Edinburgh International Film Festival ceases trading

The Centre for the Moving Image (CMI), the charity that runs both Edinburgh Filmhouse and Aberdeen Filmhouse, as well as the Edinburgh International Film Festival, has ceased trading and administrators have been called in.

Feported on Thursday the 6th of October, Edinburgh Filmhouse and Aberdeen Filmhouse have suddenly ceased trading after the charity behind them was plunged into administration.

Alongside these two sites, Edinburgh International Film Festival, the longest continually-running film festival in the world, has also ceased all operations.

The CMI have stated that 102 members of staff have been immediately made redundant.

In a statement released by the charity, CMI said: “The charity is facing the perfect storm of sharply rising costs, in particular energy costs, alongside reduced trade due to the ongoing impacts of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis. The combination and scale of these challenges is unprecedented and means that there was no option but to take immediate action.”

CMI added that audience numbers were 50% below pre-pandemic levels. It said it would also be adversely affected by the ending of government emergency funds and by altered cinemagoing habits due to the increased use of streaming platforms.

The CMI’s administrators, FRP Advisor, said they would be seeking to transfer the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) brand and trademark, and were “hopeful” that the CMI’s assets would attract the interest of businesses already operating in the film industry or entrepreneurs looking to enter it.

Although the overall box office is at a new high since the start of the pandemic, it is a far cry from pre-pandemic levels, with the U.S. domestic box office taking $5.71billion so far this year as opposed to 2019’s $11.36billion. In the UK, the effects of lower takings and fewer people attending cinemas has affected independent films the most, with few topping £1million.

Edinburgh Filmhouse and Aberdeen Filmhouse were supporters of such films.