Screen Scotland has raised hopes that the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) will be revived, after its acquired the intellectual property rights to the event.
The national body for the film and television industry announced the deal with the administrators of the Centre for the Moving Image (CMI), the charity that previously ran the festival and which collapsed in early October.
The future of the Edinburgh Filmhouse and Belmont Filmhouse are both still in the balance, but Screen Scotland has been in discussions with administrators and other partners to explore options for cultural cinema programme activity in both Edinburgh and Aberdeen, as well as the possibility of a 2023 edition of Edinburgh’s film festival.
It has now bought the domain name and brand assets of EIFF, to be provided to a future operator of the festival.
An options appraisal is underway for next year's festival, led by Kristy Matheson, who was creative director this year, alongside colleagues. They will be supported by the Edinburgh International Festival, which has also provided the team with office space at The Hub, in Edinburgh.
The work will be funded with an award of up to £97,647 from Creative Scotland, drawn from the 2022/23 Regular Funding Awards originally allocated to the CMI.
It is anticipated that the appraisal will be completed by the end January.
Chad Griffin, partner with administrators FRP Advisory, said: “Screen Scotland sits within Creative Scotland and is well-placed to take forward the development of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, which is a crucial part of Edinburgh’s cultural programming.
“We are also pleased to announce that following an extensive marketing process for the Filmhouse building on Lothian Road in Edinburgh a closing date for offers has now been set for 7 December.”
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