New life for the Screen Machine

REGIONAL Screen Scotland, which operates the Screen Machine, has raised the necessary funds to carry out a major refit of the cinema vehicle, which will add a minimum of six more years to its operational life.

The Screen Machine is the UK’s only full-time, self- contained mobile cinema, bringing the latest movie releases to communities across the north and west of Scotland.

The Screen Machine service was originally launched in 1998, and the current Screen Machine has been on the road since 2005, spending up to 48 weeks a year bringing the big screen experience to communities from Barra to Bettyhill and from Brodick to the outer isles of Orkney.

Now Regional Screen Scotland has secured funding from the National Lottery through Creative Scotland’s Open Project Fund and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and sponsorship from the Royal Bank of Scotland, to meet the costs of a full and thorough refit, to be carried out by the Screen Machine’s original builders, the Frenchbased company Toutenkamion, a world leader in mobile cinema design and construction.

Robert Livingston, director of Regional Screen Scotland, said: ‘The aim is to carry out the refit at Toutenkamion’s French workshop in April/ May 2017, and relaunch the fully renewed Screen Machine in June.

‘It will then resume its normal touring circuit and audiences will be able to enjoy the customary wide choice of new films, as well as extras such as photography exhibitions and archive screenings, knowing that the Screen Machine will be fit to continue full operation well into the next decade.’

The Screen Machine is an articulated tractor and trailer.

It is subject to considerable wear and tear, as the cinema is set up and dismantled three or four times every week, and the Screen Machine travels regularly on ferries, and is often set up on sites fully exposed to salt and sea air.