History

The idea of a wholly self-contained mobile cinema originates in France, where it is called the Cinemobile model. In 1995, the Highlands were invited to participate in a study to see if this model could work there. A partnership of Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), the Scottish Film Council, and the Highland Regional Council was formed. The study yielded hugely positive results, and the consortium agreed to commission a Highland equivalent of the Cinemobile, financed primarily through National Lottery funds. A charity called HI-Arts was created to manage the commissioning process and act as a cultural arm of HIE.

To reach its intended communities, the new mobile cinema would have to be adapted from the Cinemobile model to cope with aspects of Highland life, such as low bridges, single-track roads, and ferries. It would also need to carry an on-board generator as its power source. At the time, the wonderfully named Toutenkamion (French for ‘all in a truck’ and manufacturer of the Cinemobiles) was unprepared to modify to their model for the Highlands. It was decided to commission a new design by a British manufacturer that had to be sufficiently different from the Cinemobile model to avoid copyright infringement.

This new mobile cinema, that we now call Screen Machine 1 (SM1), was a prototype whose design changed during its build. Unsurprisingly, it had recurring technical problems after it launched in 1998. Despite this, it had many adventures (including its manufacturer going insolvent before it was even handed over), and became a great success with audiences. This success drew international attention, and after SM1 made two extraordinary visits to UN forces stationed in Bosnia, the British Armed Forces commissioned their own Cinemobile from Toutenkamion, along with two more for organisations in Ireland. This made the Screen Machine service and HI-Arts great favourites of Toutenkamion.

Behind the scenes, the newly-formed Highland Council was unable to manage the operation of the Screen Machine service, as its predecessor had intended. This left HI-Arts to develop its own ways of running the service. At first this was in tandem with Eden Court in Inverness, but over the years more services, such as programming, finance, and scheduling, were transferred to HI-Arts, making it grow in size.

By 2002, it was clear that SM1 was no longer fit to continue touring. HI-Arts commissioned a new mobile cinema, but stipulated to funders that it should be built by Toutenkamion, who were prepared to adapt their designs so it could meet all the requirements for the Scottish landscape.

By this time, the Screen Machine circuit had expanded beyond the Highland region to take screenings to communities in the Western Isles, Argyll and Bute, parts of Moray and North Ayrshire, as well as occasional visits to the Outer Isles of Orkney.

With the aid of funding from the Scottish Arts Council National Lottery, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and the Scottish Government’s Rural Development Programme, Screen Machine 2 (SM2) was launched in 2005. It proved to be an immediate success, and finally delivered the consistent quality service that had been originally envisaged back in 1995.

No longer touring, SM1 acted as a ‘stand-in’ cinema venue for Eden Court while it was rebuilt. It was then gifted to a cinema group in Market Harborough before eventually being scrapped after functioning, against the odds, for more than the 10 years originally planned.

In 2007, Scottish Screen (the Scottish Film Council’s successor) made a major strategic initiative to develop a network of ‘hubs’ to cover Scotland. It consisted of the four major arthouse venues in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, and Inverness, plus a new regional ‘hub’ that covered the areas they didn’t reach. This new regional hub originated from a HI-Arts project called ‘Rural Cinema North’. It was named Regional Screen Scotland (RSS), and a core part of its remit would be the ownership, management, and operation of the Screen Machine service.

Since then, RSS has successfully taken the Screen Machine service forwards. In 2016, it raised funds from Creative Scotland, HIE, and the Royal Bank of Scotland to carry out a major refit of SM2, giving it another six years of full operation. In 2018, while Screen Machine celebrated its 20th year of operation, it experienced its most successful year ever by surpassing 30,000 admissions for the first time. It achieved comparable success throughout 2019 and until March 2020, when Screen Machine went off the road at the same time other cinemas had to close. While it navigated the challenges of the Covid pandemic, RSS was able to secure funding for a new tractor unit from Creative Scotland and HIE.

After intermittently touring throughout 2020 and 2021 with reduced capacities, Screen Machine resumed its regular service in Spring 2022. But by the start of 2023, the 25th year of the service, SM2 finally started to succumb to the Scottish weather. Corrosion caused frequent breakdowns and became a major issue that threatened the reliability of the service. In April of that year, Screen Scotland agreed to fund a 12-month lease of a Cinemobile from Toutenkamion, allowing the service to continue.

But the slight differences in design between Cinemobile and SM2 meant it couldn’t reach all of the circuit’s locations. It was clear that a new Screen Machine with its bespoke design for the Scottish landscape needed to be built to ensure the long-term future of the service. In early 2024, Screen Scotland agreed to extend the Cinemobile’s lease through to 2026 to allow the continuation of the service while RSS sought funding for Screen Machine 3 (SM3).

In late 2024, RSS launched the ‘Save Our Screen Machine’ campaign to raise the £1.49 million needed to build SM3. By mid-2025, enough was raised to place an order with Toutenkamion, which started the 12-to-18 month build of SM3, and all funds were secured by the end of the year. This would not have been possible with the hard work of the RSS staff and supporters from across the Screen Machine circuit. Our thanks goes to everyone who made it happen, and you read about our major donors here.

Screen Machine expects to return to the road with SM3 in Autumn 2026.