ACTOR Alan Cumming has backed a fundraising campaign to save a mobile cinema service that has served rural Scottish communities for 25 years.
Regional Screen Scotland (RSS) is aiming to raise £1.7 million to cover the cost of building a new bespoke cinema.
The charity have appealed to raise an urgent £100,000 to help get the project underway and has joined forces with the Scottish actor to create a short film to publicise the campaign.
Cinemobile, which currently serves more than 30 communities across Scotland including 19 islands and the Highlands, was out of action last year following a number of breakdowns.
It is the only full-time self-contained digital mobile cinema service operating in the UK and aims to bring the latest films to remote and rural parts of Scotland.
RSS have now urgently warned that the Screen Machine mobile cinema service will end without urgent funding for a new vehicle which they said will be able to serve Scottish communities until 2040s.
Simon Drysdale, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Regional Screen Scotland, said: “The popularity of the Screen Machine mobile cinema service is beyond 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.
“Today’s 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.”
If successful, RSS plans to build an 80-seat state-of-the-art air-conditioned mobile cinema which they estimate would take around 12-18 months to complete.
You can watch the short film here and you can donate to the Crowdfunder campaign here.
