There can be few more distinctive sights on the roads and ferries of the Highlands and Islands than the Screen Machine mobile cinema: perhaps the most innovative approach to creating a true cinema experience, which has yet been seen in Scotland. Now HI~Arts, owners and operators of the Screen Machine, have been given the green light to develop plans for a second generation mobile cinema which will be even more flexible and accessible and will therefore reach even more remote communities.

Director of HI~Arts, Robert Livingston explained: "We have been awarded £6,000 from the Scottish Arts Council (SAC) National Lottery Fund to progress our ambitious plans for a second mobile cinema. 

"We are absolutely delighted by the news and hope that our thorough research and planning will result in a new Screen Machine for the Highlands and Islands by next summer."

The Screen Machine, which has been sponsored by Scottish Gas since 2001 in partnership with Scottish Screen and SAC, is an articulated trailer which expands hydraulically to seat 102 in multiplex-style comfort, with high quality projection and digital surround sound. The cinema tours from the far north-west of Sutherland to Arran, including the Western Isles, and in 2002 sold 16,366 tickets for 485 screenings.

Director of Scottish Gas, Tom Laidlaw, said: "We congratulate Robert and his staff on securing funding in order to progress plans for a second mobile cinema.

"The first Screen Machine has been an enormous success, not only bringing the enjoyment and benefits of cinema to rural towns and villages across the north and west of Scotland but also featuring in BBC's Monarch of the Glen."

Although the concept of a self-contained mobile cinema is based on the 'Cinemobile' mobile, operating in France, the Screen Machine had to be designed and built from scratch. At the time of the Screen Machine's development, the existing design of the French Cinemobile was, for many reasons, unsuitable for operation in the UK.

For that reason, the Screen Machine is very much a prototype and therefore does have a number of limitations.  Its set up time - three to four hours - means that it must spend a minimum of two days at any one location. Mechanical problems resulting from the design and construction process have reduced that further, so that at present the Screen Machine spends three or four days visiting each one of a regular circuit of 12 venues. Moreover, the machine has now been continuously on the road for over four years, and is showing some signs of wear and tear.

However, in the last four years, the Screen Machine has provided the direct model for two new mobile cinemas commissioned in Ireland, and a third for the Services Sound and Vision Corporation, working for British armed forces in the Balkans. All three of these new cinemas incorporate the best aspects of the Screen Machine's design, and were built by the French company Toutenkamion, builder of the original Cinemobiles.

Toutenkamion is working with HI~Arts to produce an ideal new design for service in Scotland: this will have a set-up time of less than 45 minutes - and being based on a thoroughly tried and tested model - will be far more robust and efficient than the prototype Screen Machine. 

HI~Arts has now been successful in passing Stage 1 of the SAC National Lottery Fund application process, and this will provide funds to assist the preparation of a full Stage 2 application, to be submitted to SAC later in 2003.  If that application is successful, a new Screen Machine could be on the road by summer 2004.  This new initiative is being supported by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), and HI~Arts will be seeking funding from HIE to help to match the sum being sought from the SAC National Lottery Fund.

Head of Capital for the Scottish Arts Council is Iain Munro.  He commented: "The Scottish Arts Council are delighted with the success of the first Screen Machine.  It brings cinema to communities who have limited opportunity to see new films.

"We are hoping that the development of a second mobile cinema will spread this benefit even further throughout the Highlands and Islands. It will provide opportunities for rural audiences to experience the best in film and cinema from across the world on their very own doorstep."

HI~Arts is also working with Scottish Screen to explore how the potential to have two Screen Machines in operation might allow for the development of a Scotland-wide rural mobile cinema service.

Alan Knowles, Head of Operations at Scottish Screen said: "We are very excited at this news as Scottish Screen has supported the development of the Screen Machine from the beginning.  We are particularly pleased that the concept of a high quality mobile cinema for the Highlands and Islands has been so successful.

"This award from SAC's National Lottery Fund will ensure that even more communities will benefit from the service. This project would not have been possible without the partnership between Scottish Screen, HIE and HI~Arts."