\n The new NFTS Sean Connery Institute is expected to open within the next 18 months. (Image: NFTS)\n<\/p>\n
\n The film festival had to be rebuilt from scratch over the last three years, under a new board and creative team led respectively by Andrew Macdonald and Paul Ridd.\n<\/p>\n
\n It took almost three years to reopen the Filmhouse following a \u00a32 million refurbishment carried out by a new charity led by Ginnie Atkinson, a former managing director of the cinema and the film festival.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sean Connery during the filming of his third James Bond film, Goldfinger. (Image: Agency)\n<\/p>\n
\n The return of both organisations to the heart of the city\u2019s cultural life is still a huge cause for celebration, especially given the loss of other arts events and venues elsewhere in Scotland.\n<\/p>\n
\n They are both cornerstones of a shifting cultural landscape in the city which is expected to undergo significant change in the next few years.\n<\/p>\n
\n The National Film and Television School and the Sean Connery Foundation joined forces to create a ‘talent lab’ programme in 2023. (Image: NFTS)\n<\/p>\n
\n A major new element of that mix, exclusively revealed in The Herald, will put one of Edinburgh\u2019s best-known cultural icons \u2013 a figure inextricably linked to both the film festival and the Filmhouse – at the heart of that landscape.\n<\/p>\n
\n A new filmmaking centre named after Sir Sean Connery looks set to become one of the most significant new cultural institutions to open in the city in modern times.\n<\/p>\n
\n The National Film and Television School and the Sean Connery Foundation have been working for the last three years on a ‘talent lab’ filmmaking programme based in Edinburgh. (Image: Sonja Blietschau)\n<\/p>\n
\n It also also the potential to put Edinburgh on the global map as a powerhouse for new filmmakers to learn their craft – to add to its long-standing international reputation as a place to launch and shoot productions.\n<\/p>\n
\n The project, which is being developed by the National Film and Television School and the Sean Connery Foundation, which launched in 2022, two years after the Edinburgh-born actor\u2019s death, is unashamedly ambitious – not least because they want it to launch it within 18 months.\n<\/p>\n
\n The National Film and Television School and the Sean Connery Foundation have been running a ‘talent lab’ programme in Edinburgh since 2023. (Image: Sonja Blietschau)\n<\/p>\n
\n That would mean it opening before three other flagship projects in the city \u2013 the Dunard Centre, Edinburgh\u2019s first new concert hall for more than a century, the transformation of the former Royal High School on Calton Hill and an 8,500 indoor arena in the Edinburgh Park area.\n<\/p>\n
\n It is hoped that a \u201cworld-leading\u201d training programme at the Connery centre will break down barriers that Scots trying to break into film and TV<\/a> have traditionally faced, tackle a long-running talent drain out of the country, and \u201cbridge the gap\u201d between leaving university and forging an industry career.\n<\/p>\n \n \n It is expected to be complemented by a year-round public programme, with leading industry figures appearing at screenings, masterclasses, conversations and events, a thrilling prospect for a city which already attracts its fair share of big names, especially when its festivals are on.\n<\/p>\n \n A key aim of the project partners is for the NFTS Sean Connery Institute to have a prominent location in the city, with a \u201chigh-profile entrance\u201d and \u201cgood visibility\u201d among the key criteria.\n<\/p>\n \n The foundation, which has been at the heart of the film festival’s rebuilding efforts, and the NFTS have both made it clear that they want to buy an existing building for the project, and have even suggested the Fountainbridge area, where the actor was brought up, as a potential location.\n<\/p>\nBob Last and Jason Connery opened FirstStage Studios in Leith in 2020 (Image: FirstStage)\n<\/p>\n