Cultural Engagement
The overarching theme of our cultural engagement work is the exploration and promotion of film culture in St Andrew, in terms of its interconnecting local and global facets.
Since 2005 we have developed on-going working relationships with two local cinemas. At the New Picture House in St Andrews we have screened numerous films (including with funding from the Russell Trust), hosted director Q&A sessions and hosted various film festivals. At the nearby Dundee Contemporary Arts Cinema we have held dedicated screenings as part of international conference programmes, and St Andrews scholars introduce films for the general public as part of the cinema's on-going programming.
In 2012 we were instrumental in helping the Byre Theatre in St Andrews secure external funding to improve their facilities in order to permit the introduction of regular film screenings. During 2012 the Centre and its postgraduate community will also be helping the Byre to develop and programme regular film events.
Reaching out beyond St Andrews, our activities have helped to strengthen the interconnectivity of Film Studies research in Scotland, and to demonstrate the global engagement of our work. In collaboration with the University of Glasgow, we established the Carnegie Trust funded Scottish Consortium for Film and Visual Culture, in 2007, bringing together Film Studies researchers across Scotland for five annual conferences. In addition, Prof Dina Iordanova has developed links between the Centre and the Edinburgh International Film Festival and now serves on the Board of Directors .The Leverhulme-funded Dynamics of World Cinema project and the Royal Society of Edinburgh-funded Scottish Film Festival Studies Network, which has allowed us to forge links with many festivals across Scotland, have also facilitated the establishment of a publishing house, St Andrews Films Studies, which is responsible for the annual Film Festival Yearbooks and many other publications.