The Edinburgh International Film Festival is saving a few watts of energy at a series of bicycle powered film screenings this week. I say "bike powered" but you could as easily say it's "whisky powered" as the event - in a rare combination of a form of transport and alcohol - is being sponsored by Cutty Sark Blended Scotch Whisky.
Appropriately enough, the five screenings on Thursday 23rd June will be of animated bicycle feature Belleville Rendez-vous. The film premiered at the EIFF in 2003, and director Sylvain Chomet went on to make the nostalgic, Edinburgh-set The Illusionist.
The Belleville Rendez-vous screenings - taking place during Bike Week - will be shown on a "sustainable bike powered mobile cinema" at EIFF HQ at Teviot Row House (Underground).
Film-goers aged 25 and over will have the opportunity to volunteer for a short shift on one of the eight bikes powering the cinema, which will be positioned in front of the screen so that they don’t miss any of the film.
Cutty Sark is manufactured by Edrington plc in Glasgow so it's arguably more sustainable - having travelled less far - than having a Russian vodka or a French champagne as sponsor (at least if you are drinking it in Edinburgh).
Jason Craig, Global Brand Controller, Cutty Sark Blended Scotch Whisky, said: “The Cutty Sark Bike Powered Cinema captures the pioneering and forward thinking attitude of this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival and encapsulates the spirit of adventure that Cutty Sark Blended Scotch Whisky represents.”
The EIFF has been coming under fire since it started about the way this year's festival has been handled, with widespread calls for the event to be rescheduled to August.