Established in 1956, the Cork Film Festival is Ireland's - and one of Europe's - oldest running film festivals.

However, it was announced this week that the festival needs a €200,000 bail-out in order to avoid immediate finanical collapse.

Members of the board of the festival are to meet with the Cork Council's Arts Committee this week to outline their requests for emergency funding, which is need to avoid the current risk of going into receivership.

The festival board have requested an interest free loan, but committee councillors have warned that there is no guarantee the loan will be made available.

In 2013, the festival underwent restructuring ahead of it's 60th anniversary, and this, coupled with it's lead sponsor - Corona - dropping out in 2012, is believed to be the reasoning behind the monetary issues currently facing the festival.

It's reported that Cork City Council's Deputy Chief Executive Pat Ledwidge are looking into a reduction of costs in the festival, including a reduction in the number of screenings, and in introduction of tighter financial control to be held by the council itself.

The Dublin Film Festival found itself in a similar situation this year, when regular sponsor Jameson dropped out, to be replaced by Audi, and festival goers noted a very large drop in the number of screenings held by the festival in 2016 when compared to previous years.

Despite the current situation, the admissions page for the Cork Film Festival 2016 is still open, with the website stating that this year's festival is set to run from the 11th to the 20th of November.