1 minute read
Archive / Music
Launch! - On the Sea with Scotland’s Lifeboats
2020 | Scotland | 60m | Documentary/Archive | Directed & edited by Shona Thomson | Music by: John Ellis, Arun Ghosh, Jason Singh & Jenny Sturgeon
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Launch! dives into archive footage of RNLI crews, with an immersive soundtrack from some of the UK’s most exciting contemporary musicians. Directed by award-winning curator Shona Thomson (using rarely seen footage of RNLI crews past and present) Launch! takes in the length and breadth of Scotland’s coastal communities – including Aith and Lerwick. Immersive, inspiring and often moving footage takes the audience right into the experience of the crews and their supporters.
A live debut performance at Celtic Connections 2020 saw Jason Singh, Jenny Sturgeon, Arun Ghosh and John Ellis perform the score live alongside the specially commissioned film. These world-class musicians then recorded the score during lockdown to accompany the cinema release of the film. It premiered at Mareel in June this year and this screening as a welcome opportunity to watch it again – or to see it for the first time if you missed it then. This time we will be fortunate in having additional footage shot by Aith Lifeboat crew member Nick McCaffrey, with local fiddler and Lerwick Lifeboat member Maggie Adamson accompanying, along with guitarist Arthur Nicolson.
“It was an absolute privilege to host
the premiere of Launch! at Mareel and to screen this brilliantly crafted, important and moving film to a Shetland audience. The RNLI is very much embedded in our community... and the film’s resonance with the audience
was tangible.”
- Jenny Leask, Mareel Cinema Programmer
