Centre for the Moving Image announced it would cease trading it also meant that The Edinburgh International Film Festival, which was established in 1947 making it the world’s oldest continually running film festival, would also stop.
Since then, several petitions and a Just Giving page have been launched to try to save the cinema, the festival and the Belmont Filmhouse in Aberdeen which were all run by the group.
READ MORE: Petition to save Edinburgh Filmhouse launched following sudden administration
The subject was a hot topic at the BAFTAs with several stars and writers using their award speeches to call for people to help support this much-loved independent cinema.
While picking up his award for best male actor in a film for his role as Siegfried Sassoon in the war drama Benediction, Jack Lowden made an impassioned plea for people to help save the Filmhouse.
Addressing the loss of the jobs first he pointed out that all of those jobs are for people who are in the industry, and part of the "family", he said: "Those of us in this room, we have no cause without these cinemas, the stories that we choose to tell, and the issues we choose to give voice to, they remain untold and unheard without independent cinemas.
"Without cinemas, we are just a bunch of fancy eejits making beautifully shot, wonderfully scored, perfectly acted pieces of work that we just chuck out into the ether and without these cinemas, we are just p*shing in the wind.
"Please tell everybody about it, please give what you can."
Opened at 88 Lothian Road in 1979, the Filmhouse has become an irreplaceable piece of Edinburgh's film history, and according to the crowdfunded which aims to save it, losing it would be "a terrible blow against cine-culture and the Arts in Edinburgh".
Adding that it's not too late to save it, the organisers of the fundraiser, which you can find on the Just Giving website, said: "It is essential that Edinburgh’s unique cultural cinema provision is restored.
"The loss of the building at 88 Lothian Road (and the specialist equipment within it, including 35mm/70mm projectors suitable for archival presentation) is catastrophic, not only for Filmhouse but also for the provision of cultural cinema in Scotland’s capital city.
"The phrase 'when it's gone, it's gone' is chillingly pertinent. Raising an ambitious sum through this crowdfunder will encourage the public funders’ support and ensure that purchase and refurbishment are possible."
So far, £76,683 has been raised of their ambitious £200,000 target, with the target date of December 2 to raise all of the funds.
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