Film Festival returns with support from Film Hub Scotland

Orkney Islands Council and West Side Cinema have secured strategic support from Film Hub Scotland to continue to develop film exhibition and community cinema provision in the county.

Part of this development will be the Film Focus Festival, a successor to last year’s pilot, Film Fortnight. Last year’s festival saw almost 100 events across 13 locations with an attendance of over 2,300 people. Organisers are hoping to build on the success of the pilot and develop it into a regular calendar event over forthcoming years.

Running from 1–24 November, this year’s programme will feature a diverse range of films across Orkney, with something for everyone.

The festival will once again see the return of Scotland’s mobile touring cinema The Screen Machine, bringing with it the latest blockbusters and new releases to several of the outer isles. Other events will be hosted by The Phoenix Cinema, West Side Cinema, Gable End Theatre, Screen in the Square, Pier Arts Centre and ØY Festival.

Organisations across Orkney are encouraged to get in touch with the festival project manager if they have ideas or would like to host an event.

Project manager Mark Jenkins said;“We’re delighted that Film Hub Scotland have shown their support for film exhibition and cinema development in Orkney. We have lots of exciting ideas we’d like to explore. The film festival is a chance for the whole of Orkney to celebrate film and I’m really keen to hear from organisations that would like to host an event. The festival is a time to try something different and we’d like to hear of any ideas with a film theme.”

Antony Mottershead, Arts Officer at Orkney Islands Council said: “We’ve seen a recent boost in funding for film and screen in Scotland and it is great that we’ve been able to capitalise on this. Further to West Side Cinema’s success with the National Lottery for a Young Film Programmers’ training project, this year’s festival is another opportunity to test things out. With a longer-term commitment in place we are really excited about planning ahead to the next festival and activity throughout the year.”

For information contact Mark Jenkins through the West Side Cinema contact form on their website. 

Notes to editor

West Side Cinema, established in 2012, is a voluntary run, not for profit community cinema. It has an event driven model that brings filmmakers and screenwriters to Orkney, delivers quality workshops and talks free of charge, and collaborates with local festivals, organisations and businesses.  In 2017 they piloted Orkney’s first ever film festival and ran a touring community cinema initiative giving unique film access and support to Orkney’s remote outer isles. In 2018 they received National Lottery Awards For All funding for a Young Film Programmers Project as well as support to continue running a film festival and other cinema related activities.

Film Hub Scotland, as part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, supports a network of over 160 members – from film societies to multiplexes – to work together to better serve Scotland's diverse population, showing more films to more people. We provide Hub members with a range of funding opportunities, screening programmes, training, networking events and audience research. Film Hub Scotland is led by Glasgow Film, funded by BFI and Creative Scotland.