Campaigners working to bring Aberdeen’s Belmont Filmhouse back from the brink face a nervy two-week wait to learn more about the future of the building.
City council bosses are to use the next fortnight to come up with a plan for the beloved cinema, which the local authority owns.
Belmont Filmhouse in Aberdeen and the Edinburgh Filmhouse stopped trading on October 6 after its parent charity, Centre for the Moving Image (CMI) was plunged into administration.
More than 100 staff across the organisation were made redundant – including 20 ‘devastated’ employees in Aberdeen.
Councillors had hoped for an update on talks between the local authority and Scottish Government on Thursday.
But Lord Provost David Cameron gave city officials another two weeks to work on the briefing because the “situation was fluid and fast-changing”.
Possible solutions will be put to the council’s finance committee early next month.
Aberdeen Labour leader Sandra Macdonald has also been organising the Save Belmont Cinema group, which now has over 3,200 members on Facebook.
The campaigners have been in talks with the city council, government and the arts quango Creative Scotland.
Save Belmont Cinema: ‘Nothing can be done until then’
Mrs Macdonald said: “We are blind right now. In two weeks time we will have more information from the council officers.
“Nothing can be done until then.
“We have heard there is a lot of interest in the Belmont from various groups.
“Everyone is talking about it. We want to use that raw community energy.”
Meanwhile, Save the Belmont is working to capture stories and memories that have made the cinema so special to so many Aberdonians over the years.
They hope to use them to help promote the cinema in the future.
At the group’s first meeting in Krakatoa on Saturday, October 9, dozens signed up for the action group.
Another meeting is planned for the middle of next week.
But no location has yet been confirmed.
Former manager: ‘Edinburgh will have to fight their own fight and Aberdeen will have to fight theirs’
Dallas King, 42, worked at the Belmont for 13 years – eventually ending up as manager.
He has been a key member of the action group due to his hands-on experience in running the cinema.
He said: “We are not expecting a full plan, but it would be good to get some more information.
“I think Edinburgh will have to fight their own fight and Aberdeen will have to fight theirs.
“It will be a long process, I think.
“At this time it is about supporting the staff and highlighting opportunities as best we can.”
All three subsidiaries of CMI, including the Belmont in Aberdeen, Edinburgh Filmhouse, and the Edinburgh International Film Festival Limited are now controlled by administrators FRP Advisory.
They will publish new details on the finances of the cinemas in six weeks’ time.
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