Hopes for new Screen Machine as fundraising hits £850,000​

​Fiona Fowler, general manager of Regional Screen Scotland, told the Gazette “fundraising is going very well”, with a “couple of good boosts over the past week or so”.

These include the award of multi-year funding from Creative Scotland, to the tune of £410,000 a year for three years. That roughly doubles their previous Creative Scotland grant and, when taken with income from ticket sales, will “just about cover our running costs”.

She said: “That enables us to keep the organisation going, to pay the rent, pay the salaries, pay for fuel, pay for accommodation when the drivers are out on the road.”

This was the first increase in funding from Creative Scotland since 2019. “It’s been quite a struggle to keep going so we’re delighted to get that money, not only for three years but at a more realistic level to help us keep going.”

Fiona said it was possible because Creative Scotland “had an uplift from Scottish Government” but also praised Creative Scotland for their support. Creative Scotland has been paying the lease on the temporary mobile cinema brought in since the second Screen Machine was retired.

“We knew it wouldn’t last forever and it just became too corroded and was just breaking down too often, so it was just no longer fit for purpose.”

The lease costs around £10,000 a month but the Save Our Screen Machine fundraising campaign is going well. “It’s standing at about £850,000 so we’re about halfway there.”

The Screen Machine service has been running for 27 years and the last Screen Machine operated for about 18 years. The new one has been estimated to cost £1.7million and will take 12 to 18 months to build.

The fundraising campaign was recently awarded £350,000 by SSEN Transmission and Fiona said this was their “other big piece of good news” recently.

“It’s huge. It’s massively welcome. We’re so grateful. Our hope and expectation is that will give other funders the confidence to also donate to the campaign.”

She added: “There’s still a long way to go but the momentum has really picked up. Creative Scotland and SSEN are being like the heroes of the hour.”

The organisation has appointed a professional fundraiser, someone “with experience of bringing in seven figure sums for other big charitable businesses”, to help them achieve their goal.

All in all, “morale is really good” and Fiona believes they will take delivery of their new Screen Machine in 2026. “I’m very hopeful. I’ve got no doubt about it at all.”

Meanwhile, the weather has caused some disruption to scheduled Screen Machine screenings, with the Barra films at the weekend cancelled due to the forecast.

This has meant “we’ve not been to Barra now for 11 months”, but Fiona said islanders were still showing strong support for the service.

“People in Barra are really suffering but we still nonetheless get so much support and donations from them. It’s really humbling.

“Whether it’s people in Barra who are adding a wee bit of money to their ticket donations, or people at SSEN giving us £350,000, we feel the support throughout the length and breadth of the whole of Scotland really, not just the places we visit. We’ve seen donations come into the campaign from the whole of the UK.”

Around £50,000 of the total raised so far has come in from individual donations.

“I think people just love cinema. People don’t want to sit and watch films on their TVs at home. They want to go out and sit in a darkened room and enjoy the communal experience.

“I think we bring the magic of the big screen, of course, but more importantly the opportunity for people to just come together and enjoy a night out.”