The Local Cinema Network: Building solidarity through screenings

The Local Cinema Network is a network of community cinemas in Edinburgh who co-curate film screenings with, and for, their local communities.

Since 2023, the network – which includes WHALE Arts, North Edinburgh Arts, Duncan Place Community Hub, Out of the Blue Drill Hall, Space @ Broomhouse Hub, Craigmillar Now and The Crannie Community Hub – have brought a diverse programme of film and events to community spaces across the city.

Supported by Coordinator Morvern Cunningham, Local Cinema creates a network of film screenings curated by the very communities that will enjoy them. This approach has attracted filmmakers and actors to watch their films and answer questions in this hyper-local setting – including Laura Carreira (On Falling) and Paul Sng (Tish).

We are proud to support Local Cinema’s upcoming Local Resistance touring programme, a celebration of local stories of self-organising and solidarity that will tour Wester Hailes, Pilton/Muirhouse, Craigmillar and Leith from September – December 2025.

Ahead of this, we spoke to Morvern about Local Cinema’s approach to community co-curation, attracting special guests – and much more!

What are the benefits of Local Cinema’s co-curatorial approach, for both the community groups and their audiences?

Morvern: Local Cinema has a bit of a unique setup – it’s a network of community cinemas operating out of community-based hubs across Edinburgh, each co-curating their film programmes with community members and all pulled together by a central coordinator (me!). I make the odd film suggestion now and then, but for the most part it’s the community cinemas themselves co-curating all the programming.

Co-curation involves folk in their local communities having a say in what films get screened. This can be achieved in a variety of ways, from community consultation, to actively programming with a group of community members, to an open programming approach where different people take responsibility for different aspects of the overall programme.

“Co-curation involves folk in their local communities having a say in what films get screened”

I believe the benefits of this are, to name but a few, a feeling of greater ownership of the final film programme and therefore more meaningful engagement with the local community who come into contact with the screenings; a film programme that is more deeply embedded in its place and which is therefore more relevant to people; and simply a more varied and interesting film programme overall.

What was the impetus for having On Falling as a shared title between the community hubs?

The very first Local Cinema programme in 2023 had a shared title with Ken Loach’s last film The Old Oak, which turned out to be a really successful community cinema title across the UK. When I attended the Glasgow Film Festival’s screening of On Falling earlier this year (with my FHS bursary no less!), I felt strongly that this film would be similarly popular with Local Cinema audiences, due to the nature of the film and its focus on the exploitation of workers in the gig economy locally in Scotland and beyond. Plus, I’m always keen to support Scottish films and female filmmakers, so it was a no brainer to support Laura Carreira’s debut feature in this way.

“I’m always keen to support Scottish films and female filmmakers”

Some of the community cinemas involved weren’t sure about hosting the film, worrying that the content might be potentially depressing for audiences, but I’m happy to say that everybody who screened it were really impressed by the realism and nuance in the storytelling style, with great feedback from audiences and in-depth audience discussions after each of the screenings. It was great to partner with a number of libraries for the screenings and I was also pleased that for a number of the screenings, we were also able to partner with The Worker’s Observatory who came to talk about the work they’re doing to support worker’s rights for delivery cyclists in Edinburgh, which was very relevant to the context of the film.

Norton Park Centre welcomed director Laura Carriera to discuss her film, On Falling, and Paul Sng joined Craigmillar Now for a Q&A on his documentary, Tish. What has been the impact of bringing filmmakers to present their films in community spaces?

I think it’s a really great thing to have filmmakers present their films in community spaces, both for the community members and for the filmmakers themselves. Often the films that are screened as part of Local Cinema have a specific resonance with the place they’re being screened, so these events can have a really special feeling about them. As you can see from the Tish Q&A trailer (full audio of the event also available on youtube), it’s really valuable for a wide range of stories to be told in a community setting, particularly those with specific resonance to local audiences.

“I think it’s important to remember that we are each part of our own communities too, that we need to support our local community spaces.”

One thing that made me proud was that both directors Paul Sng and Laura Carreira both said for the Local Cinema screenings they attended for a post-show discussion, it was the first screening of their film that they could walk to to attend! Reflecting on that, I think it’s important to remember that we’re each part of our own communities too, that we need to support our local community spaces, and to actively take part in what happens in our communities going forward.

Have there been any memorable moments from this year’s screenings?

I’ve personally had a number of really enjoyable experiences at Local Cinema events in the past year, including attending a screening at The Crannie of Wolfwalkers with my niece which had colouring in and a talk from a wolf expert about rewilding wolves back to Scotland; OOTB screening The Thing and reimagining the building as a remote research station complete with 3-course meal; and a screening of Made In Bangladesh by Empowering Multicultural Communities Alliance at Broomhouse Hub with a discussion led by Bengali women and academics after the screening. Each of these screenings were special in different ways and reflect the breadth and depth of the Local Cinema programme.

What can you tell us about the upcoming Local Resistance touring programme?

The Local Resistance touring programme grew out of the amazing three-part screenings of archive Granada documentary Heroin which launched the reopening of the North Edinburgh Arts building in Muirhouse in April of this year by a team effort, films that hadn’t been seen publicly since they were originally broadcast in 1983.

Local Resistance was an idea to screen these films, alongside other examples of archive and contemporary films depicting acts of community organising and solidarity across community hubs located in traditionally working-class areas of Edinburgh. For example, the primary focus of the three Heroin films is SHADA, Support Help and Advice for Drug Addiction, which was a grassroots organisation set up to support drug users and their families by local community leaders at a time that the Heroin epidemic in Edinburgh was at its height.

“Local Resistance was an idea to screen…examples of archive and contemporary films depicting acts of community organising and solidarity across…traditionally working-class areas of Edinburgh.”

The Local Resistance screenings and touring programme will be hosted by WHALE Arts in Wester Hailes, North Edinburgh Arts in Muirhouse, Duncan Place Community Hub in Leith and Craigmillar Now in Craigmillar, with a few guest hosts potentially on top. The programme is currently in the planning stages, and will be officially announced at the Local Cinema/Edinburgh International Film Festival collab screening of Restless Natives at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on 18^th August.

For more information on Local Cinema, please visit: www.whalearts.co.uk/local-cinema.

Featured Image: Tristan from Norton Park, Xabier from the Worker’s Observatory, Laura Carreira and Morvern Cunningham at Norton Park’s screening of On Falling.