SCREEN
CONTENTS
• Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p3 • Meet the Screen Team . . . . . . . . p4 • Scottish Première Screening �������p5 • Guest Films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p6 • Look North . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p14 • Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p20 • Family Films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p22 • Home Made . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p30 • Classic Screening . . . . . . . . . . p32 • Education & Outreach . . . . . . . p34
Booking Mareel, Lerwick, Shetland ZE1 0WQ 01595 745500 shetlandarts.org
• Preview Screening . . . . . . . . . p35 • Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p36 • Fun Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p38
Venues Mareel, Lerwick Bigton Hall, Bigton
Funders
Skeld Hall, Skeld
Partners Shetland Islands Council
Shetland Moving Image Archive
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WELCOME
Screen Card Get unlimited access to all films during Screenplay and other benefits with a Screen Card.
Welcome to Screenplay 2018, Shetland Arts’ twelfth annual film festival. With seventeen feature films, seven great documentaries and lots of short films to see we are in for a hectic ten days of viewing, workshopping and other fun things - if you really try you can get to see everything! Our deepest gratitude, as ever, goes to the individuals, organisations and partners that support us financially, morally and practically; you know this wouldn’t happen without you. We have some wonderful guests visiting, including the man behind Wallace and Gromit, Nick Park, the massively talented and versatile Timothy Spall, and the creators of dark British comedy Alice Lowe and Steve Oram. We are also proud to be hosting Chilean film maker Felipe Bustos Sierra. Returning to Shetland after over thirty years is Rosie Gibson for a special screening of The Work They Say Is Mine, the drama-documentary she made for Channel 4 about women’s work in Shetland. As usual we have a significant Look North strand in the programme, with five films from Norway, Iceland and Arctic Canada. In this, The Year of Young People, we have a range of films for families and young audiences, some of them featuring remarkable young folk and the dedicated teachers, parents and carers who support them. There are short films in a range of genres from our own Shetland film makers in the Home Made sections, ranging from absolute beginners to the more experienced - these are always some of the most popular events at the festival.
£110 from www.shetlandarts.org Mareel or 01595 745500
Certification Not all the films shown during Screenplay have a BBFC certificate, as they are either previews or have not been released in the UK. We have assessed those films for ageappropriateness and have assigned a certificate, under an agreement with Shetland Islands Council.
No Trailers Please note that all films start at the scheduled screening time, without the usual adverts and trailers. You may get an occasional short film ‘bonus’ but the times shown will include this.
We have a UK première (The Etruscan Smile), previews (including the last performance of the late, great Harry Dean Stanton in Lucky) and films to make you laugh (Rob Brydon in Swimming With Men), cry (Nae Pasaran) and both at the same time (Tongue Cutters). Come and see them all for a full emotional workout! As well as our over-the-top festival quiz we will be hosting a Film Quiz for beginners – get a team together and have a go. To get the festival ball rolling you are invited to get your Stone Age gladrags on, or your dinosaur costume (we know you’re out there!) and join us for the opening Walk Down from the Market Cross to Mareel on the first Saturday morning. Release your inner extrovert! And have a great festival. Mark Kermode, Linda Ruth Williams & Kathy Hubbard. This year’s festival is dedicated to the memory of Alex Cluness (February 7th 1969 – January 20th 2018), who created Screenplay twelve years ago.
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MEET THE SCREEN TEAM
Mark Kermode is chief film critic for The Observer, and co-presenter of Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review on BBC Radio 5Live. He is also resident film critic for The Film Review on the BBC News Channel, and author of several books on film criticism. His new book - How Does It Feel? A Life of Musical Misadventures (Orion) - tells the story of his life in bands, and is published in September 2018. He plays in rocking fourpiece The Dodge Brothers, who include live accompaniment to silent films with pianist Neil Brand in their repertoire.
Linda Ruth Williams has had a great first year as Professor of Film at Exeter University, having taught previously at Southampton University. Her work on the AHRC project Calling the Shots: Women in UK Film Culture 2000-2015 saw her, amongst other things, delivering reports on gender in the film industry at Cannes and giving the closing keynote at the Trailblazing Women conference in 2018. Her latest book, Steven Spielberg’s Children, will be out soon, and she has a Visiting Fellowship at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in 2019 to help her work on her next project, on British women writer-directors.
Kathy Hubbard was formerly Head of Development at Shetland Arts. She retired in 2014 but carries on as Shetland’s Screenplay Festival Director, co-curating the programme with Mark Kermode and Linda Ruth Williams. She loves documentaries, films for young audiences, is a short-film addict, and looks forward every year to seeing the work of Shetland film-makers on the big screen. As a board member of Regional Screen Scotland she is committed to bringing the best of national and international cinema to remote and rural communities. It is said that when she does retire, her ghost will probably haunt the corridors of Mareel, so Shetland Arts will never really be rid of her.
After co-founding the youth film-making group Maddrim Media, Cara McDiarmid has spent the last 12 years working on Screenplay in many different guises, as well as developing and promoting arts opportunities in Shetland through her role at Shetland Arts. She is so happy to be supporting the amazing volunteer force at Screenplay this year as Volunteer Co-ordinator. As a documentary lover she is thrilled at the varied selection of documentaries at this year’s festival - but she’s most excited to see the work of Shetland film-makers on the big screen!
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SCOTTISH PREMIÈRE SCREENING
The Etruscan Smile Germany | 2018 | 108m | 12A Dirs. Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis Starring: Brian Cox, Thora Birch, Roseanna Arquette, Tim Matheson Thu 30 Aug
20:00
Screen 1
£10 / £8
The Etruscan Smile is the first of two films showing at the festival which deals with the idea of an old man having to face up to the inevitability of his impending death. Brian Cox makes a welcome return to Screenplay playing Rory MacNeil, a rugged old Scotsman who reluctantly leaves his beloved Hebridean island and travels to San Francisco to seek medical treatment. Moving in with his estranged son, Rory sees his life transformed through bonding with his baby grandson, Jamie. The film is based on the bestselling book La Sonrisa Etrusca by Jose Louis Sampedro, with the story being transposed to Scotland and the United States. The title refers to the famous terracotta statues that bear a mysterious smile even in their afterlife, inspiring the idea that there can be a happy death.
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GUEST FILMS
The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit UK | 2005 | 90m + 5m (short) + 30m Q&A | U Dirs. Steve Box, Nick Park Voiced by: Peter Sallis, Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes Sat 1 Sep
11:15
Screen 1
£11 / £9
With only days to go before the village annual Giant Vegetable Competition, business is booming for Wallace and Gromit’s humane pest-control company, ‘Anti-Pesto’. But running such a business turns out to have its drawbacks as their West Wallaby Street home fills to the brim with captive rabbits. Suddenly, a huge, mysterious, veg-ravaging “beast” begins attacking the town’s sacred vegetable plots at night, and the competition hostess, Lady Tottington, commissions Anti-Pesto to catch it and save the day. Lying in wait, however, is Lady Tottington’s snobby suitor, Victor Quartermaine, who’d rather shoot the beast and secure the position of local hero - not to mention Lady Tottingon’s hand in marriage. With the fate of the competition in the balance, Lady Tottington
is eventually forced to allow Victor to hunt down the vegetable-chomping marauder. Little does she know that Victor’s real intent could have dire consequences for her... and for our two heroes.
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GUEST FILMS Nick Park (Director/Producer) is a four time Academy Award® winner. Nick became interested in animation as a child and started making films in his parents’ attic at the age of 13. He went on to earn a BA in Communication Arts at Sheffield Art School in 1980, before moving on to the National Film & Television School. At the NFTS Park began working on A Grand Day Out, marking the introduction of Wallace & Gromit. In February 1985 he joined Aardman where he completed the film. He then directed Creature Comforts for Aardman’s Lip Synch series for Channel 4 Television. In 1990 both Creature Comforts and A Grand Day Out were nominated for the Academy Award® - Best Animated Short film giving Park the rare distinction of having two films nominated in the same category in the same year; Creature Comforts won. Both films were also nominated for a BAFTA; this time A Grand Day Out was the winner. Park won his second Academy Award® and second BAFTA for The Wrong Trousers and his third Oscar and BAFTA for A Close Shave, both starring the much loved duo. In 1996, Park and Aardman were honoured with a BAFTA Special Award for Original Contribution to Television. In 1997, Park was awarded a CBE. In June 2000, Park’s first feature film Chicken Run, co-directed with Peter Lord, was released worldwide to critical acclaim and box office success. In 2005 the first Wallace and Gromit feature film The Curse of the Were-Rabbit was released worldwide. A Matter of Loaf and Death was broadcast on BBC One on Christmas Day 2008 to a record beating 16.15M viewers. It won the BAFTA for Best Short Animation and in the US, the Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject.
Plus: Creature Comforts (short) UK | 1989 | 5m | U Dir. Nick Park Beautifully realised plasticine animation where animals talk about their accommodation in the zoo. Funny and poignant all at once, an Aardman masterpiece. © Aardman Animations, Ltd.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Nick Park.
During the summer of 2013, Nick Park introduced over 80 giant Gromit sculptures to the streets of Bristol. The Gromit Unleashed trail was on one of the highest-profile charity arts-trails the country has ever seen. After 10 weeks the trail culminated in an auction which raised £2.35M for Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Appeal and Bristol’s Children’s Hospital. Gromit Unleashed 2 was launched at the beginning of July 2018 and is on the streets of Bristol for the summer. Park’s latest feature film Early Man with film partner STUDIOCANAL had a global theatrical release early in 2018.
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GUEST FILMS
Stanley, A Man Of Variety UK | 2016 | 85m + 30m Q&A | 15 Dir. Stephen Cookson Starring: Timothy Spall Sat 1 Sep
15:15
Screen 1
£11 / £9
Passionately convinced of his innocence, Stanley, a forgotten and irrelevant nobody, approaches his fifteenth year incarcerated in a Victorian psychiatric prison where he appears to be the last inmate. Stanley cleans and polishes the grim gothic interior as he has done as a “trustie” for many years. The drudgery of this task has always been underpinned with the painful desire to honour a solemn promise he made to himself to visit the grave of his only daughter on the 15th anniversary of her death. As this deadline approaches he finds his situation increasingly unbearable. His one consolation is the ‘trusted inmates’ privilege of being allowed to watch and rewatch the video film section of his prized collection of show business memorabilia on an old television set in his cell. When this privilege is inexplicably withdrawn, it induces a physical and mental seizure and sets him off on a bizarre unsettling nightmarish journey through his life. This forces him to face up to his unusual and damaging upbringing and to his denied culpability in his own guilt. A one-man virtuoso performance by Timothy Spall. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with Timothy Spall. Timothy Spall OBE is one of Britain’s best-loved and most talented character actors. He received wide acclaim for his role as J.M.W. Turner in Mike Leigh¹s Mr. Turner (2014), for which he won seven international awards, including the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor Award. He trained at the National Youth Theatre and RADA and began his acting career in the theatre, with seasons at Birmingham Rep and the RSC. Timothy is perhaps best known for his role as Peter Pettigrew in the Harry Potter film series, and his diverse film work includes The King’s Speech, The Damned United, Sweeney Todd: The Demon
Barber of Fleet Street, Pierrepoint, All Or Nothing, Lucky Break, Topsy Turvy and Secrets and Lies. TV credits include Fungus the Bogeyman, The Enfield Haunting, Blandings, Oliver Twist, The Street, Bodily Harm, Auf Wiedersehen Pet, Perfect Strangers, Shooting the Past, Our Mutual Friend and his own documentary Timothy Spall: Somewhere at Sea. Other recent screen credits include Sally Potter’s The Party, Phillip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams for Channel 4, Denial with Rachel Weisz and Tom Wilkinson, Nick Hamm’s The Journey and Finding your Feet with Imelda Staunton and Celia Imrie. Upcoming releases include Mrs Lowry and Son, The Corrupted, The Changeover and Hatton Garden for ITV. Timothy is currently shooting Stephen Poliakoff’s Summer of Rockets, leading a cast that includes Toby Jones and Keeley Hawes.
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GUEST FILMS
Mr. Turner
Taniel
UK | 2014 | 150m | 12A
UK | 2018 | 20m + 20m Q&A | 15 | Subtitled
Dir. Mike Leigh Starring: Timothy Spall, Paul Jesson, Dorothy Atkinson
Dir. Garo Berberian Starring: Sean Bean Music by Philip Glass, Michael Nyman, jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan
Mon 27 Aug Wed 29 Aug
Sat 1 Sep
12:30 20:30
Screen 2 £5 Screen 1 £9 / £7.50
Mr. Turner explores the last quarter century of the great if eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851). Profoundly affected by the death of his father, loved by a housekeeper he takes for granted and occasionally exploits sexually, he forms a close relationship with a seaside landlady with whom he eventually lives incognito in Chelsea. Throughout this, he travels, paints, stays with the country aristocracy, visits brothels, is a popular if anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts, has himself strapped to the mast of a ship so that he can paint a snowstorm, and is both celebrated and reviled by the public and by royalty. “A magnificent growling-bear performance by Timothy Spall... there are plenty of bursts of raucous laughter, most of them generated by Spall, whose ear for a well-turned line is as keen as his character’s eye for colourful detail.” Mark Kermode (The Guardian) To see Timothy Spall in person, be sure to book Stanley, A Man of Variety (see opposite).
14:00
Screen 1
Free
Short film set in Constantinople, April 24 1915. As the British prepare their landings in nearby Gallipoli, hundreds of arrest warrants are issued for Armenian intellectuals across the city. The arrival of police at poet Taniel Varoujan’s door will shatter his home, destroy his work and his family will never see him again. Respected poet and teacher, loving father and husband, Varoujan, at 31, foresaw the looming darkness that was approaching. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the film maker, Garo Berberian. Director Garo Berberian was born in Chiswick, London, and graduated from Berkshire School of Art and Design with a merit in Photography, also winning Fuji’s student street photography award. He then moved into Broadcast Television, rising up through the ranks from editor to director, working on numerous awardwinning television, documentary, commercial and hard hitting viral campaigns.
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GUEST FILMS
Sightseers UK | 2012 | 90m + 30m Q&A | 15 Dir. Ben Wheatley Starring: Alice Lowe, Steve Oram, Kenneth Hadley Fri 31 Aug
20:15
Screen 1
£11 / £9
Failed writer Chris wants to show his downtrodden girlfriend Tina his world, and whisks her away from her domineering mother in his caravan, to places as exciting as the Crich Tramway Village and The Keswick Pencil Museum. All of which sounds harmless enough, until you realise that they are leaving a trail of corpses in their wake as they make their way across the National Trust heritage sites of England. Chris has homicidal feelings about litterbugs, whilst Tina is simply … homicidal. This is a gloriously black comedy from director Ben Wheatley (Free Fire 2016, High Rise 2015, Kill List 2011), written by Oram, Lowe and Wheatley’s partner Amy Jump. Lowe and Oram excel as the utterly sociopathic couple (you will laugh out loud whilst simultaneously covering your eyes), and the dialogue is, appropriately, as sharp as a razor. “...they traipse across the North with an insatiable air of petty grievance, and the stony-faced amorality to back
it up. Threatening to call the National Trust on them isn’t much use, especially once you’ve had your skull caved in or found yourself tipped off a cliff... If nothing else, it’ll make you think twice about dropping a Cornetto wrapper on any English heritage site – or not without checking over your shoulder first.” Tim Robey (The Telegraph). The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Alice Lowe and Steve Oram. Steve Oram is the co-writer and co-star of Sightseers, which won BIFA and Critic’s Circle Awards for Best Screenplay. Steve’s self-penned directorial debut Aaaaaaaah!, a dystopian comedy feature, was released in 2015 to great critical acclaim. Steve has appeared in numerous television and film projects including leading roles in the recent Netflix drama The End Of The F***ing World, BBC drama Moorside and Irish horror film A Dark Song. Steve has a background in live comedy and has toured with Steve Coogan. He also regularly performs his live show Club Fantastico in London. His film acting credits include Cuban Fury (2014), Paddington (2014) and The World’s End (2013). He has also worked extensively in television, including acting in Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy (2014), and The Mighty Boosh (2007).
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GUEST FILMS
Prevenge UK | 2016 | 90m + 30m Q&A | 15 Dir. Alice Lowe Starring: Alice Lowe, Dan Renton Skinner, Jo Hartley Sat 1 Sep
20:00
Screen 1
£11 / £9
A grisly revenge fantasy; widow Ruth is seven months pregnant when, believing herself to be guided by her unborn baby, she embarks on a homicidal rampage, dispatching anyone who stands in her way. Preying on a range of victims from a perverted pet shop owner to a posh businesswoman, Ruth steadfastly ignores the banalities of her relentlessly positive midwife whilst exacting bloody revenge in true ‘grand Guignol’ style – not for the faint-hearted! “Alice Lowe, the co-creator and star of Ben Wheatley’s savage 2012 black comedy Sightseers, has cooked up an outrageous antenatal shocker that brings together murder, madness and maternity in a fever dream of fear and farce. A tale of bloody revenge enacted by a pregnant woman at the apparent behest of her unborn child, Prevenge is an audacious directorial feature debut for Lowe that leaves strange stretch marks on both comedy and horror, the genres from which it was born.” Mark Kermode (The Guardian) The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Alice Lowe. Alice Lowe is an actor/writer/director. She made her directorial debut with Prevenge when she was 7-8 months pregnant with her first child. Her screenwriting debut was Sightseers, in which she also starred as Tina. She has starred in several film and television shows, working with Edgar Wright, Ben Wheatley and Paul King in projects such as Paddington and Hot Fuzz. As part of Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace she won a Perrier Award, and also starred in the C4 cult hit series of the same name as Dr Liz Asher. She had three series of Alice’s Wunderland for BBC Radio 4. She is developing her new film Timestalker with Western Edge Pictures.
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GUEST FILMS
The Work They Say Is Mine UK | 1985 | 50m + 40m Q&A | U Music by Anne Sinclair, Marie Watt, Mary White, Evelyn Garrick Sun 26 Aug Thu 30 Aug
14:00 19:30
Screen 1 Bigton Hall
£8 / £6 £7 / £5
When it was pointed out to Rosie Gibson that the frieze featuring Shetland work through the centuries (formerly hanging in the old Anderson High School) featured no women at all, it sparked an idea for a film. Originally made for Channel 4’s People to People Series, The Work They Say Is Mine is an extraordinary account of what women’s work in Shetland used to be, and what it might become. The film includes terrific footage featuring Maureen Burke, Rosemary Inkster, Barbara Moncrieff, Annie Robertson, Kitty Bairnson, Minnie Macdonald, Laura Malcolmson, Jeannie Hardie, Eileen Nicolson, Ina Ritchie, Lollie Graham, Mike Hannah, Neil Anderson and many others. “I was tired but I wouldn’t give in.” Kitty Bairnson There will be a Q&A with Rosie Gibson and some of the Shetland folk who appear in the film after the screening, chaired by BBC Radio Shetland’s Jane Moncrieff. These screenings are promoted in conjunction with The Shetland Moving Image Archive project, which was set up to establish a film archive in Shetland, to preserve and promote Shetland’s film heritage. Rosie Gibson started out as a community artist, before moving to Shetland to work as a post woman, which was her way in to making The Work They Say Is Mine in the mid 1980s. She continued making films with Sonya MacAngus and Dianne Barry and their production company 20th Century Vixen, including Getting Over the Fear for Scottish Women’s Aid. She currently teaches drawing classes in Inverkeithing and is helping develop an Artist Residency Programme with the Institute of Arts and Ideas.
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GUEST FILMS
Nae Pasaran UK/Chile | 2017 | 96m + 30m Q&A | 12A | Some subtitles Director/Producer: Felipe Bustos Sierra Sun 26 Aug
19:30
Screen 1
£9 / £7.50
1974, Scotland. Bob Fulton, an East Kilbride Rolls-Royce engine inspector, returns to his section, upset and anxious. He’s just told his colleagues that a Chilean Air Force jet engine has arrived in the factory for maintenance and he’s refusing to let it go through, in protest against the recent military coup of General Pinochet. He’s seen the images of people packed into football stadiums and the Chilean Air Force jets bombing Santiago, and now one of the engines from those very same planes is right there, awaiting inspection. He can see his supervisors approaching, he knows he’s about to be fired yet he feels a responsibility … With nowhere else to go for maintenance, the workers’ action could potentially be devastating for the Chilean Air Force. Nae Pasaran is the painstakingly-documented and emotional account of the impact of the workers’ action, and it also tells the story of some of the Chileans directly affected.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director, Felipe Bustos Sierra. Shetland Arts is grateful to UNISON and to Amnesty International Shetland for their support of this event. Felipe Bustos Sierra is a Chilean-Belgian producer/ director based in Scotland. He founded Debasers Filums in Edinburgh in 2010, through which he has directed and produced three award-winning short films. Nae Pasaran was commissioned as a short film through the Scottish Documentary Institute’s Bridging the Gap scheme for emerging film-makers. He is an alumni of the Berlinale Talent Campus 2012 and the EIFF Talent Lab and a member of Eurodoc and the Independent Film Programme (IFP).
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LOOK NORTH
Tongue Cutters (Tungeskjærerne) Norway | 2017 | 85m | PG | Subtitled Dir. Solveig Melkeraaen Starring: Tobias Evensen, Ylva Melkeraaen Lundell Sat 25 Aug Tue 28 Aug Fri 31 Aug Sun 2 Sep
15:30 19:00 13:30 18:00
Screen Screen Screen Screen
2 £9 / £7.50 1 £5 1 £6.50 / £5 1 £9 / £7.50
Documentary. Cod tongues are considered by some to be a delicacy, exported around the world to countries like China and Japan. But in Northern Norway they are simply everyday food when in season. The children who cut them start from the age of 6, and can earn a lot of money during a winter season. This job has always been reserved for the children - they even have their own cod tongue cutting championship every February. City girl Ylva (9) from Oslo lives far away from cod heads, sharp knives, fish blood and intestines, but this winter she will be spending her vacation up in the North where 10 year old Tobias will be teaching her how to cut tongues like her mother did before her. (Health and Safety personnel, look away now...). Away from the fish factory they are just like any other children; they play, go to parties with their pals, and speak frankly and intelligently about the trials, tribulations and joys of family life and growing up. A funny, sometimes hair-raising but always affectionate look at a very different kind of childhood, you will be captivated by the two charming leads. A quintessential Screenplay Look North film!
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LOOK NORTH
Searchers (Maliglutit) Canada | 2016 | 95m | 15 | Subtitled Dir. Zacharias Kunuk, Natar Ungalaaq Starring: Benjamin Kunuk, Karen Ivalu, Jonah Qunaq Sat 25 Aug Mon 27 Aug Thu 30 Aug
18:30 20:30 20:15
Screen 1 £9 / £7.50 Screen 1 £5 Screen 2 £9 / £7.50
An epic tale of revenge set in the icy Arctic in the 1930s, this film, by the director of Atanarjuat: the Fast Runner (2001) is inspired by the iconic John Ford film The Searchers. An Inuit woman and her daughter are kidnapped by three Inuit men, while her husband and son are away. The husband sets out on a journey to find his family and punish the perpetrators. The parallels with the John Ford/John Wayne classic are many, but are here imbued with Inuit imagery, landscape and mythology. “There are numerous and many pleasures in Maliglutit... The Inuk cast, which is comprised entirely of non-actors, are impressive and compelling... [and] speaking their native tongue.
The haunting soundtrack by Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq is incredible, adding an often eerie urgency to the tale, and on occasion it reaches a fever pitch intensity that almost belongs in a horror film. An emotionally arduous journey with fierce twists and an unrelenting sense of urgency up until the final, hard-fought frame, Maliglutit is a showpiece from one of Canada’s most gifted filmmakers. There’s so much visual grandeur and muscular poetry from the past that I’m sure John Ford would have loved this film, too.” Shane Scott-Travis (A Taste of Cinema). Screening as part of our Look North strand, it doesn’t get much more ‘north’ than this.
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LOOK NORTH
The Swan (Svanurinn) Out Of Thin Air Iceland | 2017 | 91m | 15 | Subtitled
UK | 2017 | 85m | 15 Dir. Dylan Howitt
Dir. Ása Helga Hjörleifsdótirr Starring: Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson, Thor Kristjansson, Gríma Valsdóttir Sun 26 Aug Tue 28 Aug Thu 30 Aug Sat 1 Sep
16:15 21:00 15:30 18:00
Screen Screen Screen Screen
1 1 1 1
£9 / £7.50 £5 £6.50 / £5 £9 / £7.50
The film closely follows Sól, a nine-year-old girl who is caught shoplifting. As punishment, her mother sends her to spend the summer with her estranged relatives. The practice of having children mature while working on farms is a common Icelandic tradition, but here the rite-of-passage appears as a punishment, and Sól feels like she is being truly punished. Finding it difficult to communicate with her aunt and uncle, she confides in the farmhand Jón, a mysterious man battling his own inner demons. Things change when Sól’s cousin Ásta returns home from University; the drama between Ásta and Jón’s strained relationship is observed by the confused Sól. Not quite sure what she is witnessing or feeling, she envies Ásta and her closeness to Jón, and in doing so learns a lot about love, life and death.
Mon 27 Aug Tue 28 Aug Wed 29 Aug
17:45 20:30 14:00
Screen 2 Screen 2 Screen 2
£5 £5 £6.50 / £5
Set within the stark Icelandic landscape, this documentary examines the 1976 police investigation into the disappearance of two men in the early 1970s. Crime was rare in Iceland then, murder rarer still. When the two men disappear under suspicious circumstances, foul play is suspected. The country demands a resolution. Police launch the biggest criminal investigation Iceland has ever seen. A youthful gang of petty criminals was implicated and convicted. Only after they got out of jail were questions raised as to the accuracy of the convictions, with allegations made that their confessions were, in effect, tortured out of them. Six people confessed to two violent murders and were sent to prison. But did they actually do it? This documentary revisits the case but resolution proves hard to come by.
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LOOK NORTH
Under The Tree (Undir trénu) Iceland | 2017 | 90m | 15 | Subtitled Dir. Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson Starring: Steinþór Hróar Steinþórsson, Edda Björgvinsdóttir, Sigurður Sigurjónsson Sun 26 Aug Tue 28 Aug Wed 29 Aug Fri 31 Aug Sun 2 Sep
20:00 14:00 21:00 14:15 13:00
Screen Screen Screen Screen Screen
2 1 2 2 2
£9 / £7.50 £5 £9 / £7.50 £6.50 / £5 £9 / £7.50
Pitch black comedy from Iceland. When Baldvin and Inga’s next door neighbours complain that a tree in their backyard casts a shadow over their sundeck, what starts off as a typical spat between neighbours in the suburbs unexpectedly and violently spirals out of control. The already cool relationship between grieving Inga and put-upon husband Baldvin (the proud owners of the area’s only tree) and their neighbours, amateur marksman Konrad and his new, much younger wife, the athletic Eybjorg is exacerbated by the shadows cast by Inga’s beloved tree. The sudden return of Inga’s son, Atli, whose wife has thrown him out, only complicates the situation, provoking a series of increasingly absurd and outrageous tit-for-tat actions and retaliations.
“In films like Either Way (remade in the US by David Gordon Green) Sigurðsson skillfully explored the foibles of Icelandic life, slacker division. But with Under the Tree he delivers his most caustic, comprehensive look at contemporary culture, taking on everything from lost traditions (Atli removes his daughter from school for a quasi-nostalgic camping trip, but time only permits an excursion to the lawn outside IKEA) to housing co-ops. Absurdly hilarious and psychologically astute, Under the Tree probes the way proximity heightens resentment and malice, suggesting a fusion between Norman McLaren’s Neighbours, the sociological observations of Life in a Fishbowl, and the deadpan humour and insight of Rams.” Steve Gravestock (Toronto International Film Festival).
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LOOK NORTH
This Island Life
In The Blood
Wulver
(Anns An Fhuil)
12m | PG Dir. Chiara Passarini
6m | PG Dir. Zoe Paterson Macinnes Anns an Fhuil is Scottish Gaelic for In the Blood. The film focuses on the fishermen on Bernera, an island off Lewis. The film shows the passion these tough, down to earth men have for their dangerous job, and the sense of place they feel at sea. Anns an Fhuil was shown throughout the Hebrides as part of the Hebrides International Film festival, and screened in Zoe’s local village hall in association with the Hebrides pop-up Cinema. Zoe Paterson Macinnes is a film-maker from the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides. Zoe studied a BA Hons in Film at Edinburgh Napier University, from 2014-2018. Throughout her time at University, she has directed her own documentary shorts, Anns an Fhuil, and Cianalas. Zoe’s work is mainly influenced by her connection with the Hebrides.
Chiara goes in search of the mythical ‘wulver’ on the island of Unst in Shetland, but ends up finding out more about the lives, literature and beliefs of some of the island residents. Chiara Passarini is a 25 year-old film-maker, designer and nature lover who comes from a small town between Venice and the mountains, in the north-east of Italy. Her passion for visual communication led her to gain a BA in Design and Art and later on, an MSc in Film-making and Media Arts at the University of Glasgow. During these past years, she has worked within a diverse range of media projects in Italy, Germany and in Scotland. She loves working with people from all over the world and discovering the history and the mythology of the places she visits, trying to creatively connect with the local communities and their folklore, rather than just being a detached visitor.
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LOOK NORTH Sat 25 Aug Wed 29 Aug
17:00 15:45
Screen 1 Screen 1
£6.50 / £5 £6.50 / £5
Screenplay is always happy to show work by film students and graduates. The following four films take a varied look at island living, as seen from the college window.
Dougie’s Day
The Travellers’ Kin
10m | PG Dir. Roberto Getto
15m | PG Dir. Keiss Marshall Producer: Eve Christie
A chance to spend the day with Dougie Coutts from Bressay, as he attends to his chores around the croft and muses on life in retirement. Roberto made this relaxed observational documentary as part of his current degree course.
The Travellers’ Kin is a short documentary exploring the lives of the Halberts, a crofting family living in an old coach on the Isle of Lewis. With four children and an adoration for rustic living, they have enjoyed and endured a life seen by few.
Roberto Getto was born in Ushuaia, Patagonia and has lived in Shetland since 2000. He works mostly in illustration and comics and was one third of screen print collective Co-lab between 2008 and 2011. Currently halfway through the UHI’s film-making degree he is now concentrating on developing his visual story telling.
Keiss Marshall is an up and coming young director living in Glasgow. She spent a large portion of her childhood on the Isle of Mull, later moving to Norway, and then returning to Scotland just a few years ago. She understands the true meaning of island life and her love of it shines through her work. Eve Christie is a director/producer studying Television in Glasgow. Her passion lies in storytelling by means of exploring social and political issues. Having spent her entire life in Shetland, Eve felt a very personal connection to The Travellers’ Kin and added an important islander perspective.
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SCHEDULE FRIDAY 24 AUGUST 19:30 - 21:30 Best In Show Skeld Hall £7 / £5 p34 SATURDAY 25 AUGUST 10:30 - 11:00 The Walk Down Market Cross Free p38 11:15 - 12:51 The Breadwinner Screen 2 £5 p24 11:30 - 13:02 Early Man Screen 1 £5 p23 13:30 - 14:56 STEP Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p24 14:00 - 17:00 Claymation Creations Workshop Mareel Auditorium £20 / £17 p36 14:00 - 15:32 Alfie, The Little Werewolf Screen 1 £6.50 / £5 p28 15:30 - 16:57 Tongue Cutters Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p14 16:00 - 16:32 A Grand Day Out Screen 1 Free p22 17:00 - 17:45 This Island Life Screen 1 £6.50 / £5 p18 18:15 - 20:15 Psycho Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p32 18:30 - 20:07 Searchers Screen 1 £9 / £7.50 p15 20:45 - 22:23 Swimming With Men Screen 1 £9 / £7.50 p29 21:00 - 23:00 78/52 + Q&A Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p33 SUNDAY 26 AUGUST 11:00 - 16:00 Poster Giveaway Mareel Auditorium Free p38 11:00 - 12:14 Revolting Rhymes Screen 1 £5 p26 11:15 - 13:13 Wonderstruck Screen 2 £5 p26 12:45 - 13:17 The Wrong Trousers Screen 1 Free p22 13:45 - 14:32 Shorts For Wee Ones Screen 2 £5 p27 14:00 - 15:30 The Work They Say Is Mine + Q&A Screen 1 £8 / £6 p12 15:00 - 15:52 Shorts For Middle Ones Screen 2 £5 p27 16:15 - 17:47 The Swan Screen 1 £9 / £7.50 p16 16:30 - 17:02 A Close Shave Screen 2 Free p22 17:30 - 19:06 The Breadwinner Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p24 19:30 - 21:38 Nae Pasaran + Q&A Screen 1 £9 / £7.50 p13 20:00 - 21:32 Under The Tree Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p17 MONDAY 27 AUGUST 12:30 - 15:02 Mr. Turner Screen 2 £5 p9 15:30 - 16:02 A Close Shave Screen 1 Free p22 16:15 - 16:47 Grand Day Out Screen 2 Free p22 16:30 - 17:56 STEP Screen 1 £5 p24 17:45 - 19:12 Out Of Thin Air Screen 2 £5 p16 18:30 - 20:08 Swimming With Men Screen 1 £5 p29 20:15 - 21:42 Making The Grade Screen 2 £5 p25 20:30 - 22:07 Searchers Screen 1 £5 p15 TUESDAY 28 AUGUST 13:00 - 14:38 Swimming With Men Screen 2 £5 p29 14:00 - 15:32 Under The Tree Screen 1 £5 p17 15:15 - 15:47 The Wrong Trousers Screen 2 Free p22 16:15 - 17:42 Making The Grade Screen 2 £5 p25 16:30 - 18:28 Wonderstruck Screen 1 £5 p26 18:30 - 20:00 Bodies On The Beach Screen 2 Free p37 19:00 - 20:27 Tongue Cutters Screen 1 £5 p14 20:30 - 21:57 Out Of Thin Air Screen 2 £5 p16 21:00 - 22:33 The Swan Screen 1 £5 p16 WEDNESDAY 29 AUGUST 14:00 - 15:27 Out Of Thin Air Screen 2 £6.50 / £5 p16 15:45 - 16:30 This Island Life Screen 1 £6.50 / £5 p18 16:00 - 16:32 A Close Shave Screen 2 Free p22 17:00 - 17:52 Shorts For Middle Ones Screen 1 £5 p27 17:15 - 18:30 Home Made Experimental + Q&A Screen 2 £7 / £5 p31 • Scottish Première Screening
• Guest Films
• Look North
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• Family Films
• Home Made
SCHEDULE WEDNESDAY 29 AUGUST 18:30 - 20:08 Swimming With Men Screen 1 £9 / £7.50 p29 19:00 - 20:36 The Breadwinner Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p24 19:30 - 22:30 Screenplay Film Quiz Auditorium £15 (6 per team) p39 20:30 - 23:00 Mr. Turner Screen 1 £9 / £7.50 p9 21:00 - 22:32 Under The Tree Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p17 THURSDAY 30 AUGUST 12:45 - 14:17 Early Man Screen 1 £6.50 / £5 p23 13:00 - 14:27 Making The Grade Screen 2 £6.50 / £5 p25 15:00 - 15:32 A Grand Day Out Screen 2 Free p22 15:30 - 17:03 The Swan Screen 1 £6.50 / £5 p16 16:30 - 17:22 Shorts For Middle Ones Screen 2 £5 p27 17:30 - 18:45 Writing Comedy For The Screen Screen 1 £10 / £8 p36 18:00 - 19:26 STEP Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p24 19:30 - 21:00 The Work They Say Is Mine + Q&A Bigton Hall £7 / £5 p12 20:00 - 22:20 The Etruscan Smile Screen 1 £10 / £8 p5 20:15 - 21:47 Searchers Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p15 FRIDAY 31 AUGUST 13:00 - 13:47 Shorts For Wee Ones Screen 2 £5 p27 13:30 - 14:57 Tongue Cutters Screen 1 £6.50 / £5 p14 14:15 - 15:47 Under The Tree Screen 2 £6.50 / £5 p17 16:00 - 16:32 The Wrong Trousers Screen 1 Free p22 16:15 - 17:43 Making The Grade Screen 2 £6.50 / £5 p25 17:30 - 19:30 Home Made 0-4 Screen 1 £7 / £5 p30 18:15 - 19:50 The Breadwinner Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p24 20:15 - 22:15 Sightseers + Q&A Screen 1 £11 / £9 p10 20:30 - 22:28 Wonderstruck Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p26 21:00 - 1:00 Mixology At Mareel Mareel Café Bar Free p38 SATURDAY 1 SEPTEMBER 10:45 - 12:21 The Breadwinner Screen 2 £5 p24 11:15 - 13:25 The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit + Q&A Screen 1 £11 / £9 p6 13:00 - 13:52 Shorts For Middle Ones Screen 2 £5 p27 13:45 - 15:00 How Does It Feel? Mareel Auditorium £11 / £9 p37 14:00 - 14:45 Taniel + Q&A Screen 1 Free p9 14:30 - 16:28 Wonderstruck Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p26 15:15 - 17:15 Stanley, A Man Of Variety + Q&A Screen 1 £11 / £9 p8 17:00 - 18:26 STEP Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p24 18:00 - 19:33 The Swan Screen 1 £9 / £7.50 p16 19:00 - 20:27 Making The Grade Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p25 20:00 - 22:00 Prevenge + Q&A Screen 1 £11 / £9 p11 21:00 - 22:38 Swimming With Men Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p29 SUNDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 11:00 - 12:14 Revolting Rhymes Screen 2 £5 p26 11:30 - 13:10 Abulele Screen 1 £6.50 / £5 p28 13:00 - 14:32 Under The Tree Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p17 13:45 - 15:00 Home Made Experimental + Q&A Screen 1 £7 / £5 p31 14:30 - 16:00 Beginners Film Quiz Mareel Auditorium £5 (6 per team) p39 15:15 - 17:13 Wonderstruck Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p26 15:30 - 17:30 Psycho Screen 1 £9 / £7.50 p32 16:00 - 18:00 Open Mic At Mareel Mareel Café Bar Free p38 18:00 - 19:27 Tongue Cutters Screen 1 £9 / £7.50 p14 18:15 - 19:46 78/52 Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p33 20:15 - 21:47 Lucky Screen 1 £9 / £7.50 p35 20:30 - 22:08 Swimming With Men Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 p29 • Classic Screening
• Education & Outreach
• Preview Screening
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• Learning
• Fun Stuff
FAMILY FILMS
A Grand Day Out UK | 1989 | 30m | U Dir. Nick Park Voiced by: Peter Sallis Sat 25 Aug Mon 27 Aug Thu 30 Aug
16:00 16:15 15:00
Screen 1 Screen 2 Screen 2
Free Free Free
Wallace and his dog Gromit have run out of cheese – disaster! They decide to go on holiday to the moon (because everyone knows it’s made of cheese), so they build a rocket in their shed. But there are parking attendants everywhere – even in space! The first and much-loved Wallace and Gromit production, and the festival director’s personal favourite. © Aardman Animations, Ltd.
The Wrong Trousers UK | 1993 | 30m | U Dir. Nick Park Voiced by: Peter Sallis Sun 26 Aug Tue 28 Aug Fri 31 Aug
12:45 15:15 16:00
Screen 1 Screen 2 Screen 1
Free Free Free
Wallace’s long-suffering dog Gromit gets two birthday surprises – a pair of robot trousers invented by Wallace (what could possibly go wrong?) and the unwelcome arrival of a mysterious new lodger. Who is the scheming penguin and what is he after? © Aardman Animations, Ltd.
A Close Shave UK | 1995 | 30m | U Dir. Nick Park Voiced by: Peter Sallis, Anne Reid, Justin Fletcher Sun 26 Aug Mon 27 Aug Wed 29 Aug
16:30 15:30 16:00
Screen 2 Screen 1 Screen 2
Free Free Free
Wallace and Gromit are now running a window cleaning business, and Wallace falls in love with one of his customers, wool shop owner Wendolene. But sheep are going missing, and Gromit is blamed and jailed. As usual it’s down to Gromit (assisted by the sheep) to dig his useless owner out of the mess Wallace soon finds himself in. © Aardman Animations, Ltd.
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FAMILY FILMS
Early Man UK | 2018 | 90m | PG Dir. Nick Park Voiced by: Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hiddleston, Maisie Williams, Nick Park Sat 25 Aug Thu 30 Aug
11:30 12:45
Screen 1 £5 Screen 1 £6.50 / £5
To celebrate the fact that Nick Park will be coming to Screenplay later in the week we present this ‘family special’ film to open the festival at Mareel. Set at the dawn of time, when prehistoric creatures and woolly mammoths roamed the earth, Early Man tells the story of Dug, along with his sidekick Hognob as they unite his tribe against a mighty enemy Lord Nooth and his Bronze Age City to save their home. It also records the historic moment when football was born! Great animated characters, and jokes both verbal and visual flying at you as quickly as you can keep up with them, this is the latest addition to the Aardman Studio stable and barrow-loads of fun. We may even be joined by a few of the dinosaurs from the morning Walk Down...
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FAMILY FILMS
STEP
The Breadwinner
USA | 2017 | 84m | PG
Ireland/Canada/Luxembourg | 2017 | 94m | 12A
Dir. Amanda Lipitz With: Gari McIntyre, Amanda Leonard, Blessin Giraldo, Brooke Giraldo, Cori Grainger
Dir. Nora Twomey Voiced by: Saara Chaudry, Soma Chhaya, Noorin Gulamgaus
Sat 25 Aug Mon 27 Aug Thu 30 Aug Sat 1 Sep
Sat 25 Aug Sun 26 Aug Wed 29 Aug Fri 31 Aug Sat 1 Sep
13:30 16:30 18:00 17:00
Screen Screen Screen Screen
2 £9 / £7.50 1 £5 2 £9 / £7.50 2 £9 / £7.50
The documentary STEP chronicles the senior year of a girls’ high-school step dance team against the background of inner-city Baltimore. These young women find a unity through their team that pushes them to challenge themselves on and off the stage. Empowered by their teachers, teammates, counsellors, coaches and families, they chase their ultimate dreams: to win a step championship and to be accepted into college, many of whom will be the first in their family to do so. “...a soaring, heart-bursting portrait of a group of intrepid Baltimore high school students guaranteed to bring audiences to their feet - whether out of vicarious triumph, overpowering pure emotion, or simply to pay tribute to the superheroines at the core of its infectiously inspiring story”. Ann Hornaday (The Washington Post). Emotionally uplifting, STEP embodies the true meaning of sisterhood through a story of courageous young women worth cheering for, and the truly extraordinary and dedicated teachers who are rooting for them all the way.
11:15 17:30 19:00 18:15 10:45
Screen Screen Screen Screen Screen
2 £5 2 £9 / £7.50 2 £9 / £7.50 2 £9 / £7.50 2 £5
From executive producer Angelina Jolie and the creators of the Academy Award® nominated The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea, comes the highly-anticipated new feature based on Deborah Ellis’ bestselling novel. Parvana is an 11-year-old girl growing up under the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001. When her father is wrongfully arrested, Parvana cuts off her hair and dresses like a boy in order to support her family. Working alongside her friend Shauzia, Parvana discovers a new world of freedom – but also of danger. With undaunted courage, Parvana draws strength from the fantastical stories she invents, as she embarks on a quest to find her father and reunite her family. Equal parts thrilling and enchanting, but also unflinching in its depiction of family tragedy, The Breadwinner is an inspiring and luminously animated tale about the power of stories to sustain hope and carry us through dark times. These screenings supported by Amnesty International Shetland.
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FAMILY FILMS
Making The Grade Éire | 2018 | 85m | U Dir. Ken Wardrop Mon 27 Aug Tue 28 Aug Thu 30 Aug Fri 31 Aug Sat 1 Sep
20:15 16:15 13:00 16:15 19:00
Screen Screen Screen Screen Screen
2 £5 2 £5 2 £6.50 / £5 2 £6.50 / £5 2 £9 / £7.50
Utterly charming and lightsome documentary about piano tutors and their pupils. Teachers and pupils discuss their love of music and the relationships they enjoy with each other, from Grade 1 to Grade 8. Shooting, as ever, without comment or voiceover, Ken introduces us to pupils young and old and to the patient and dedicated tutors who help them on their musical odysseys through the examination process. The emphasis is on the relationships that are forged, and on all the various reasons that people take up the piano. For some it is a duty (parentally imposed, one suspects), for some it’s a hobby, and for others it is a passion. For some it is almost therapeutic, an emotional healing exercise and a place to express
deeply held feelings. As well as some hugely likeable and very articulate school-aged children, there are adult learners from various walks of life: a heavy metal guitarist wants to develop his range, an enthusiastic hobbyist with a ‘tin ear’ is determined to get a tune out of the piano, a divorcee loses her sense of hurt once she begins to play. The tutors also hail from a wide range of backgrounds and have varied teaching styles, but their dedication to their pupils is their uniting factor. Ken Wardrop’s elegant and affectionate films make regular appearances at Screenplay and are always a joy to watch. This one is no exception.
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FAMILY FILMS
Wonderstruck
Revolting Rhymes
USA | 2018 | 116m | PG
UK | 2016 | 74m (including short film) | PG
Dir. Todd Haynes Starring: Oakes Fegley, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams
Dirs. Jakob Schuh and Jan Lachauer Voiced by: Tamsin Greig, Dominic West, Rob Brydon, Rose Leslie
Sun 26 Aug Tue 28 Aug Fri 31 Aug Sat 1 Sep Sun 2 Sep
Sun 26 Aug Sun 2 Sep
11:15 16:30 20:30 14:30 15:15
Screen Screen Screen Screen Screen
2 £5 1 £5 2 £9 / £7.50 2 £9 / £7.50 2 £9 / £7.50
The film tells the interwoven tales of two children separated by fifty years, but united in their longing for a different life. In 1927, Rose searches for the actress whose life she chronicles in her scrapbook. In 1977, A freak accident renders young Ben deaf. His mother (played in flashbacks by Michelle Williams), has died, leaving him virtually an orphan since his father deserted the family years before. Finding his dad is what sends him on a runaway’s odyssey to New York, but he is, without even knowing it, also following in the footsteps of the teenage Rose – also deaf - from 50 years ago. Stumbling through a city filled with challenge and wonder, their stories finally collide at the American Museum of Natural History.
11:00 11:00
Screen 1 Screen 2
£5 £5
Blending together a selection of the most popular fairytales, Roald Dahl adds several twists and turns and a satisfying dash of gruesomeness to create a collection of classic tales with a very modern gloss. Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Snow White, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs all feature, popping up in each other’s tales as narrated by the nicely dastardly Dominic West as The Big Bad Wolf. This was originally produced as two short films for television, so we will play an additional short film treat between the two episodes - don’t start putting on your coats when you see the first set of end credits!
A poignant look at what binds us across the ages, and the importance of the need to belong.
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FAMILY FILMS
Shorts For
Wee Ones
Various countries | 2015–2017 | 45m | U Sun 26 Aug Fri 31 Aug
13:45 13:00
Screen 2 Screen 2
£5 £5
The Discovery Film Festival’s collection of short films have become a popular staple of Screenplay. This year they bring short films from a host of countries including Sweden, France, Russia, Germany and Switzerland. Our old friend The Little Bird is back with a new pal (as well as a sly old fox), we watch a hungry tiger find a tasty meal (and eat his carrots) and we learn how a big old bear finds his singing voice. A little boy has to save an adventurous fish during a water shortage, and someone desperate to go to sleep learns that there is music all around – whether he likes it or not! All films are in English/dialogue-free (except for one with one word of German - and it’s very easy to understand!). These magical tales are a colourful introduction to the cinema experience for very young people.
Shorts For Middle
Ones
Various countries | 2015-2017 | 55m | PG | Some subs Sun 26 Aug Wed 29 Aug Thu 30 Aug Sat 1 Sep
15:00 17:00 16:30 13:00
Screen Screen Screen Screen
2 1 2 2
£5 £5 £5 £5
This collection of short films from Discovery Film Festival is a patchwork of experiences – funny, sad, thrilling, emotional and, in one particular case, a tad stomach-churning (in a very tasteful way, of course!). The films were chosen with advice and suggestions from young people (and they all loved the stomachchurning one!). Polar bears cross their disappearing ice floes, a stylish cat and an impoverished artist learn to create beautiful artworks together, a perfect gold heist goes horribly awry and the Mona Lisa finds herself in entirely new surroundings. And then there are a couple of very unusual chameleons: one trying to impress a potential mate, and the other? Well, let’s just say it’s a documentary that David Attenborough clearly had no involvement in... (Please be aware that there is some cartoon violence, a decomposing rat and some very messy eating!)
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FAMILY FILMS
Abulele
Alfie, The Little Werewolf
Israel | 2015 | 98m | PG | Subtitled
(Dolfje Weerwolfje)
Dir. Jonathan Geva Starring: Yoav Sadian, Idan Barkai, Bar Minali Sun 2 Sep
11:30
Screen 1 £6.50 / £5
Ancient legends warn children about the Abulele: enormous, furry and sometimes dangerous creatures who are able to hide among the human race by making themselves invisible to everyone except those they choose to be seen by. Adam, a young boy grieving the loss of his brother, discovers an Abulele living in his building; gradually, they become friends. But gun-toting Special Forces appear on the trail of his new friend. Will Adam risk everything to save his big friendly giant? This is an E.T. for the 21st century, a classic tale of innocence and friendship facing up to threats posed by the adult world. It is also an affecting study of a family fractured by grief, who gain the comfort and the love they need from a most unlikely source. It has a terrific young cast, marvellous moments of humour and an extremely hairy, green-eyed, popguzzling monster who we would all like as a friend. What’s not to love?
Netherlands | 2011 | 90m | PG | Subtitled Dir. Joram Lürsen Starring: Ole Kroes, Maas Bronkhuyzen, Remko Vrijdad, Kim Van Kooten Sat 25 Aug
14:00
Screen 1 £6.50 / £5
Baby Alfie is left in a basket on the doorstep of the Vriends family. They adopt him and treat him as their own. Their firstborn son Timmie is the perfect devoted big brother. On his seventh birthday, Alfie experiences something strange and alarming: the full moon causes him to turn into a werewolf. He tells his brother but they decide to hide it from their parents. When Alfie, in his werewolf identity, raids his next door neighbour’s chicken-coop, she alerts a grim, anti-alien society which starts a hunt for the strange beast. The school’s Christmas play, Peter and the Wolf, helps the brothers cover up, but they can’t resist putting class bully Nico in his place. Meanwhile Alfie feels drawn to a mysterious stranger, who watches over him and seems to know all about him. Alfie is the most endearing werewolf that you can imagine (apart from his raid on the neighbour’s hens, that is...). The cast give it their comic all, but there is a serious point here about loyalty and about embracing difference.
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FAMILY FILMS
Swimming With Men UK | 2018 | 96m | 12A Dir. Oliver Parker Starring: Rob Brydon, Charlotte Riley, Rupert Graves, Jane Horrocks Sat 25 Aug Mon 27 Aug Tue 28 Aug Wed 29 Aug Sat 1 Sep Sun 2 Sep
20:45 18:30 13:00 18:30 21:00 20:30
Screen Screen Screen Screen Screen Screen
1 1 2 1 2 2
£9 / £7.50 £5 £5 £9 / £7.50 £9 / £7.50 £9 / £7.50
The Full Monty in Speedos! When an accountant, played by multi-talented comedian Rob Brydon, seeks to win back his wife, he stumbles upon a surprising solution in the form of a male synchronised swimming team: Men Who Swim.
Eric (Brydon) believes he can win back his wife Heather (Horrocks) by diving into the world of male synchronised swimming. Joining his local team, Eric finds a surprising brotherhood in this motley crew as they train for the world championships in Milan. Can their coach Susan (Riley) whip them into shape? Will they master ‘the flower’, ‘the pyramid’ and ‘the spinning circle’ in time? More importantly, can Eric win Heather back with the help of his newfound confidence? A super cast head up this warm-hearted comedy with a zest for life - great fun!
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HOME MADE
Home Made 0-4 Various local film makers | 120m | PG Fri 31 Aug
17:30
Screen 1
£7 / £5
The event that we all look forward to most every year – Shetlanders of all ages, interests and skill levels send in their cinematic creations. The only restrictions are that they must be suitable for general viewing and no longer than four minutes. As usual we expect to see an explosion of creative mayhem in a variety of genres – drama, documentary and animation. The audience will be invited to vote for their favourite at the end of the screening, and Shetland ForWirds are offering prizes for the most effective use of dialect in a Home Made film. All of this taking place in front of the country’s most enthusiastic (and occasionally rambunctious) audience. Get your tickets early!
Dialect Awards Shetland ForWirds have once again kindly offered prizes of £100 and £25 for the films with the most effective use of Shetland dialect. There are two age categories: 25 and under, and 26 and over. They can be awarded to any film using the dialect that is shown during Screenplay. The films will be judged by a panel and the winners will be announced at the end of the Home Made 0–4 screening. Thank you, Shetland ForWirds!
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HOME MADE
Home Made Experimental Double Bill 75m inc Q&A | PG
The Hunters (excerpt) Dirs. Jonathon Bulter and Lauren Bulter
For those ready and able to move on to something a bit more experimental, this is where local film makers push that creative envelope. Wed 29 Aug Sun 2 Sep
17:15 13:45
Screen 2 Screen 1
£7 / £5 £7 / £5
A Man Wi Onnly A Movie Camera Dirs. Bruce Eunson and Jonathon Bulter With: John Haswell and Hannah Whiley Inspired by Dziga Vertov and Chris Marker, A Man Wi Onnly A Movie Camera: An Island Symphony is the story of William Wilde, a man who moved to Shetland in the 1980s, lived alone here all his life, then when he retires - tries to fill the void with an artistic project. Bruce Eunson is a 32 year old Shetlander who lives in Uradale, Scalloway. He publishes poetry in Shetland dialect in the New Shetlander, as well as articles and stories written in dialect in the Shetland Life magazine. Bruce made his first film, Dis Quiet, for Screenplay 2014 and has continued making short films in Shetland dialect since then. A Man Wi Onnly A Movie Camera is his first collaboration with Jonathon Bulter.
The Hunters is a short animation adapted from a single chapter of an original fantasy saga. Virn, Mylh and Gryen find themselves in unfamiliar lands as they reach the midpoint of their journey. Tension is high as doubt, questions and blind faith cause friction. Four stones reunited... four left to find. Jonathon Bulter is a film-maker and editor living in Tresta. Having studied television and broadcasting at Glasgow Metropolitan, he then went on to study film making and screen writing at UWS in Ayr. For his work as Editor on a peers’ Honours project, he was nominated for a BAFTA at the Scotland’s New Talent Award show. Since returning home to Shetland he has been involved in various films on and off the island. Lauren Bulter has been drawn towards art and storytelling for as long as she can remember. Studied Animation at Duncan of Jordanstone (DJCAD), specialising in Storyboarding, Storytelling and Traditional 2D Animation. Now a freelance artist and designer, ranging from traditional pencil, digital art as well as crafts.
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CLASSIC SCREENING
Psycho USA | 1960 | 110m + 10m short film | 15 Dir. Alfred Hitchcock Starring: Antony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, Martin Balsam Sat 25 Aug Sun 2 Sep
18:15 15:30
Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 Screen 1 £9 / £7.50
Marion Crane is a Phoenix, Arizona working girl fed up with having to sneak away during lunch breaks to meet her lover, Sam Loomis, who cannot get married because most of his money goes towards alimony. One Friday, Marion’s employer asks her to take $40,000 in cash to a local bank for deposit. Desperate to make a change in her life, she impulsively leaves town with the money, determined to start a new life with Sam in California. As night falls and a torrential rain obscures the road ahead of her, Marion turns off the main highway. Exhausted from the long drive and the stress of her criminal act, she decides to spend the night at the desolate Bates Motel, run by Norman, a peculiar young man dominated by his invalid mother. What happens next has imprinted itself on generations of movie-goers as the ultimate in suspense and shock, a true gamechanger by the master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock. Psycho will be preceded by Submerged, a short film by Shetland film student Logan Nicolson. A disturbed young girl finds herself sucked into a monster’s world.
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CLASSIC SCREENING
78/52 USA | 2017 | 91m + 30m Skype Q&A (Sat 25 Aug) | 15 Dir. Alexandre O. Philippe Sat 25 Aug (+Q&A) Sun 2 Sep
21:00 18:15
Screen 2 £9 / £7.50 Screen 2 £9 / £7.50
An unprecedented look at the iconic shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), the “man behind the curtain”, and the screen murder that profoundly changed the course of world cinema. In 78 setups and 52 cuts, the deliriously choreographed two-minute shower sequence in Psycho ripped apart cinema’s definition of horror. With black-and-white filmgeek reverence, director Alexandre O. Philippe breaks down this most notorious and essential scene shot for shot, enlisting the help of film buffs and filmmakers alike - including Guillermo del Toro, Bret Easton Ellis, Karyn Kusama, Eli Roth, and Peter Bogdanovich. 78/52 examines Janet Leigh’s terrified facial expressions and the blink-and-you-miss-it camera work, not just within the context of the film but also with an eye toward America’s changing social mores - revealing how
one bloody, chaotic on-screen death killed off chaste cinema and eerily predicted a decade of unprecedented violence and upheaval. Alexandre O. Philippe lives in Denver and is a Screenplay festival “regular”, having previously delighted us with his excellent and mischievous documentaries The People Vs George Lucas, The Life and Times of Paul the Psychic Octopus and his tribute to zombie culture, Doc of the Dead. He travels tirelessly, making and promoting his films, so we will be catching him somewhere in the world on Skype for a Q&A. Welcome back to Screenplay, Alexandre! The screening on Saturday 25 August will be followed by a Skype Q&A with Alexandre O. Philippe.
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EDUCATION & OUTREACH
This screening will be supported by:
Best In Show
Useless Dog
USA | 2000 | 120m (inc. short) | 12A
Éire | 2004 | 5m | PG
Dir. Christopher Guest Starring: Eugene Levy, Parker Posey, Christopher Guest, Jay Brazeau Fri 24 Aug
19:30
Skeld Hall
Dir Ken Wardrop £7 / £5
It wouldn’t be Screenplay without a film about dogs... so here, in partnership with Shetland Film Club, is this year’s community curtain-raiser, the classic comedy mockumentary about the owners (and handlers) of five show dogs heading for the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show. The dogs may be the stars but they can’t compete with the colourful array of characters who appear in the show with them. From Florida come the Flecks: she keeps running into old lovers. A wordless ancient in a wheelchair and his voluptuous trophy wife own the two-time defending ‘best in show’, a poodle. From the woods of North Carolina comes a fellow who wants to be a ventriloquist. A highly-strung couple feud loudly in front of their Weimaraner. The resulting film is nothing short of hilarious - plus, you feel you may have met a few of these folk before...
A perennial Screenplay favourite sees Irish farmer Trevor’s slacker sheepdog, Guinness, running away from sheep and getting amorous with his cows. An absolute delight. N.B. Purchasing a ticket entitles you to enter a photo of your dog and you into our Best In Show afterscreen competition! (Rules for entry available with ticket). Help judge the winner whilst munching on hot dogs and ‘mock dogs’ made by the Skeld Hall Committee! Who will be best in show? Tickets available from the Bixter Shop, at Mareel, or on the door.
Education & Outreach Screenplay runs a comprehensive education programme which introduces young audiences to the best of international cinema. Our thanks to the EIS for their generous support. There are also two community hall screenings (Bigton p12 & Skeld p34) as well as some care home screenings for folk who simply cannot get to the cinema.
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PREVIEW SCREENING
Lucky USA | 2018 | 90m | 15 Dir. John Carroll Lynch Starring: Harry Dean Stanton, David Lynch, Tom Skerritt Sun 2 Sep
20:15
Screen 1 £9 / £7.50
Lucky is an old US Navy veteran of rigid habits and attitudes. When his small town routine is interrupted by a sudden collapse at home, Lucky finds himself realising that his remarkably healthy old age is going to face an inevitable decline and he has to accept it. In that difficult reassessment, Lucky must face up to what he believes in and how much it relates to his neighbours’ priorities. In doing so, he finds that his life has its positive side as he searches for some meaning that he can accept. The late, great Harry Dean Stanton gives a knock-out performance here; we are all too aware that he, as well as Lucky, is looking back on a life and career and wondering what it all meant. “The movie is so carefully observed and quietly calibrated as the old man moves from one scene to the next, as unobtrusive as a lap dissolve, that you can’t tell Harry from Lucky, or vice versa, and it doesn’t take long before you stop trying.” Rex Reed (Observer.com). “It’s the humblest deep movie of recent years... with its own rhythm and colour, its own emotional temperature, its own reasons for revealing and concealing things. There’s a long scene of Lucky smoking cigarettes at night and thinking. The soundtrack plays Johnny Cash’s “I See a Darkness,” one of many late-career classics in which the singer faced the certainty of his own death. The sandblasted terrain of Stanton’s face in this scene constitutes a movie within a movie, a life revealed in contemplation. It’s one of the most powerful things I’ve ever seen. I felt that way before Stanton left us. I feel it even more keenly now.” Matt Zoller Seits (rogerebert.com). In its low key and unobtrusive meditation on life, friendship and loyalty it is also funny and honest, packing a real emotional punch without ever sinking into cloying sentimentality. It is a fitting tribute to a wonderful actor. Stanton died weeks before the US release of this film; saying goodbye to him seems the perfect way to end Screenplay for 2018.
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LEARNING
Claymation Creations Workshop Sat 25 Aug | 14:00 | Mareel Auditorium | £20 / £17 (Not included in Screen Cards) | 180m | 8+ Come along and get to grips (literally) with plasticine animation, in a workshop led by Maya Darrell Hewins. Inspired by the films of Aardman Animations, we’ll be creating wild creatures with crazy features and learning the basics of bringing them to life using stop-motion animation, just like the pros. You can take your creation home with you afterwards. The workshop is suitable for adults and children (8+) alike so families can take part together. No experience necessary. Please wear clothes you don’t mind getting messy!
Writing Comedy For The Screen With Steve Oram Thu 30 Aug | 17:30 | Screen 1 | £10 / £8 | 75m With an impressive comedy writing pedigree to his name, Steve shares his experience of writing for the screen (and stage) with our curators, accompanied by local comedian Marjolein Robertson. If you’ve ever had a yen to write humorous screenplays, or you are just interested to find out what it involves, come and join in this very special conversation.
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LEARNING
Bodies On The Beach
Lecture by Kathy Hubbard
Tue 28 Aug | 18:30 | Screen 2 | 90m | Free There has been a big increase in interest in regionally-based police and detective drama on television in the past fifty years. We can watch crime and detection dramas in locations as far apart as Cornwall and Northumbria or Norfolk and Aberystwyth before we even start looking outside the UK. It was only a matter of time before island locations started to appear, and island-based detectives can now be discovered in places such as the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and the North Atlantic, even as far as the Arctic Ocean. As the bodies pile up in the BBC’s increasingly popular Shetland crime drama, Kathy takes a look at some of these screen fictions and asks if the island settings have a bearing on plot and character development, and what messages about islands they transmit to the viewer.
How Does It Feel? A Life of Musical Misadventures Sat 1 Sep | 13:45 | Mareel Auditorium | £11 / £9 | 75m Mark Kermode recounts his utterly foolhardy attempts to fulfill his dreams of becoming a pop star - from building an electric guitar from scratch while at school, to playing tea-chest bass on the kids TV show Utterly Brilliant, to becoming the musical director of a major TV show - all without ever learning to read music. This will be a hilarious event in which the film critic recalls falling in love with Slade as a teenager, forming his first proper band, and recording an album at Sun Studio as an ageing old ted. Mark will be signing copies of his book afterwards.
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FUN STUFF
The Walk Down
Mixology At Mareel
Sat 25 Aug | 10.30 | Market Cross | Free
Fri 31 Aug | 21:00 | Mareel Café Bar | Free
We like to start the festival in celebratory style, and for the past three years we have paraded from the Market Cross to Mareel, sometimes accompanied by a brass band, sometimes by the Junior Up Helly Aa Squad, and sometimes by an enormous Godzilla. This year, as we will be opening the festival with Nick Park’s Early Man, we encourage you to don your Stone Age costume and walk with us (fancy dress optional, honestly). There may possibly be some T Rex’s - not strictly the same era but who’s caring? Come ready to play kazoo.
Hosted by DJ Lyall & John Collins Enjoy chilled-out tunes and a laid-back vibe in Mareel’s Café Bar with Mixology (fortnightly on Friday nights). Try one of our selection of delicious cocktails and get your weekend started with some funk, soul and house from our DJs John Collins and DJ Lyall.
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Poster Giveaway
Open Mic At Mareel
Sun 26 Aug | 11:00 | Mareel Auditorium | Free
Sun 2 Sep | 16:00 | Mareel Café Bar | Free
Last year we were delighted to see so many people taking advantage of the Great Poster Giveaway. Our loft is groaning under the weight of the hundreds of posters from the films we’ve screened at Mareel. For one day only, come and help us solve our storage challenges and take some posters away with you. Donations always welcome.
Anyone and everyone is invited to share a song, or a tune, a new piece of prose, poetry or stand up, or CMY whatever you want – the stage is yours! Pop down K on Sunday afternoon for a relaxed vibe and a chance to enjoy some emerging talent and engaging local performers.
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CM
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Hosted by Keirynn Topp.
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FUN STUFF
Screenplay Film Quiz Beginners Film Quiz Wed 29 Aug | 19:30 | Mareel Auditorium | £15 (Not included in Screen Cards) | Rec 14+ | 180m
Sun 2 Sep | 14:30 | Mareel Auditorium | £5 | Rec 10+ | 90m
Our annual crazy festival event, modelled on the monthly Mareel Film Quiz, where anything could happen – and usually does. Hosted by Mark Kermode and Linda Ruth Williams in the quizmasters’ chairs, and supported by Mareel’s regular quizmaster team. We are hoping to see all our regular teams plus some new contenders, so book your table as soon as possible - this is guaranteed to sell out quickly. Remember, there must be no more than six people in your team and the ticket price buys the whole table. You will need your cinema expertise, a dash of cutthroat competitiveness and a whole lot of stamina.
Never done a Film Quiz before? Want to see what it’s like before plunging into the monthly Mareel mayhem version? Then this is for you. Our regular quizmasters have devised some fun rounds to test your knowledge without causing your brain to freeze... give it a go! You may surprise yourselves. The ticket price buys the whole table. No more than six in a team, please, and here’s a handy tip: try and make sure your team includes people who love different kinds of films if you want to win any of the utterly desirable prizes.
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“
To make a great film you need three things the script, the script and the script. -Alfred Hitchcock
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Mareel, Lerwick, Shetland ZE1 0WQ www.shetlandarts.org/screenplay T: 01595 743 843 | E: info@shetlandarts.org