Rip It Up: Scottish events
-
Date
23rd July 2026
Across the country, Scotland’s film exhibitors are taking part in BFI FAN’s UK-wide season, Rip It Up.
With the Southbank Centre marking the 75th anniversary of the Festival of Britain and this year marking the 50th anniversary of Punk, BFI FAN members are invited to join in these UK-wide celebrations and explore how youth scenes and counterculture have impacted and resonate to this day, inspiring new generations and beyond. Learn more about Rip It Up.
FHS members have developed bespoke programmes of events that involve young programmers and/or celebrate the transformative energy of youth culture over the past 75 years. Plus, some members have booked the season’s key Menu titles (available to book until September) including Trainspotting, Ish, Quadrophenia, Pride, Bend It Like Beckham and many more!
From young programming groups to a Mod festival on the Isle of Skye, there’s plenty of opportunities to join FHS members in celebrating youth culture on screens this summer. Explore their events below!
Cinetopia, Edinburgh
Project title: Transmission: Youth Across Generations | September – October
Transmission: Youth Across Generations is a four-week, city-wide programme exploring how youth culture has shaped identity, belonging and collective memory in Britain from the 1980s to today. Combining film screenings with discussions, live music and creative participation, Cinetopia will invite audiences to share memories and perspectives across generations. Delivered across cultural venues in Edinburgh, Cinetopia will work with community partners to engage young people and intergenerational groups in co-curating events, fostering dialogue, creativity and shared cultural experiences.
Filmhouse, Edinburgh
Rip It Up: Young Programmers | June – October
A cohort of 12 young people aged 16-18 will work together to curate a special programme of films that speak to them, and design wraparound creative and engaging activity. Led entirely by the young people’s creative and curatorial interests, the programme seeks to develop young audiences and embed youth voice into Filmhouse’s programming.
Glasgow Film Theatre
Rip it Up: Music, Fashion and Youth Culture on Film | September
Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) presents Rip it Up, a season of films highlighting the intersection of music, fashion and youth counterculture, curated by GFT’s Young Ambassadors. Opening with the iconic Quadrophenia (1979) the season moves on to explore distinctly Scottish stories of youth creativity and rebellion spanning three decades, from the Mods influenced styling of 1960s Glasgow gangs to the heady underground rave scene of the 1990s. Featuring newly commissioned programme notes from the Young Ambassadors and expert talks from guest speakers, Rip it Up is a celebration of the unbridled energy of youth culture in Scotland and the wider UK.
Screen Argyll, Argyll and Bute
Sea Change Young Programmers | July – October
Screen Argyll will develop a young programmer’s group for the Sea Change Film Festival. The group will meet for six weekly sessions on Tiree, developing their skills to select two titles for the festival, which will tour to neighbouring islands. While focussing on the films of Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham, Bride and Prejudice, Blinded by the Light), the project will also introduce the group to British independent cinema through Rocks, Scrapper and other coming of age films. The Sea Change Young Film Programmers project is designed to empower young people in remote island communities through active participation in screen culture.
Skye Community Cinema, Isle of Skye
The Isle of Mod Skye Festival: A Quadrophenia 40th Anniversary Experience | October
Isle of Mod Skye Festival will be an immersive, day-long event-cinema celebration of the 40th anniversary of Quadrophenia. Moving beyond a standard screening, Skye Community Cinema will transform Portree into a vibrant hub of Mod culture with a Mod Scooter Run, live music and themed food provided by local businesses.
Take One Action, Glasgow
Music & Resistance: Then, Now, Forever | September – November
Take One Action‘s season will explore music as a force of resistance and healing across 50+ years of British youth culture. The programme draws a line from sound systems of Thatcher-era Brixton to the rave and electronic music scenes that defined subsequent generations, towards contemporary voices exploring queerness, Afro-diasporic identity and radical futures. Screenings will include Babylon (1980), The Life Cycle of Rainbows (2021) and Everybody in Place (2018) and will be supported by a DJ workshop and sound workshops.
The Pyramid at Anderston, Glasgow
Rip It Up – The Pyramid Weekender / Lost Boys: Bittersweet of Youth | September – October
This Autumn, The Pyramid will host two mini-seasons celebrating youth identity, rebellion and community on screen. Hosted within their 1960s Brutalist building in Glasgow’s city centre, they will celebrate the stories of working-class people in Scotland and beyond who have been at the forefront of significant cultural movements, from post-war to the present day.
- Rip It Up: The Pyramid Weekender (26–27 September): A weekend event that will fuse Scottish films with a celebration of music, DIY subcultures and local history. Films – including Beats, Teenage Superstars, Trainspotting, and the recently released California Schemin’ – will be accompanied by tailored activities including a Glasgow Music City Walk guided tour, talks by special guests, a record and book fair, photography exhibition, and live music performances.
- Lost Boys: Bittersweet of Youth (September/October): A global film programme curated by The Pyramid’s Community Film Panel. Titles like La Haine, Made in Hong Kong and Ish will explore the realities of working-class teenage alienation, anger, frustration, poverty and systemic pressure, from Paris to Greenock.
Also screening films as part of Rip It Up: