Edinburgh’s Largest Cold War Nuclear Bunker as a Film Set.
For the third year running, a small team of Barnton Bunker volunteers entered the 48 Hour Film Project, spending the weekend of 22 to 24 May 2026 preparing, shooting and editing a short film for Edinburgh's annual competition.
The format is simple. Every team is handed the same four required elements and then has 48 hours to write, shoot, act and edit a complete film around them. No extensions or second chances! More details are here on the official website: https://www.48hourfilm.com/
This year's elements were:
Character: Philip / Philipa Veneruso, a Happiness Expert
Line of dialogue: "Hi, what's your name?"
Prop: a waffle
Genre: Heist / Drama
Under the guidance of a mysterious dream expert, a thief breaks into an abandoned bunker to steal the secret to happiness, only to be confronted by powerful and mysterious obstacles inside a disorientating labyrinth. The film is called It's the Little Things, and we used the bunker itself as the set.
The crew filmed some behind-the-scenes footage too. Here’s some of the final shot!
It was volunteer-led from start to finish.
Lala took on writing, directing, cinematography and editing (and an unplanned turn as behind-the-scenes dancer).
Valentin covered assistant director, composer, sound designer and story consultant, as well as playing the Orange Man.
The cast was Clement, Angel, Ewa, Ami and David.
As with most things here, it ran on the community. The crew was fuelled with some of the vegetables grown in our own community garden!
The film is finished and submitted, and now we wait to see how it does at the festival.
Want to film here?
The bunker is an unique set, 3 storeys down, Cold War history underground.
We're open to film crews and community projects.
Get in touch at info@barntonbunker.com
