IN the midst of the current Brexit chaos, how a small nation like Scotland connects with the rest of the world is becoming an increasingly urgent question.
It’s one of the issues raised this year by the world’s first festival of folk cinema – the Folk Film Gathering – whose fourth edition explores the theme A Sense Of Place.
Showcasing films from Scotland, England, Italy, France, Alaska and Scandinavia, the 2018 gathering will explore deep connections between the experiences of communities and the landscapes in which they live.
Location is at the core of all the films at the Edinburgh-based festival this year, with a strong core of Scottish films placed within a global context.
“One of the key influences upon our understanding of folk culture is the Scottish polymath Patrick Geddes who was the first to encourage us simultaneously to ‘think globally and act locally’ and that led us to become very interested in the ways that Scotland relates to other parts of the world,” said festival director Jamie Chambers.
The gathering will also look at the role of cinema within the traditional arts.
HOW WILL IT DO THIS?
WHILE most of last year’s screenings were introduced by a traditional singer, this year the organisers are exploring the connections between cinema and the folk arts even further by inviting traditional musicians to respond to a series of silent films from the National Library of Scottish Screen archives.
“We don’t see it so much as sound-tracking in the conventional sense but as a conversation or perhaps even a ‘flyting’ between the films and the singers responding to them,” said Jamie.
The one-off event will give audiences a glimpse into Scottish folk history, from crofting townships on Eriskay to Ayrshire mining villages, alongside socialist film collective Dawn Cine’s charged address to 1950s Glasgow. The soundtrack will be performed live by folk veteran Arthur Johnstone and Radio 2’s Folk Musician of the Year Rachel Newton.
Another notable event at the Folk Film Gathering this year will be a special 30-minute set from celebrated Scots folk musician, Alasdair Roberts to introduce one of the first folk horror films Penda’s Fen.
IS THERE MORE?
AN additional innovation will be a “film ceilidh”, hosted by Donald Smith of the Scottish Storytelling Centre, which will explore the poetic, political and spiritual approaches to the idea of place in Scottish cinema. The session will mix a series of short, experimental documentaries interspersed with songs from traveller storyteller Jess Smith and contributions from Scottish writer and activist Alastair McIntosh and Glasgow University Lecturer and filmmaker David Archibald.
There will also be a very rare showing of the screen adaptation of The White Bird Passes following last year’s popular showing of Another Time, Another Place. The films, which are based on the Jessie Kesson books, were both directed by Michael Radford and star Phyllis Logan.
In addition, there will be a rare chance to see Bill Bryden’s film, Ill Fares The Land, about the last days of the community on St Kilda leading up to the moment where the people depart.
“We are also screening another film by Timothy Neat, an important Scottish director who I think remains seriously under-appreciated in Scottish screen culture,” said Chambers. “We’ll be screening his film Hallaig about the poetry of Sorley McLean. It’s a very important Scottish documentary that I don’t feel gets screened enough.”
AND FROM OUTSIDE SCOTLAND?
AN important strand of the Gathering is screenings from indigenous directors. The programme this year includes an indigenous Alaskan remake of John Ford’s classic Western The Searchers, which relocates the action to the indigenous communities of the Canadian Arctic. The film, which is directed by Zacharias Kunuk, a prominent director within Fourth Cinema, will be introduced by traditional music from Alaskan harpist Cheyenne Brown.
“For me, Maliglutit (Searchers) is a very stimulating, provocative gesture as Westerns as a genre were largely founded on the othering of indigenous communities in North America,” said Chambers. “It’s very interesting to me how Kunuk takes a story that was initially conceived within the frequently racist milieu of the Western and completely recontextualises it within an indigenous Alaskan context.”
Another highlight will be the Scottish premier of Kaisa’s Enchanted Forest, an enchanting documentary about the life-long friendship between Swiss author Robert Crottet and spritely community matriarch Kaisa Gauriloff in Northern Scandinavia, celebrating the rich oral traditions of the Skolt Sami community in Finland. Directed by her great-granddaughter, Kaisa’s magical storytelling counterpoints the historical account of the Skolt Sami community fortunes in 20th-century Europe. The film will be introduced with Finnish folk music from Scots musician Mike Ferrie.
ANYTHING ELSE?
THE festival will also show Oscar-nominated Pathfinder, the first film to be made within the Sami community in Northern Scandinavia. The epic adventure story is about a young boy’s attempts to bring justice to the men that murdered his family. It is based on one of the few surviving Lapp legends – director Nils Gaup, himself a Lapp, heard it from his own grandfather. The film will be introduced with traditional Scandinavian music from Marit Falt.
Elsewhere, Tynside’s Amber Collective will return to the Folk Film Gathering with two documentaries about the Byker estate in Newcastle, based upon the work of celebrated photographer Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen. Featuring a highly topical exploration of the lives of immigrants to the UK, the films fuse memory, portraiture and music to document the changing experiences facing communities in inner-city Newcastle. It will be introduced with North England folk songs from Sean Paul Newman, followed by a Q&A with Konttinen and Peter Roberts.
From France, there is La Ville Est Tranquille, a powerful, timely exploration of immigration and the rise of the European right which masterfully weaves a narrative tapestry from the lives of a diverse group of Marseilles individuals. The film will be introduced with folk songs from Steve Byrne.
To find out more about these and other screenings go to www.folkfilmgathering.com.
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