Projects in genres: Scottish

Synopsis

The directional debut from Scottish director Graeme Maley, a gritty and poetic Nordic-noir about digital revenge set over three nights in the permanent winter darkness of Iceland’s capital. The freezing city of Reykjavik provides a backdrop for a story of digital revenge and dirty secrets. When Ada shows Ingvar a ‘parent porn’ website where a local teen has hacked his mum’s webcam and been secretly filming her having a string of one night stands, Ingvar becomes fixated. He recognises the place where the original parent porn was filmed leading him to its teenage maker, a path ripe with danger, regrets and guilt. Ingvar’s life is changed forever… Edinburgh International Film Festival 2016 - World premiere

Synopsis

The inhabitants of a Scottish island try to plunder 50,000 cases of whisky from a nearby stranded ship. A remake of the beloved black and white original film directed by Alexander Mackendrick for Ealing Studios, which was based on the novel by Compton Mackenzie, which itself was based on the real events of 1941 when the S.S. Politician was shipwrecked in the Outer Hebrides leading to an hilarious battle as the wily islanders on nearby Eriskay tried to salvage the huge cargo of whisky on board, enraging the British authorities. Edinburgh International Film Festival 2016 - World premiere

Synopsis

Michael (19) lives with his step brother and music genius Thor (19) in Shetland, a small island far north of Scotland. Thrust together by their parents’ marriage they barely talk– but when Thor ruins Michael’s chances of going to university with his girlfriend Suzy they embark on a chaotic road trip that will push their tenuous relationship to the brink. En route they encounter Caitlín (20) a wild, Irish free spirit who dreams of being a singer. The boys fall in love with her as they adventure towards Glasgow. Edinburgh International Film Festival 2016 - World premiere

Synopsis

Adapted from the acclaimed novel 'Neither Wolf Nor Dog' by Kent Nerburn, the story follows a white author who gets sucked into the heart of contemporary Native American life in the sparse lands of the Dakotas. The cast includes 96-year-old Lakota elder, Chief Dave Beautiful Bald Eagle. Edinburgh International Film Festival 2016 - World premiere

Synopsis

Cult-pop raconteur Aidan Moffat, former frontman of indie band Arab Strap sets out to explore Scotland’s past by rewriting and touring its oldest songs. But he doesn’t count on running into 79-year-old force of nature Sheila Stewart, a travelling balladeer who upturns Moffat’s folk assumptions. He believes the old songs are ripe for updating. She does not. With Stewart’s wrath ringing in his ears, Moffat embarks on a road trip that finds him dressed for battle in a Highland graveyard, caught between feuding monster-hunters at Loch Ness, and singing in a dismissive farmer’s kitchen, before facing Stewart in his home-town of Glasgow for an unlikely final showdown, in this funny wee film about music and death. Glasgow Film Festival 2016 - World premiere

Synopsis

Exploring the rise of Scotland’s independent music scene in the 1990s, led by cult label Chemikal Underground. Featuring The Delgados, Bis, Mogwai, Arab Strap, Franz Ferdinand, and other seminal acts, an intimate film exploring friendship, creativity and music. On the journey, we revisit a defining, chaotic trip early in the musicians’ careers, re-staging a concert in Brittany that connects the characters in life (and on stage) for the first time in many years. Edinburgh International Film Festival 2016 - World premiere

Synopsis

Out of the imagination of acclaimed artist-filmmaker Henry Coombes comes Albert, an eccentric, aging painter doubling as an unconventional, Jung-inspired psychotherapist. When Albert’s friend asks him to counsel her lethargic grandson Ben, whose ongoing boyfriend problems are rapidly fueling an already deep depression, their subsequent therapy sessions reveal as much about Albert as they do about the troubled young man. After a visit to his studio by his chain-smoking tea swilling mate Marcella, Albert agrees to just one therapy session with the troubled Ben unsure as he is as to how he can help him... this quickly becomes extended however as Ben begins to see the benefits of his engagement with the older man. Things take a turn howvere when Ben starts to question Alberts won behaviour, and consequently the methods by which Albert is driving him. Meanwhile Alberts own behaviour becomes more outrageous as he behaves with more excess and immaturity than the boy he is trying to help! Coombes’ debut feature is a witty, perceptive study of social mores, sexual excess and the bizarre, symbiotic relationship between doctor and patient; teacher and pupil; artist and muse.

Synopsis

A personal insight into the changing relationship between a young woman and her transgender parent. Looking back on their relationship, they share their own experiences of coming out and begin to think about what the future might hold for their family now the decision to transition has been made.

Synopsis

A biographical documentary about the remarkable and turbulent career of British film and TV director Antonia Bird - the first British woman to direct a Hollywood movie, who died in 2013. The film explores her battles to break down the barriers against her gender and her politics, to get her voice heard, and to bring a radical edge to popular drama. It reveals the secrets of her greatest work - Safe, Priest, Face, Ravenous, Care, The Hamburg Cell - through the testimony of her closest friends and collaborators, including Robert Carlyle, Mark Cousins, Kate Hardie, Irvine Welsh and Steven Mackintosh.

Synopsis

A man doles out fifteen years worth of advice to a young woman with thoroughly unexpected results. Official Selection Berlinale 2016 - Generation 14 Plus - World premiere

Synopsis

An eight year-old tomboy challenges gender expectations when forced to make an Easter Bonnet with the girls. Then, when confronted with a family with two mums, she begins to question traditional family dynamics. Bravely subverting convention, her vivid imagination and resourcefulness leads her on a journey of discovery around her neighbourhood that will have radical and far reaching effects. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2016 - Journey Strand

Synopsis

An aspiring yet dispirited dancer develops an odd relationship with an obscene phone caller. Together they discover an impassioned interest in self-amputation