Filmhouse is based on Lothian Road, in a building built as a church in 1831. It first opened as a single-screen cinema in 1979, using what is now Screen 2. It was eventually expanded into a three-screen venue and championed some of the UK’s most diverse and radical film programming. It was also home to the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
The collapse of Filmhouse’s parent company, CMI, forced the cinema to close in 2022. At the time of closure, the three screens had the following capacities:
- Screen 1: 285 seats
- Screen 2: 96 seats
- Screen 3: 73 seats
A grassroots campaign was led by a small group of former staff and supported by dedicated Filmhouse audiences. With additional support from the Community Ownership Fund, Creative and Screen Scotland, the Nancie Massie Charitable Trust and Edinburgh City Council, Filmhouse was fully refurbished and reopened as a four-screen cinema in 2025.
The refurbished cinema has the following capacities and technical capabilities:
Filmhouse is based on Lothian Road, in a building built as a church in 1831. It first opened as a single-screen cinema in 1979, using what is now Screen 2. It was eventually expanded into a three-screen venue and championed some of the UK’s most diverse and radical film programming. It was also home to the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
The collapse of Filmhouse’s parent company, CMI, forced the cinema to close in 2022. At the time of closure, the three screens had the following capacities:
- Screen 1: 285 seats
- Screen 2: 96 seats
- Screen 3: 73 seats
A grassroots campaign was led by a small group of former staff and supported by dedicated Filmhouse audiences. With additional support from the Community Ownership Fund, Creative and Screen Scotland, the Nancie Massie Charitable Trust and Edinburgh City Council, Filmhouse was fully refurbished and reopened as a four-screen cinema in 2025.
The refurbished cinema has the following capacities and technical capabilities:
| Screen | Seats | Film Projectors | Digital Projector |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screen 1 | 188 | 2 × Philips DP70 70/35mm | 1 × Barco 4K laser |
| Screen 2 | 71 | 2 × Kinoton FP30 35mm | 1 × Christie 2K laser |
| Screen 3 | 58 | 1 × Kinoton FP30 35mm; 1 × Kinoton FP38 35/16mm | 1 × Christie 2K laser |
| Screen 4 | 24 | — | 1 × NEC 2K laser |
