Wednesday November 26th 2025
Screen 1 at the Filmhouse (photo by Alastair McCrum)
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Joe Sullivan
Edinburgh’s Filmhouse is set to be denied permission to self-certify films for screening over licensing policy concerns.
Requested by officers, the denial would quash an effort by some councillors to take the venue out of an approvals process that can see it wait up to a month for sign-offs.
Currently, all cinema venues in Edinburgh hoping to screen films not certified by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) have to apply to the council’s Licensing Sub-Committee.
Most cinemas show non-BBFC certified films infrequently, but the Filmhouse screens a high number of them – about 10 per month usually, and around 50 during the festival season.
Screening requests currently have to wait for meetings of the committee to be approved, which take place monthly.
A motion at the city’s culture committee in August asked officers to explore letting the venue certify its own films, or having council officers take on screening requests to save time.
In September, the regulatory committee endorsed the ask after the request had been referred to it.
However, council officers have now said that allowing the venue to certify its own films for screening is not possible, as the council cannot delegate licensing activities to another body.
They added that the proposal to have council officers consider approving films could still see the committee consulted if asks became ‘anything more regular than an occasional request’.
According to a report prepared for Monday’s regulatory committee meeting, there were concerns that officers ‘do not have the skills’ to judge the age-appropriateness of films.
It added that changing the responsibility of approving films to council officers could add an incentive for venues to put in more requests for screening uncertified films.
Officers said that the Filmhouse could get some freedom from the approvals process by only showing non-certified films to those over the age of 18.
Or, the venue could ‘plan ahead’ when scheduling films to accommodate the need for approval by a committee meeting.
Councillors will consider the report at the next meeting of the Regulatory Committee on Monday, December 2, which you can view here.
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