From 7 – 21 March, the Frontline Club and the Scottish Documentary Institute are teaming up to present New Scottish Documentary, a series showcasing some of the boldest and most innovative new works produced in Scotland. Featuring one screening per week, we’ll be celebrating the richness of Scottish nonfiction filmmaking, including discussions with veteran documentary-makers and up-and-coming directors to watch.
Scotland on Screen is an evening of short films produced with assistance from the Scottish Documentary Institute and showcasing the diverse beauty of the Scottish landscape, immersing viewers in breathtaking scenes and remarkable stories from communities across the country.
The lineup:
THE PERFECT FIT
Director: Tali Yankelevich
2011 / 10 min / United Kingdom
www.scottishdocinstitute.com/films/the-perfect-fit
In a Scottish ballet shoe factory, a group of men demonstrate the labour of love involved in hand-crafting the perfect pair of shoes. The Perfect Fit looks at professional ballet through the eyes of a shoemaker who pounds his soul out making each pair perfect, trying to ease the burden on the dancers’ feet.
DIRECTED BY TWEEDIE
Director: Duncan Cowles
2011 / 17 min / United Kingdom
www.scottishdocinstitute.com/films/directed-by-tweedie
Making a film when you’re 87 is less than convenient. As granddad ‘Tweedie’ reluctantly takes up his new role as a filmmaker, we’re invited to examine the difficulties of communication between the generations, whilst exploring that unspoken contract that binds children to their grandparents.
CAILLEACH
Director: Rosie Reed Hillman
2014 / 14 min / United Kingdom
www.scottishdocinstitute.com/films/cailleach
Morag is 86. She lives alone at the end of a track looking out to sea on her croft on the Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides, with her three cats and twelve sheep. Morag was born in this house and has lived here her whole life, following five generations of the family who came before her. Cailleach is a portrait of Morag and her simple and peaceful life as she contemplates her next chapter – and shares her unique sense of independence and the connection she has to her wild island home.
THE REGISTRARS
Director: Jane McAllister
2013 / 29 min / United Kingdom
www.scottishdocinstitute.com/films/the-registrars
An intimate insight into the busiest Register House in Scotland. Life, death and love pause and flow through marbled halls and infinite paperwork. Dedicated staff transition from grief to joy throughout the day as the people’s stories resonate with their own lives.
POUTERS
Director: Paul Fegan
2012 / 17 min / United Kingdom
www.scottishdocinstitute.com/films/pouters
A modern day story of undying commitment, rivalry, family and friendship interwoven by an underground and idiosyncratic Scottish sport. Rab and Danny, rivals for over 25 years with huge pride at stake, battle it out on the wing to become the reigning ‘Doo Fleein’ (pigeon flying) champion.
By Allan Williams
Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega has until Monday to appeal against his extradition to Panama. The 77-year-old is currently serving a prison sentence in France after being convicted of money laundering in July 2010.
On Tuesday attention turns to Japan when the Parliament elects its sixth Prime Minister in five years. Incumbent Naoto Kan announced he was stepping down over plummeting approval ratings, following the earthquake and tsunami earlier this year.
Wednesday sees Canada release its second quarter GDP figures. Fears of the economy contracting grew following an announcement earlier this month that manufacturing sales declined 1.5per cent in June, to their lowest level since November 2010.
Also on Wednesday South African President Jacob Zuma makes a state visit to Norway at the invitation of King Harald V. The two-day trip includes a wreath-laying ceremony at the National Monument and a meeting with Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.
In the UK, on Thursday, repatriations of deceased British troops move from RAF Lyneham to RAF Brize Norton. RAF Lyneham and the parade through the nearby town of Wootton Bassett have made the headlines with the dignified way locals have mourned the fallen.
In Thailand that same day, Chiranuch Premchaiporn, editor of the liberal news website Prachatai, has her trial for lese majeste offences recommence. It is alleged that Premchaiporn failed to screen comments on her website that were critical of the Thai royal family, and if convicted faces up to 20 years in prison.
Attention turns stateside on Friday, when a US district court decides whether to order a retrial of former baseball star Roger Clemens, who was accused of lying to Congress in 2008 when he denied using anabolic steroids. The original trial was declared a mistrial on 14 July.
In London on Saturday the far-right English Defence League are expected to demonstrate in the borough of Tower Hamlets, against what it sees as militant Islam. The march is expected to be banned by the Home Secretary, but the action group Unite Against Fascism has arranged a counter-protest against the EDL.
On Sunday the UN Special Representative on Somalia Augustine Mahiga convenes a conference in the east African nation to provide clear timelines and benchmarks for the Transitional Federal Institutions.
And in Germany there’s a test for Chancellor Merkel’s coalition when state elections take place in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, with local elections coming under increasing scrutiny as a gauge of popularity for Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union.
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