PoetryFilm at Hidden Door Festival, Edinburgh, 4 June 2016

PoetryFilm is delighted to partner with the wonderful Hidden Door festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, and will present a programme on 4 June 2016. The press release from Hidden Door is below.

This year, from 27th May- 4th June 2016 Hidden Door will return to the amazing disused street lighting depot behind Kings Stables Road in Edinburgh. It will transform it, for one last time, into an area where the public can explore and discover live music venues, theatre spaces, bars, a cinema, and a multitude of art exhibition, installation spaces and some of Scotland’s best emerging creative talent.

Hidden Door is a not for profit organisation run by volunteers. It is dedicated to opening up disused spaces in Edinburgh, making them available to artists and emerging creative talent for new ideas and groundbreaking projects. This approach is about creating new space for the arts in a broader sense, by providing innovative opportunities and a much-needed dynamic platform for artists and creative talent allowing them to engage new audiences.

The event this year will be called ‘Hidden Door Electric City,’ in homage to the site’s recent history as a street lighting depot, and will feature a fantastic programme across the arts – by far our strongest yet. It’s not just the numbers involved (50 artists, 35 bands, 15 theatre companies, 20 poets, 12 film organisations) but the quality too. We have tried to exemplify the idea of shining a spotlight on breakthrough talent.

In our music programme we are excited to be bringing acts like Teleman, Meilyr Jones, NZCA Lines and Rival Consoles to Edinburgh, all of whom are winning accolades and praise for their new, fresh music, and will have a huge influence on the future music landscape of the UK.

The visual art programme is equally ambitious. Hidden Door has, for the first time, invited a number of artists to participate. This includes recent graduates from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee art colleges, and features a number of artists who work with light, in response to the theme of Electric City. Hidden Door is giving these artists the resources to do something large scale in the dark derelict spaces. Heather Lander, a recent Glasgow School of Art MFA graduate is sure to impress with her light projections and sculptures.

A highlight of the theatre programme will be the production of Walden by Magnetic North theatre company, staged once before in Edinburgh in 2009 in the Stills Gallery. People still talk about it. Walden will take place in the atmospheric ‘Peely Room’ – an old vehicle repair workshop converted into a theatre for the festival. Be sure to turn up early to avoid disappointment!

The greatest addition to the Festival though has to be the inclusion of an entire poetry and spoken word programme. This year, Hidden Door is delighted to be working with poets such as MacGillveray, Jamie Gordon, Nick E. Melville and Ron Butlin, ex Edinburgh Makar, from whose poem ‘The Electric City of Heck’ the festival got its theme.

We also have a fantastic line-up in our cinema, showcasing a tremendous variety of films, animations, shorts and more.

There will be 4 bars this year, including an outside bar, serving amazing craft beers and cider and speciality gins, all from local producers. To keep the hunger pangs at bay, there will be a selection of delicious and creative food stalls serving on site throughout the festival.

Last year’s Hidden Door drew over 10,000 visitors to the site over the nine days of the festival. As David Martin, Creative Director says:

“Part of the idea of Hidden Door is to make connections between the creative communities of Edinburgh, and those of other cities and places too, so we are pleased to bring people from all over the country to the festival. We will make it a fantastic and significant cultural event, full of life, energy and creativity.”