EdShorts - director Paul Bruce on this year's SDO premieres
Scots Day Out in Bendigo, Australia, is one of the world’s largest Scots Diaspora gatherings, regularly attracting some 5000 people for one weekend each March, from Australia and across the world. For the last three years, we’ve been honoured to have been asked to programme an evening of Scottish Short Film for the events at SDO and this year we’re delighted that they are planning an early evening open air screening in Rosalind Park in Bendigo on the festival’s opening night, Friday March 2nd!
We’ve happily shipped off some of the pick from last year’s short films including Yulia Kovanova’s BAFTA-nominated experimental doc, PLASTIC MAN, Lyle Bush’s absurdist, Kafka-esque comedy, THE MAN WHO NEVER WENT HOME. Martin Lennon’s typically delightful short docs are always an audience favourite and this year’s entry, OOR WALLY, which follows Eleanor aka Wally the Warrior – Stenhousemuir FC club mascot – was no exception!
Were also pleased to screen Elias Sommer’s sparky and painstakingly staged comedy DENTURES OF DEATH – recently screened at the London Short Film Festival as well Niamh McKeown’s darkly ironic comedy, GOOD GIRLS – like Wes Anderson remaking a St Trinians film!
Created as part of Scottish Ballet’s Digital Season 2017, Under The Skin, HAUD CLOSE TAE ME, directed by Eve McConnachie features professional ballerina Mia Thompson and 65-year-old dancer Jill Ferguson. Inspired by a specially commissioned poem by the Makar, Jackie Kay, who narrates the poem herself on the soundtrack, accompanied by Alex Menzies’ music.
SALT & SAUCE by Alia Ghafar is a light-hearted yet beautifully observed drama that follows Tammy, a girl stuck in a post high-school limbo. While she tries to figure out what to do next with her life, she has no choice but to work in the family chip-shop. Filled with realistic and engaging characters, Salt & Sauce won the Rising Star Award at the 2017 Edinburgh Short Film Festival.
Robert Duncan’s intense Scottish comedy DRONE traces the relationship between two flatmates as it takes a sinister turn..excellent comic performances and dialogue and an oblique take on Heart of Darkness..
Mournful and haunting, Edinburgh-short TIMBRE by Gareth Peevers depicts a world where sound becomes a ghostly presence and silence an eternal shroud. A man struggles to comprehend as the world descends into silence.
To mark our first satellite event in partnership with Screen Tiree on the Isle of Tiree, we’re delighted to present TRAINSPOTTING TIREE by Jack Lockhart. The film was created entirely by the Screen Tiree committee, it’s since been uploaded to social media and viewed over 10,000 times, making it possibly one of Scotland’s most popular viral films. It was even retweeted by the author of Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh, who simple commented ‘Love it!’
