Aberdeen film fans 'heartbroken' at Belmont Filmhouse closure

The closure of Aberdeen's Belmont Filmhouse - a venue seen as important for those with sensory impairments as well as film students - has been described as "devastating".

The parent charity that runs it, as well as the Edinburgh International Film Festival and the Edinburgh Filmhouse, called in administrators.

More than 100 staff in total lost their jobs.

In Aberdeen, where 20 jobs went, it is hoped the venue can still be saved.

Centre for the Moving Image (CMI) was founded in 2010 and has run Belmont since 2014.

On Thursday it said it had seen sharply rising costs alongside reduced trade due to the effects of the Covid pandemic.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told MSPs she was "hugely concerned" by the news.

Charlotte Little from Aberdeen is visually and hearing impaired and works as an access consultant.

She said she was "absolutely heartbroken and devastated" at the news - for those losing their jobs, and for the loss of an important venue locally.

"It was a cinema space that made me feel so welcome and so valued as a disabled person that often found other cinemas really daunting," she told BBC Scotland.

"Belmont was the only place that I felt like if someone with both hearing loss and sight loss that I could go to not just with friends but by myself, because of the venue space and the staff, they were also so welcoming and eager to help however they could.

"And they would put on some many captioned screenings compared to the other cinemas and I needed that to really experience and enjoy movie-going.

"I called it my second home for many years."

She said she hoped the Belmont could somehow be saved.

Aygul Salehova is a student who arrived from Azerbaijan a week ago to study film and visual culture at the University of Aberdeen.

"As I've researched this was the only place to see good independent cinema, festival films," she said.

"They have a cinema club, a lot of interesting films that we cannot see anywhere else, talks, conversations, discussions around films, film analysis.

"What are we going to do in Aberdeen to see good cinema?

"Now that it's closed I don't know where the film students are going to gather to have high quality chats and discussions around films.

"Commercial cinemas are a different thing. They show only very popular films, only mainstream. But what we believe is true cinema should be independent and Belmont was the place for that. ''

Graham Findlay is the chief executive of North East Sensory Services

"The closure of Belmont Filmhouse in Aberdeen will be a devastating blow for people who are deaf, blind or have visual or hearing impairments." he said

"It had recently invested in audio description technology for blind and visually impaired audiences, and some films had British Sign Language transcriptions as well as subtitles.

"People with sensory loss deserve to enjoy the cinema experience in the same way as everyone else.

"The Belmont was a fantastic example of how things should be done and the staff there were always very supportive. It was a jewel in the crown of Aberdeen cinema and this will be a huge loss to the entire city."