‘Mini-Hollywood on wheels’ the Screen Machine surpasses £20,000 in ‘urgent’ fundraiser
THE Screen Machine, the Highlands’ ‘mini-Hollywood on wheels’, has surpassed £20,000 in a determined fundraising drive to secure £100k in order to safeguard the much-loved service.
The Screen Machine is an 80-seat mobile cinema which brings Hollywood magic to over 40 of the most remote and rural parts of Scotland since 1998. It is the only full-time self-contained digital mobile cinema provision service operating in the UK.
In September 2023, news came that the cinema would be taken off the road due to the vehicle’s lease coming to an end. This sparked a fierce campaign to save the mobile picture house, with backing from Oscar-winner Dame Judy Dench, politicians and local communities.
Regional Screen Scotland managed to secure £350,000 earlier in 2024 to keep the cinema going — but only for the next two years.
Now the Screen Machine is facing another fundraising drive to fund £100k as a part of raising a total of £1.7m to cover the cost of building a new mobile cinema, in order to secure the service until the 2040s. Those behind the much-loved cinema have warned that “without urgent investment the Screen Machine will end”.
At the time of writing, the fundraiser has now reached £21,048 — 21% of the overall target.
Generous members of the public who have donated to the fundraiser left comments of support under the Screen Machine Crowdfunder page.
Marianne Ross said: “Delivering pure magic, everywhere… what other cinema can say that? It just has to continue.”
David Parker commented: “I have enjoyed the facility provided by the Screen Machine for the past 15 years, wherever our paths have crossed. This is an essential service to rural communities and deserves every support.”
Claire Arnold stated: “I love when the Screen Machine comes to Tobermory, a little mini-Hollywood on wheels. Long may it continue.”
Fraser Barker said: “If it weren’t for the Screen Machine, I likely wouldn’t have developed the love of cinema I now here. It’s such a crucial service bringing the big screen to us rural and island folks. I loved the Screen Machine and sincerely hope this project succeeds so that future generations can enjoy the cinema wherever they may be throughout the Highlands and Islands.”
Visit the Screen Machine Crowdfunder campaign on www.screenmachine.co.uk/save-our-screen-machine
