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Cinema of Scotland

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Cinema of Scotland

The film and cinema industry in Scotland is largely supported by Screen Scotland, the executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government which provides financial support, direction and development opportunities for film production in the country.[6] The Screen Commission of Screen Scotland provides support for incoming productions to Scotland, ranging from scripted, unscripted, live-action and animation productions.[7] The country is able to offer tax reliefs for film and high-end TV productions which are devolved in Scotland.[8]

Quick Facts No. of screens, Main distributors ...
Cinema of Scotland
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Opened in 1913, the Campbeltown Picture House is Scotland's oldest purpose-built cinema[1]
No. of screens1,140 (2025)[2]
Main distributorsWalt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
StudioCanal
Universal Pictures
Pathé
20th Century Studios
Entertainment One
BBC Scotland
Screen Scotland
Produced feature films (2021)[3]
Total£617.4 million
Animated£27.1 million
Documentary£7.6 million
Number of admissions (2019)[4]
Total14 million
National films£99.8 million
Gross box office (2021)[5]
Total£45.7 million
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Productions for film and screen in Scotland generated over £52 million to the economy of Scotland in 2016.[9] In 2019, an estimated £398 million was spent on the production of film, television and other audio content in Scotland.[10] The top grossing Scottish films at the UK box office include Trainspotting (£12 million), The Last King of Scotland (£5.6 million), Shallow Grave (£5.1 million) and Sunshine on Leith (£4.6 million).[11][12]

The country has produced a number of world–renowned actors who have achieved critical acclaim and commercial success for their roles in film. Sean Connery was the first actor to portray James Bond in film, appearing in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983.[13] Other notable Scottish actors of film and screen include Tilda Swinton, Ncuti Gatwa, Alan Cumming, Ewan McGregor, Karen Gillan, Robert Carlyle, David Tennant, Gerard Butler, James McAvoy and Kelly Macdonald.[14]

History

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The first movie to be screen in Scotland occurred at the Empire Palace Theatre in 1896. The initial screening failed to enthuse the audience which attended, however, was credited with beginning an affectionate relationship with screen, particularly during the 1930s which resulted in a major investment in cinema infrastructure to meet increased demand for the public going to cinema screenings. The number of Scottish towns and other settlements which had their own cinema had increased considerably by the time of World War I, including small communities such as Fort William and Dumfries. In contrast, Edinburgh, the country's capital city, had a combined total of forty-three cinemas across the city.[15] The first phase of purpose built cinemas to be constructed in the country began in 1910, and by 1920, there were a total of 557 cinema screens across Scotland.[16]

The first films to be made in Scotland occurred in the 1930s when Glasgow hosted the Empire Exhibition in 1938. The inaugural Films of Scotland committee was established afterwards in order to promote Scotland both nationally and internationally, depicting all aspects of Scottish life. A total of twelve million people viewed the first Films of Scotland at the Empire Exhibition, with screenings including Wealth of a Nation (1938), which showcased Scottish town planning and industry. The films were screened to the public at the Empire cinema building in Bellahouston Park.[17]

Scottish Film Council

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The Scottish Film Council was established in 1934 as the national body for film in Scotland. Its founding aim was to 'improve and extend the use in Scotland of films for cultural and educational purposes and to raise the Scottish standard in the public appreciation of films'. A strong focus on film in the service of education, industry and the betterment of society shaped the SFC for a considerable part of its history and it was this that led to the establishment of the Scottish Central Film Library (SCFL), one of the largest and most successful 16mm film libraries in Europe. The council's strengths in educational film led in the 1970s to its incorporation as a division of the newly created Scottish Council for Educational Technology (SCET).[18]

From the late 1960s, the SFC's central strategy was to take and sustain major initiatives in each of four main areas where the health of a national film culture could most readily be measured: education, exhibition, production and archiving.[19] It made use of the British Film Institute's 'Outside London' initiative to set up Regional Film Theatres (RFT) across Scotland. Established in collaboration with local authorities, these were to become more important in the Scottish context than elsewhere in the UK. A commitment to engage with film producers led to the SFC's involvement in film training, through the setting up of the Technician Training Scheme and later the Scottish Film Training Trust, both of which were joint ventures with the Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians and producers.[18]

In the late 1970s, the SFC used Job Creation Scheme funding to establish the Scottish Film Archive. Though initially conceived as a short-term exercise, its value was soon recognised and on the exhaustion of the original funding a Scottish Education Department (SED) grant was forthcoming to secure the Archive as a permanent part of the SFC's work.[18] During the 1980s, SED funding allowed the SFC to support courses, events, the production of material for media education, Regional Film Theatre operations in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Inverness and Kirkcaldy, film societies, community cinemas, the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the Celtic Film and Television Festival, the Scottish Film Archive, film workshops, general information services and a range of other initiatives.[19]

Scottish Screen

In April 1997, the Scottish Film Council, Scottish Screen Locations, Scottish Broadcast and Film Training and the Scottish Film Production Fund merged to form the non-departmental government body Scottish Screen.[20] The Scottish Film Archive was renamed the Scottish Screen Archive. In 2007, Scottish Screen merged with the Scottish Arts Council to form Creative Scotland and the Scottish Screen Archive transferred to the National Library of Scotland.[21] The merge was finalised in 2010, with the new body, Creative Scotland, becoming operational and subsuming the responsibilities of both the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen on 1 July 2010.[22] In September 2015, the name of the Scottish Screen Archive changed to the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive.

Production and distribution

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The Pyramids studios, Bathgate

The film production sector has grown considerably in Scotland in recent times, with major investment in infrastructure to support the increase in film production in the country.[23] As such, it boasts several large and smaller scale production and film studios capable of accommodating major feature film productions, including The Pyramids (Bathgate), The Factory (Campbeltown), Wardpark Film and Television Studios (Cumbernauld), FirstStage Studios (Edinburgh) and Kelvin Hall (Glasgow). The Pyramids was the filming and production location for films such as T2 Trainspotting (2017), Outlaw King (2018) and Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020).[24] In March 2025, it was announced that American animation company, Halon Entertainment, is to spend £28 million to develop a new studio in Glasgow.[25]

Distribution of film is considerably distinct from film production, however, some production companies may also operate distribution services. Production companies including Friel Kean Films, Hopscotch Films, Raise the Roof Productions and Synchronicity Films are some of the most significant distribution and rights exploitation operation companies of Scotland in 2019. The distribution sector in Scotland had an estimated turnover of £8 million in 2022; and contributed £5 million in GVA to the Scottish economy that year.[26]

Scottish cinema and film

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Directors

Further information: Category:Scottish film directors
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Scottish film director Paul McGuigan

A considerable number of film directors, animators and screenwriters have originated from Scotland, some of whom have won multiple awards or enjoy a cult reputation. Director Bill Forsyth is noted for his commitment to national film-making, with his best-known work including Gregory's Girl and Local Hero. Gregory's Girl won an award for Best Screenplay at the BAFTA Awards.[27] Norman McLaren is considered to be a pioneer in numerous areas of animation and filmmaking, including hand-drawn animation, drawn-on-film animation, visual music, abstract film, pixilation and graphical sound.[28][29] John Grierson is often considered "the father of British and Canadian documentary film. He coined the term "documentary" in 1926 during a review of Robert J. Flaherty's Moana.[30] In 1939, Grierson established the all-time Canadian film institutional production and distribution company The National Film Board of Canada controlled by the Government of Canada. William Kennedy Dickson, whose father was Scottish, devised an early motion picture camera under the employment of Thomas Edison.[31][32]

Whilst largely known as an actor, Peter Capaldi has ventured into directing, with films including Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life (1993) and Strictly Sinatra (2001). He won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film for the former.[33][34] Tom Vaughan achieved considerable success for his directing of What Happens in Vegas (2008) and Extraordinary Measures (2010). Jamie Doran's 2016 film, ISIS in Afghanistan, won two Emmy awards in the outstanding continuing coverage of a news story in a news magazine, and the best report in a news magazine categories,[35] as well as a Peabody award.[36]

Frank Lloyd was among the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,[37] and was its president from 1934 to 1935. He is Scotland's first Academy Award winner and is unique in film history, having received three Oscar nominations in 1929 for his work on a silent film (The Divine Lady), a part-talkie (Weary River) and a full talkie (Drag). He won for The Divine Lady. He was nominated and won again in 1933 for his adaptation of Noël Coward's Cavalcade and received a further Best Director nomination in 1935 for perhaps his most successful film, Mutiny on the Bounty. Other major film directors from the country include Michael Caton-Jones (Rob Roy and Basic Instinct 2), Paul McGuigan (The Acid House, Lucky Number Slevin and Victor Frankenstein), and Alastair Reid, who was described by The Guardian at the time of his death as "one of Britain's finest directors of television drama."[38]

Film & television actors

There are a considerable number of actors from Scotland who have achieved international success. Considered a Scottish icon, Sean Connery was the first actor to portray British secret agent James Bond in film, appearing in six Eon Productions films from Dr. No (1962) until Diamonds Are Forever (1971). However, he reprised the role for a final time in the non-Eon film Never Say Never Again (1979). For his role as Jimmy Malone in The Untouchables (1987), Connery won the Golden Globe and Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor, becoming the first Scot to win an acting Oscar. He also received the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in The Name of the Rose (1986). Other notable film appearances include Murder on the Orient Express (1974), Time Bandits (1981), Highlander (1986), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), The Hunt for Red October (1990), The Rock (1996), and Finding Forrester (2000).

Alongside Connery, actors such as Ewan McGregor, Robbie Coltrane, David Tennant and James McAvoy have found success in mainstream, independent and art house films. McGregor achieved international recognition for his performances as heroin addict Mark Renton in Trainspotting (1996) and as a young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999-2005). Coltrane and Tennant have also gained international recognition; Coltrane for his role as Rubeus Hagrid in the Harry Potter film series (2001-2011) and Tennant for the 10th and 14th incarnations of the title character in Doctor Who. McAvoy is best known for his roles as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men film series (2011-2019) and as Kevin Wendell Crumb in M. Night Shyamalan's Split (2016) and its sequel Glass (2019).

Other notable actors from Scotland include Robert Carlyle, Alan Cumming, Ncuti Gatwa, Karen Gillan, Deborah Kerr, Rose Leslie, Kelly Macdonald and Tilda Swinton.[14]

Film awards and festivals

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Tilda Swinton at the 2007 Edinburgh International Film Festival

In Scotland, film and television production is celebrated at the annual BAFTA Scotland award ceremonies. It was estimated in 1988 and holds two annual awards ceremonies recognising the achievement by performers and production staff in Scottish film, television and video games. The BAFTA Scotland Awards are separate from the British Academy Television Awards and British Academy Film Awards.[39] Other associated film awards recognised in the country include the BAFTA Scotland New Talent Awards.

Currently, two major film festivals occur in Scotland on an annual basis – the Edinburgh International Film Festival and Glasgow Film Festival. The Edinburgh International Film Festival was established in 1947 and is the world's oldest continually running film festival.[40][41][42] The Glasgow Film Festival was established in 2005, and in 2024, the festival held a 20th anniversary edition with submissions exceeding 400.[43] The line-up featured 11 world and international premieres, including İlker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge, Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border, Giacomo Abbruzzese’s Disco Boy and Rose Glass's Love Lies Bleeding, the latter of which opened the festival.[44] Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic in Scotland, over thirty film festivals operated on an annual basis in Scotland. By 2022, Scottish based film festivals contributed £7.4 million in GVA to the Scottish economy, with a core audience attendance figure of 177,624 people.[45] Other notable film festivals in Scotland include the International Film Festival of St Andrews, Alchemy Film & Moving Image Festival, the Celtic Media Festival, the Screenplay Film Festival and the Ballerina Ballroom Cinema of Dreams. Animation film production in the country is celebrated during the Scotland Loves Animation festival.[46]

Scottish films

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Main pages: Category:Films shot in Scotland and Category:Films set in Scotland

Domestic film

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Filming on Edinburgh's Royal Mile for Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)
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The Glenfinnan Viaduct, featured in the Harry Potter film series

Scotland's success as a film industry is apparent through its popular national films. Bill Forsyth is a prominent director in Scottish cinema - his films Gregory's Girl (1980) and Local Hero (1983) have won acclaim both domestically and worldwide; both are regarded as cult classics and were ranked by the British Film Institute in their 1999 Top 100 British Films list.

Films shot in Scotland

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Braveheart (1995) was filmed and set in Scotland. It has become one of the highest-grossing films to be associated with Scottish cinema

In addition to the works of Scottish directors, there have been many successful films set in Scotland but directed by foreigners; Braveheart (1995) being perhaps the best-known and most commercially successful example. The film was a major success, grossing $350,000,000 worldwide and winning five Academy Awards; including the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director for Mel Gibson. The film's depiction of the Battle of Stirling Bridge, a focal point of the film's story, is often regarded as one of the greatest battles in cinema history.[47]

Much of the filming for the Harry Potter film franchise occurred in Scotland, given that the fictional school of Hogwarts is diegetically set in the country. The University of Glasgow is considered to be the inspiration behind Hogwarts, however, no filming for any film in the series took place at the university.[48][49] Additionally, the majority of the James Bond film franchise movies have been filmed at locations around Scotland, such as Skyfall (2012), which was partly filmed at Glen Coe.[50] Other James Bond movies to be filmed in Scotland include The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), The World Is Not Enough (1999) and No Time to Die (2021).[51]

In 2012, Disney and Pixar released the movie Brave, set in medieval Scotland. It was the first Pixar film to be set in Scotland, with animators from the company being said to be "deeply affected by the real country's raw beauty and rich heritage".[52] In 2013, it was estimated that the release of Brave would generate £120 million towards the Scottish economy in the next five years.[53]

Scots-language films

Scottish Gaelic language films

List of films shot in Scotland

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B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

Further reading

  • Brown, John, Developing a Scottish Film Culture II, in Parker, Geoff (ed.), Cencrastus No. 20, Spring 1985, pp. 13 & 14, ISSN 0264-0856
  • Bruce, David, Developing a Scottish Film Culture, in Parker, Geoff (ed.), Cencrastus No. 19, Winter 1984, p. 42, ISSN 0264-0856
  • Bruce, David (1997), Scotland the Movie, Polygon, Edinburgh, ISBN 9780748662098
  • Fielder, Miles (2003), The 50 best Scottish Films of all time, The List, Edinburgh
  • Caughie, John; Griffiths, Trevor; and Velez-Serna, Maria A. (eds.) (2018), Early Cinema in Scotland, Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 9781474420341
  • Hardy, Forsyth (1991), Scotland in Film, Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 9780748601837
  • McArthur, Colin (ed.) (1982), Scotch Reels: Scotland in Cinema and Television, BFI Publishing, ISBN 9780851701219
  • McArthur, Colin (1983), Scotland: The Reel Image, 'Scotch Reels' and After, in Hearn, Sheila G. (ed.), Cencrastus No. 11, New Year 1983, pp. 2 & 3, ISSN 0264-0856
  • McArthur, Colin (1983), The Maggie, in Hearn, Sheila G. (ed.), Cencrastus No. 12, Spring 1983, pp. 10 – 14, ISSN 0264-0856
  • McArthur, Colin (2001), Brigadoon, Braveheart and the Scots: Distortions of Scotland in Hollywood Cinema, Bloomsbury - I.B. Tauris, ISBN 9781860649271
  • Skirrow, Gillian (ed.), Bain, Douglas and Ouainé (1982), Woman, Women and Scotland: 'Scotch Reels' and Political Perspectives, in Hearn, Sheila G. (ed.), Cencrastus No. 11, New Year 1983, pp. 3 – 6, ISSN 0264-0856

See also

References

External links

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