The Edinburgh Filmhouse is an Edinburgh cinema which opened in 1979. It is home to the world's oldest continually running film festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival. Tilda Swinton is honorary patron.
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History
The cinema began life when, in 1979, the disused St. Thomas Church building was converted into a 100-seat auditorium (now cinema 2) accessed via a side entrance on Morrison Street Lane. The front of the building was listed and remained inaccessible until in 1985 when a new 280 seat auditorium and bar were added and the front entrance opened. It is located in Lothian Road and is part of the Cultural Quarter along with the nearby Usher Hall and Traverse and Lyceum Theatres.
Filmhouse is a trading name of Centre for the Moving Image (CMI), a registered charity which also incorporates the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Edinburgh Film Guild and Belmont Filmhouse, Aberdeen.
Since its inception it has been host to the Edinburgh International Film Festival annually. Visiting film luminaries have included Martin Scorsese, Andrei Tarkovsky, Sean Connery, The Muppets and James Mason among many others.
Running
The Filmhouse is a publicly funded arthouse cinema. Its programme is varied, ranging from arthouse and foreign cinema to mainstream and second run films seven days a week.
There is a cafe for pre film food and drinks which is based on the nearby Waverley Station.