Saturday 15th August 2026, 2:30pm. FULLY BOOKED
Lauriston Castle, 2 Cramond Rd S, Edinburgh EH4 6AD

'Faust – A German Folktale' (1926) is a silent fantasy film directed by F. W. Murnau that draws on older traditions of the legendary tale of Faust, as well as on Goethe's classic 1808 version. With technically elaborate special effects, it is a masterpiece of German Expressionist filmmaking.

Mephisto is a demon who wagers dominion over Earth with an archangel. He bets he can corrupt a righteous man's soul and destroy all that's divine in him. He beguiles an old alchemist by the name of Faust into selling him his soul, leading the despairing man into a downward spiral.

Saturday 11th July 2026, 2:30pm. FULLY BOOKED
Lauriston Castle, 2 Cramond Rd S, Edinburgh EH4 6AD

Directed by William A. Wellman and winner of the first Academy Award for Best Picture, Wings (1927) is Wings is a silent with sound coming-of-age film set during the First World War. It stars Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, and Richard Arlen with Gary Cooper in a supporting role.

Two young rivals in a small American town, are vying for the attentions of a local girl. The young men both enlist to become combat pilots. When they leave for training, one of them mistakenly believes she prefers him, but she actually prefers the other. The drama plays out across the skies.

Friday 26th June 2026, 7 for 7:30pm. FULLY BOOKED
Lauriston Castle, 2 Cramond Rd S, Edinburgh EH4 6AD

Voted the best comedy of all time, Billy Wilder's 1959 classic opens in Prohibition-era Chicago where two speakeasy musicians, Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) unfortunately witness a mob shooting and need to get out of town as soon as possible to escape murder.

Sweet Sue and her all-girl Society Syncopators are about to leave the Windy City and head to Miami by train. They need a saxophone player and a bassist to complete the band. Joe and Jerry disguise themselves as Josephine and Daphne and join singer Sugar (Marilyn Monroe) on board.

Saturday 9th May 2026, 7 for 7:30pm. £15
Lauriston Castle, 2 Cramond Rd S, Edinburgh EH4 6AD

Before the cinematic term Film Noir was coined there was the very noir 'Piccadilly' (1929) a silent with sound drama released after the emergence of the Talkies. Directed by E.A. Dupont, it features the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood, fashion icon Anna May Wong as Shosho.

Set in an eponymous nightclub and restaurant in London's Piccadilly Circus, dishwasher Shosho becomes an instant sensation when she is promoted to lead dancer after a series of unfortunate events. Personal jealousies result in a crime of passion that only the courts can decide.

Saturday 11th April 2026, 2:30pm. FULLY BOOKED
Lauriston Castle, 2 Cramond Rd S, Edinburgh EH4 6AD

In 1926, Lauriston Castle was bequeathed to Scotland by its last private owners, Mr. and Mrs. William Robert Reid. We're marking the centenary of the bequest with a series of special film screenings of titles both made and set in the 1920s starting with 'The General' (1926).

Co-directed by Clyde Bruckman and star Buster Keaton, this silent comedy was inspired by the true story of the Great Locomotive Chase that occurred during the American Civil War. Expect audacious set pieces and Keaton performing his own stunts as train engineer Johnnie Gray.

Cycle 15 Alt-w Exhibition Award - Lindsey Carr
lindseycarrart.com

4th February to 3rd April 2026. FREE
Level 2, EFI, 1 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9EF

Originally developed as a tool for the creation of a series of lithographs based on Ernst Haeckel’s ‘Kunstformen Der Natur’ - the tool has now been reformatted for Edinburgh Futures Institute. Organisms on screen are generated by machine learning and animated using latent space interpolation to calculate the best trajectory between each.

Cycle 15 Alt-w Production Award - Andrey Chugunov
andreychugunov.com

3rd June to 31st July 2026. FREE
Level 2, EFI, 1 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9EF

This project explores the coastal areas of Scotland where industrial and natural structures have become interwoven. These areas, where life began the evolutionary journey from ocean to land, are at risk due to rising water levels. This anthropogenic impact on the coast is highlighted by the artist via photogrammetry of the emerging assemblages.

Cycle 14 Alt-w Production Award -
Frances Priest with Sam Healy
francespriest.co.uk

6th April to 2nd June 2026. FREE
Level 2, EFI, 1 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh EH3 9EF

Motifs from the realm of neoclassical architecture dance and evolve on screen, tracing a journey from the ancient, analogue and physical, to the modern, digital and abstract. Craft techniques such as tiling, mosaic, marquetry, weave and stitch all originated as mathematical pattern structures and here are brought full circle, ‘re-encoded’ as algorithms.

You can find aspects of our programme archived here by clicking on the tags below.