Filmhouse on Lothian Road celebrates its first year back with birthday screenings and a new African film weekender

When Filmhouse reopened in June 2025 after a three-year campaign to save it, film lovers across Edinburgh breathed a sigh of relief. A year on, the cinema has been celebrating what it calls the big screen experience, and its autumn programme shows how much life has returned to the building.

For its first birthday weekend at the end of June, Filmhouse screened a special selection of films and events. Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey was shown in 70mm, and audiences were treated again to Cinema Paradiso, the first film screened when the cinema reopened. Visitors were also offered a glimpse inside the projection boxes, with evening birthday parties to round things off.

The programme also included a screening of Nic Roeg's Don't Look Now followed by Ian Rankin in conversation with writer Justin John Doherty about his new book on the film, and new work from Edinburgh-born filmmaker Sean Robert Dunn starring Peter Mullan.

Other recent highlights have included Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day, Rohan Kanawade's Cactus Pears and a big screen return for Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights.

Members have a say in what is shown, too. A strand called We've Got a Cinema and We're Not Afraid to Use It lets members vote for the classics they most want to see on the big screen, while Team Birthday Picks showcases staff favourites.

This autumn, Filmhouse is home to the second Jali Film Weekender, which showcases African cinema from the continent and from African filmmakers around the world. Running from 28 October to 1 November, this year's edition is themed around narratives of rebellion and features 36 new premieres. It opens with the first Scottish screening of Damilola Orimogunje's Dear Ajayi, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

The Traverse Theatre and the Lochrin Rooftop Bar in Fountainbridge have joined this year's weekender, and a free Extended Reality Exhibition runs in the Traverse foyer each day from 11am to 6pm, with virtual reality premieres from across Africa and its diaspora. Opening night ticket holders are also invited to a drinks reception at the Traverse.

For a cinema that came close to being lost, it is a joy to see it busy again, from 70mm classics to new voices in world cinema.

Programme details and tickets for Filmhouse and the Jali Film Weekender are available on the Filmhouse website.