On 6 October, news of the collapse of Centre for the Moving Image (CMI), the umbrella charity that ran Edinburgh Filmhouse, Belmont Filmhouse and Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), shocked both employees and the wider creative sector.
The Filmhouse was a key independent cinema in Scotland, with more than 100 employees made redundant with no notice - many who dedicated decades of their life to the place.
Following the closure, Save the Filmhouse was set up a passion project by filmmakers and creatives Mark Cousins, Amanda Rogers, Tamara Van Strijthem and Paul Sng - as well as some former employees like myself, former head of programming Rod White and the former head of technical David Boyd.
We have worked together, campaigning and fundraising to support the former employees and working out next steps for saving the cinemas and the festival.
We have already seen some success, with the announcement on 4 November that the EIFF is to continue with current artistic director Kristy Matheson at the helm. This is great news, however where will EIFF run its screenings if not at the Filmhouse?
Aside from the BFI in London, the Filmhouse was the best equipped cinema in the UK. As projection and specialist equipment is becoming rarer to come by, the cinema needs to be resurrected.
All year round, the Filmhouse held screenings by festival partners such as Take One Action, the UK French Film Festival, Scotland Loves Anime, Africa in Motion, the Kinoteka Polish Film Festival, Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival, Italian Film Festival, Queer East Film Festival and many more.
Without a space like the Filmhouse, Edinburgh will lack the capacity to support and nurture the emergence of fresh cinema which thrived for 44 years.
Many filmmakers had their first film shown at here and without a specialist cinema, Scotland doesn’t have anywhere to pass on the knowledge involved, such as projection, audio checks, maintenance of technical equipment, preparation of film prints for projection, or digitising a print.
Independent cinema also provides “windows on worlds” which allow us to learn, empathise and share things that are under-represented in more mainstream media. It is an important aspect of supporting democracy in the arts and allowing the voices of all to be heard.
Myself, along with Ali Campbell and Bel Ingham - all former employees - have started a GoFundMe page to support those in Scotland’s arts sector who have been impacted by CMI’s collapse. We began fundraising on the 31 October and will continue to raising funds to cover this need.
Our goal of raising £50,000 would allow us to pay 40 members of staff one month’s pay, equivalent at the Real Living Wage rate, with a cushion for unforeseen needs and fees.
The Former CMI Staff Welfare Fund has been established with the aim of supporting former staff who have worked less than two years, leaving them with no redundancy pay and only a week’s loss of notice, as well as anyone else who finds themselves in a precarious situation due to a loss of income.
This situation does not allow people the time to consider the next steps of their career path, taking into account the skills and experience they already have, and risks the loss of valuable expertise to the industry. The great support we have received so far from the community shows how important the Filmhouse was as well as the generosity within our tight community.
Despite the closure affecting our partner festival Edinburgh Short Film Festival, they have given us space to collect funds at their screenings, proving yet again the strength of mutual support in Edinburgh’s cultural sector.
We would like to keep supporting former employees so we are asking for any help, whether it is donating, sharing or raising awareness. The community is tight, but the impact of CMI going under will ripple all around the UK.
As the staff made the Edinburgh community feel at home with their enthusiasm for cinema, the love is now being returned. So please support former employees and let's try to save this cultural institution.
Patti Mróz was the front of house supervisor at the Filmhouse cinema in Edinburgh
