Exhibition brings the history of cinema in Scotland to the screen

National Library: Hosting Scottish cinema exhibition.Deadline

An exhibition of more than a century of cinema has opened in Edinburgh.

Going To The Pictures: Scotland At The Cinema highlights the earliest film screening in 1896 right up to the modern day, with footage from Disney Pixar's Brave which has its European premiere in the city later this month.

The exhibition, at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, charts the rise of cinema when people flocked to the pictures in the 1930s and large movie venues were built such as the Regal in Glasgow, seating audiences of over 2,000.

It records the fall in cinema's popularity during the 1970s when many picture houses were demolished or began to be used for different purposes as audiences favoured watching television at home.

Going To The Pictures presents a century of Scotland and Scots on film, from the "romantic" Hollywood image of heather-clad hills in Brigadoon to the more realist, urban side of life in films like Trainspotting.

Screens will show clips from films such as The 39 Steps, Whisky Galore and Gregory's Girl, as well as the earliest representation of Scotland on film in the Execution of Mary Queen of Scots made by the Edison company in the US in 1895.

Cameras and projectors will be on show along with film posters and examples of cinema advertising over the years.

The first cinema show at Empire Palace Theatre in Edinburgh, now the Festival Theatre, in 1896 failed to excite, according to the library. A critic for The Scotsman newspaper complained that "the exhibition somehow missed fire".

By the start of the First World War in 1914, cinema had caught on with Edinburgh boasting 43 screens and smaller towns such as Dumfries and Fort William had their own cinemas.

Ruth Washbrook, senior curator at the library's Scottish Screen Archive, said: "Scotland is bursting with film-makers, attracting film crews in search of our landscapes and cities, exporting stars worldwide and luring film fans to the red and tartan carpets of local, national and international festivals."

Andrew Martin, curator of Modern Scottish Collections, who put the exhibition together with Ms Washbrook, said: "Almost everyone has experienced going to the pictures and being caught up in the glamour and excitement of it all. We hope the exhibition will bring back memories of films, people and cinemas that have been significant in their own lives."

The exhibition runs until October 28 and entry is free.

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