6 minute read
Down on the Farm
The Truffle Hunters
2021 | Italy/Greece/USA | 90m | Documentary | Subtitled | Dirs: Michael Dweck & Gregory Kershaw | Featuring: Piero Botto, Sergio Cauda & Maria Cicciù
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Deep in the forests of Piedmont, Italy, a handful of men, seventy or eighty years young, hunt for the rare and expensive white Alba truffle—which to date has resisted all of modern science’s efforts at cultivation. They’re guided by a secret culture and training passed down through generations, as well as by the noses of their cherished and expertly-trained dogs. They live a simpler, slower way of life, in harmony with their loyal animals and their picture-perfect land, seemingly straight out of a fairy tale. They’re untethered to cell phone screens or the Internet, opting instead to make their food and drink by hand and prioritizing in-person connections and community.
The demand for white truffles increases year after year, even as the supply decreases. As a result of climate change, deforestation, and the lack of young people taking up the mantle, the truffle hunters’ secrets are more coveted than ever. However, as it soon becomes clear, these ageing men may just hold something much more valuable than even this prized delicacy: the secret to a rich and meaningful life.
And it’s Screenplay – so there are DOGS.
Shetland Arts would like to thank Taste of Shetland, the Shetland Livestock Marketing Group, the COP26 Climate Fringe Fund and Stuart Hubbard for their support of this film.
journey. Try not to fall hard for
the joy it spreads.”
– Tomris Laffly, VARIETY
Thu 12.15 £7.50 / £5.50 Fri 12.00 £10 / £7.50 / £5.50 (-16) Sat 11.00 £7.50 / £5.50 Sun 21.00 £10 / £7.50 / £5.50 (-16)
DOWN ON THE FARM
NORTH LOOK / FARM THE ON DOWN
The Last Autumn
2019 | Iceland | 81m | 115m inc Q&A | Documentary | Subtitled Dir: Yrsa Roca Fannberg | Featuring: Ùlfar & Oddny
More than a thousand autumns ago, humans arrived with their animals to a land pushed up against the Arctic Ocean. Autumns came and autumns went. Where the road ends, Úlfar, the last in a long line of farmers, lives with his wife. As autumn returns their grandchildren arrive from the city to attend the last herding of the flock. Next autumn farming will cease and all the sheep will be gone.
The film was made in Árneshreppur, the smallest parish in Iceland. Director Yrsa Roca Fannberg has been helping the farmers to herd their sheep down the mountains each autumn and she sees them as her friends. In 2016, the year when The Last Autumn was shot, there were nine farms, and five children in the school and there was a small shop. Today the school and the shop has closed. With every year that passes, the population gets smaller as people leave. There are controversial plans to build a dam. While some say the dam could save the parish, others warn of the irreversible damage to nature. Farming has always formed a cornerstone of life in Árneshreppur, but the younger generations are moving away, following other paths. For now, life is as it is lived, just before the transformation that seems to be around the corner.
The edge is crumbling – will we in Shetland be the next edge?
Shetland Arts would like to thank Taste of Shetland, the Shetland Livestock Marketing Group, the COP26 Climate Fringe Fund and Stuart Hubbard for their support of this film.
Thu 20.15 £10 / £7.50 / £5.50 (-16) Fri 14.00 £7.50 / £5.50 Sat 17.15 £10 / £7.50 / £5.50 (-16) Sun 16.45 £10 / £7.50 / £5.50 (-16) 20.30 £10 / £7.50 / £5.50 (-16)
Yrsa Roca Fannberg
There will be a pre-recorded Q&A with Yrsa Roca Fannberg after this screening - as she will be caa’in sheep in Árneshreppur on the actual day!
Yrsa Roca Fannberg was born in Iceland, brought up in Sweden with Catalan heritage. She holds a BA in Fine art from Chelsea College of Art, London (2000) and a master in Creative Documentary from Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona (2009). Her first documentary Salóme (2014) won several awards, amongst them the Best Nordic documentary at Nordisk Panorama. The Last Autumn (2019) is her first feature documentary and is produced by Akkeri Films and Biti aptan bæði.
FILMS WITH GUESTS
Programme out now!
FARM THE ON DOWN
Gunda
2021 | USA/Norway | 96m Documentary | Dir: Victor Kossakovsky
Cinema in its purest form, Gunda chronicles the lives of a mother pig, a flock of chickens, and a herd of cows with masterful intimacy. Using luminous black and white cinematography and the farm’s ambient soundtrack, director Victor Kossakovsky invites the audience to slow down and experience life as his subjects do. In doing so Gunda takes us into the mystery of animal consciousness, and the role humanity plays in it. There is no voiceover, just the sounds of the farm and its inhabitants as they go about their daily lives. Writing in Sight & Sound film critic Ben Nicolson wrote “By placing us close to the pigs’ lives while resisting the temptation to narrativise, Gunda allows viewers space to observe, ruminate, and formulate their own position in response to what they are seeing and experiencing.” Watch out for the scenestealing one-legged hen …
- The Guardian “A must-watch”
- The Times
Shetland Arts would like to thank Taste of Shetland, the Shetland Livestock Marketing Group, the COP26 Climate Fringe Fund and Stuart Hubbard for their support of this film.
Wed 17.30 £10 / £7.50 / £5.50 (-16) Thu 11.30 £7.50 / £5.50 Sat 13.15 £10 / £7.50 / £5.50 (-16) Sun 14.15 £10 / £7.50 / £5.50 (-16)
FILMS WITH GUESTS
Grenada and the Goats
UK | 60m | 90m inc Q&A | Documentary | Captioned | Dir: Aidan Catriona Nicol
Bucking the imported food trend – one goat at a time. This is the story of The Goat Dairy, its team and the goats of Grenada. Taking one small project’s story as its focus, the film hopes to share the difficulties small scale producers face and the neverthe-less worthwhile benefits that can be generated for people and our environment through increased promotion and understanding of sustainable farming practices. Aidan says “I hope it shines a light on the impacts we could be making towards increased food security, valuing nutrition, working against climate change and growing economic opportunities if we make a commitment to support and sustain a different way of producing and consuming when it comes to the future of agriculture.”
The Saturday screening will be followed by an online Q&A with Aidan Nicol, Mark & Linda.
Sat 12.50 £10 / £7.50 / £5.50 (-16) Sun 12.10 £10 / £7.50 / £5.50 (-16)
Shetland Arts would like to thank Taste of Shetland, the Shetland Livestock Marketing Group, the COP26 Climate Fringe Fund & Stuart Hubbard; also Felipe Bustos Sierra, Jack Coghill & Matchbox Cine for their help in bringing this film to Screenplay.
Aidan Nicol
Levenwick raised and now based in Moniaive, Aidan currently works as festival and project manager for Puppet Animation Scotland. One of the founding members of Maddrim Media, Aidan studied film and media at Stirling University and went on to work in film and TV production. She has since produced the Hebrides International Film Festival. This is her first feature documentary - grown from three years of return visits to Grenada and five years of editing in between jobs!
