EFP 73: Leith Kino

On this episode of the podcast, host Dr Pasquale Iannone reports from Leith Kino, a micro cinema initiative set up by a veritable supergroup of film professionals and enthusiasts. The initiative - which is hosted by bar, restaurant and event space Leith Depot on Edinburgh’s Leith Walk - aims to provide a space for engagement with avant-garde, experimental, arthouse and trash film.Since September 2025, the Leith Kino team have hosted an eclectic series of events, with members taking it in turn to programme screenings. Pasquale went along to their screening of Kim's Video (2024), a documentary centring on a legendary New York video store run by an enigmatic Korean businessman who one day decides to donate his entire collection, not to a University or a museum, but to a small Sicilian town more than 4000 miles away. This is just the start of a stranger-than-fiction story which is crying out for the Hollywood treatment. Before the sold-out screening of Kim's Video, Pasquale sat down with members of the Leith Kino collective. You’ll hear from Tom Johnson, Liam Schell, Morvern Cunningham, Camilla Baier, Soraya Mamiche, Josh Booker, Gosia Bugaj and Fraser Elliott. After the discussion, you'll also hear an extract from the evening's introduction to Kim's Video, provided by Emma Jamieson of Cinetopia, followed by the trailer for the film.If you'd like to keep up-to-date with Leith Kino's events, please see their Instagram or Substack accounts. Their February events include screenings of The Bride Wore Black (François Truffaut, 1968) and Freaks (Tod Browning, 1932).