Highlands’ Screen Machine makes plea to raise £100k ‘before this precious resource is lost’
A much-loved mobile cinema in rural communities across the Highlands has been given two years to raise a whopping £1.7m to save the “precious” service.
The Screen Machine is an 80-seat mobile cinema which brings Hollywood magic to over 40 of the most remote and rural parts of Scotland since 1998. It is the only full-time self-contained digital mobile cinema provision service operating in the UK.
In September 2023, news came that the cinema would be taken off the road due to the vehicle’s lease coming to an end. This sparked a fierce campaign to save the mobile picture house, with backing from Oscar-winner Dame Judy Dench, politicians and local communities.
Regional Screen Scotland managed to secure £350,000 earlier in 2024 to keep the cinema going — but only for the next two years.
Now the Screen Machine is facing another fundraising drive to fund £100k as a part of raising a total of £1.7m to cover the cost of building a new mobile cinema, in order to secure the service until the 2040s. Those behind the much-loved cinema have warned that “without urgent investment the Screen Machine will end”.
The campaign has been backed by the likes of Tide Lines and Alan Cumming, joining forces with Regional Screen Scotland (RSS) and Collective World to make a short film publicising the plight of the service. All gave their time and talents free of charge.
Simon Drysdale, interim chief executive officer of RSS, said: “The popularity of the Screen Machine mobile cinema service is never in doubt. Over the summer we’ve seen excellent numbers of customers come along to enjoy the big screen experience in their local communities. But what is very much in doubt is the future of the service.
“The launch of a campaign to raise £100k from customers and supporters is intended to push potential major funders, including the Scottish Government, into action before this precious resource is lost.”
Visit the Screen Machine Crowdfunder campaign on www.screenmachine.co.uk/save-our-screen-machine
