Edinburgh Filmhouse has appointed Andrew Simpson, former head of film at the Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle, as executive director at the Scottish cinema.
Simpson will join programme director Rod White as the joint chief of Filmhouse (Edinburgh), the new organisation that will run the reopened cinema. It follows a major refurbishment funded by a community Crowdfunder and the UK government’s Community Ownership Fund (Levelling Up).
The cinema plans to opens to the public in June 2025.
“The opportunity to reopen a cinema with such an esteemed history, with a state-of-the-art refurb, an additional fourth screen, a new café-bar ready to serve as a community and social hub - and the chance to build a brilliant new team to take the cinema into the future, was too exciting to miss,” said Simpson.
“I can’t wait to get started, and to help bring Filmhouse back to the cultural heart of this great city.”
Ginnie Atkinson, chair of Filmhouse, added: “Andrew has wide ranging history in cultural cinema and more recently gained a wealth of leadership, operational and creative experience at the Tyneside.”
Filmhouse has run out of the Lothian Road building since 1979, but closed in October 2022 when its parent company, Centre for the Moving Image (CMI), went into administration. CMI also ran the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) and the Belmont Filmhouse in Aberdeen. The building is now owned by Caledonian Heritable, with a team of former Filmhouse staff operating a long-term lease.
Filmhouse was awarded multi-year funding by Creative Scotland last month – £1.2m across three years. The Belmont Cinema – which has yet to re-open – has received £507,000 across three years and EIFF has just under £2m across three years, from Creative Scotland’s multi-year fund.
Simpson is the former head of film and director of film programming at the Tyneside Cinema and was previously co-director of the East End Film Festival in London. He began his career in the industry as a volunteer at EIFF.
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