A Short Film event featuring work by 3 filmmakers with links to the island either through An Lanntair’s Residency Programme or by birth.
Niall Morison MacRae – ‘And so it was’
Directed by Niall M. MacRae
14 minutes 55 seconds, English & Scottish Gaelic with Subtitles.
Having recently faced the loss of her sister, Norah MacRae – the longest serving post office worker in Scottish history – begins to reflect on what’s to come in her remaining years from the wee shop attached to her house.
An observational meditation on grief, time and what we leave behind; “And So It Was” paints a vivid monochrome portrait of loss – of a loved one, a village, a post office.
Hailing from the Outer Hebrides, Niall is a Scottish-Thai filmmaker whose unique island upbringing shapes his distinctive worldview. Drawn to themes such as identity, rural decay, and time, he has refined his award-winning cinematography into rich portrait documentaries focusing on a variety of subjects, including working-class experiences, the trans community, and refugees of war.
“And So It Was” received a UK Royal Television Society award nomination for best factual and premiered at the 76th Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2023. The film’s continued success on the festival circuit has pushed it into being both BAFTA and BIFA qualifying.
This will be its island premiere and the closest the film has come to screening in Achmore, where it was primarily filmed.
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Zoe Patterson Macinnes – ‘M’Athair, an t-iasgair/My Father the fisherman’
A short documentary following one of the few men from Great Bernera who still go out lobster fishing and his connection to the place and sea, shared through his daughter’s perspective.
Zoe Paterson Macinnes is an artist and filmmaker based in the Outer Hebrides. With 10 years of experience in film; the medium has become a method of translation to describe personal experiences and a sense of place on screen. Her film work has been screened internationally and for various exhibitions. Often her film work is combined with art and poetry as a response to being in a place, whether that be physically or through memory, a longing – or belonging.
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IAN WAUGH – ‘AS HE LAY FALLING’ and ‘STRAYED’
AS HE LAY FALLING
Digging peat for food and board on a rundown Scottish Highland croft, Georgios discovers the stark difference between choosing to disappear and losing yourself completely. 19 minutes 19 seconds
STRAYED
Tracy flees into the wilderness of the Scottish Highlands. Defeated by the land, she is discovered by a passing runner. Reluctantly accepting his help, she soon doubts his intentions. 15 minutes 20 seconds
Ian Waugh is a writer, director and artist. His films have played at festivals such as Edinburgh, Drama, Stockholm, Busan and BFI London. He is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents, Reykjavik Transatlantic Lab and EIFF Talent Lab Connects. In 2019 he was selected for the flagship BFI development programme Network@LFF as an artist disrupting conventions with international focus and ambition.