New Gold Dram: The Scots Whay Hae! Podcast Talks To Film Director Andrew Peat…

March 7, 2019March 7, 2019 / indelibleinkblog / Leave a comment

For the latest podcast Ali met up with the film director Andrew Peat at Glasgow’s CCA before the Glasgow Film Festival premiere of his feature-length documentary Scotch: The Golden Dram.

To give you an idea about the film, and what they discussed, here is an extract from the press-release:
“Shot entirely on location in Scotland, Scotch: The Golden Dram tells the story of uisge-beatha, Gaelic for “water of life”, which is enjoyed in more than 200 countries, generating over $6 billion in exports each year. The film charts the Cinderella tale of legendary master distiller Jim McEwan, a veteran with over 50 years standing in the industry, who takes on a dilapidated distillery on his home island of Islay in the Inner Hebrides and turns it into an award-winning blend. Some of the other ardent enthusiasts featured include Richard Paterson, a master blender whose nose was insured for $2.5 million, as well as biochemist whisky-maker Dr Bill Lumsden, and master distiller Ian MacMillan. “

The two discuss the inspiration behind the film, and the personal and professional journey Andrew has made to get his film to screen, from his first taste of Glenmorangie while at University at St Andrews to that night’s showing in Scotland, a highly significant landmark for Andrew Peat (right).

You can visit the website here – Scotch: The Golden Dram where you will find the full list of cinemas in Scotland, Ireland and the rest of the UK where it’s playing, starting in Aberdeen on the 8th March.

It’s a beautiful film which is funny, moving, poignant and powerful and, even if you have no interest in the drink, the people and places will win you over and stay with you long after the credits roll. It’s also visually stunning and if you get the chance to see it on the big screen I suggest you don’t miss it.

Here is the trailer:

If you are new round these parts there is quite a substantial back-catalogue of podcasts for you to discover. If you aren’t yet a subscriber you can do so, (or simply listen) at iTunes, on Podbean, or by RSS (but you’ll need to have an RSS reader to do so). You can also download the podcast by clicking on the relevant link to the right of this post, or, if you want it right here, right now, you can listen on SoundCloud…

..or on YouTube:

The next podcast will be something a little bit different, and rather special, so don’t go too far…

Lights, Camera, Action!: A Preview Of Glasgow Film Festival 2019…

February 19, 2019 / indelibleinkblog / Leave a comment

If it’s February in Glasgow it can only be the Glasgow Film Festival, the perfect place for the more discerning film fans to take shelter from the storm while enjoying the best cinema has to offer, old and new.

Running from tomorrow (20th February) to Sunday 3rd March, it’s a festival which over the years has firmly established itself as one of the very best around. Scots Whay Hae! will be in attendance to review the best of what’s on, but before it all kicks off here is our annual preview.

2019’s programme has so much to recommend it we couldn’t possibly do anything other than make some considered suggestions here, but you can and should download the full brochure, settle back, and peruse at your leisure.

However, before you do here’s a taste of what’s on offer:

You can keep updated throughout the festival on Facebook and on Twitter @glasgowfilmfest #GFF19 and you can sign up the the GFT Enewsletter which is not only essential for the festival, but all year round.

To whet appetites even further, here are the trailers for 10 films to look forward to. They include some of the best Scottish features at this year’s festival, as well as a few other highlights.

To find out more and buy tickets, click on the films’ titles.

Beats (N/C 18+)

The Science of Ghosts (N/C 12+)

Scotch – The Golden Dram (PG)

Prophecy (N/C 15+)

Final Ascent (N/C 12+)

Vox Lux (N/C 18+)

Luz (N/C 15+)

Under the Silver Lake (15)

The Witch: Part 1 – The Subversion (N/C 18+)

Midnight Cowboy (15)

Films & Festivities Down The Firth: A Preview Of The Dunoon Film Festival…

November 6, 2018November 20, 2018 / indelibleinkblog / Leave a comment

Now firmly established as one of Scotland’s finest, the Dunoon Film Festival is back this coming weekend (9-11 November) with a fantastic line-up. Here is the SWH! preview, with 10 suggestions for you to ponder, but you can check out the full programme here.

Tickets are incredible value for money, either £5, £3 or free, with the option of getting a festival pass for £30 which lets you fill your filmic boots and see whatever takes your fancy.

As well as tremendous opening and closing films, there are free screenings, workshops, cinema for children, and even the promise of a scratch-&-sniff version of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. It’s well worth a trip doon the watter for the following reasons and more.

There’s rare footage from one of Scotland’s finest filmmakers, a musical zom/rom/com/ where La La Land meets Shaun Of The Dead, Harry Dean Stanton in one of his final screen roles, a live score from The Badwills to a classic Italian silent movie, the Scotsman who paved the way for Charlie Chaplin, the master of stop-motion cinema, a documentary about one of Scotland’s greatest (if controversial) sportsmen, Josie Long’s eagerly awaited Glasgow-based debut, and the festival closes with a 2018 BAFTA winning feature. All this and a showing of SWH’s favourite film of all time (and you can read just some of the reasons why here) followed by an ’80s disco. Who could ask for more? Not us. See you on the dance floor… Continue reading →

A Life In Film: The Scots Whay Hae! Podcast Talks To May Miles Thomas…

September 3, 2018September 13, 2018 / indelibleinkblog / 1 Comment

For the latest podcast Ali spoke to writer & director May Miles Thomas (left) about her incredible film Voyageuse and the issues and themes it addresses, such as family, sibling rivalry, ageing, grief, and much, much more.

During their chat the two also discuss different approaches to making film, May’s previous projects, using setbacks as inspiration, the problem in getting heard in a crowded market, and the primary importance of story in her work.

It’s a fantastic listen, one which is essential for anyone who is interested, not only in the process and reality of filmmaking, but all aspects of creating art in Scotland. There is also mention of Hitler, satanism in Glasgow, Sian Philips, and the CIA. What more could you want from a podcast?

If you are in London on Friday 14th you can see Voyageuse on the big screen as it is showing at the Picturehouse Central, when there will also be a Q&A with May Miles Thomas and Dame Sian Philips. For everyone else, you can watch the full film over at Vimeo as well as view the trailers for other productions from Thomas’ Elemental Films, and the full-length version of the much discussed The Devil’s Plantation. If you visit the latter’s website you will find all the information you need to follow in Harry Bell’s footsteps (and for that to make sense you’ll have to listen to the podcast first). In the meantime, here’s the trailer for Voyaguese: Continue reading →

You Have Been Watching…You Were Never Really Here.

February 26, 2018April 17, 2018 / indelibleinkblog / Leave a comment

Lynne Ramsay is to film what The Blue Nile are to music – discuss. She has made four films in 18 years, and it’s been seven between her last, We Need To Talk About Kevin, and her latest You Were Never Really Here. The Blue Nile released their four albums over 20 years, with the longest gap being 8 years between Peace At Last and High. Most importantly both proved to have put their time to good use, producing work which is of the highest quality in their respective fields.

You Were Never Really Here proves, if anyone were in any doubt, that Lynne Ramsay is one of the finest filmmakers around. From her unforgettable debut Ratcatcher, through Morvern Callar (one of the best ever film adaptations of a Scottish novel), to BAFTA & Global Globe winner We Need To Talk About Kevin, she produced a run of films to rival any other director. Could she keep it up? If you believed the recent rumours and hype surrounding Ramsay (leaving, or being asked to leave, various projects) then you may have thought this unlikely. However, if you simply look at the work – which is what matters – how could you doubt it? Continue reading →

Lights, Camera, Action!: A Preview Of Glasgow Film Festival 2018…

February 14, 2018March 1, 2018 / indelibleinkblog / Leave a comment

Running from 21st February – 4th March, it’s a festival which over the years has firmly established itself as one of the very best around.

Scots Whay Hae! will be bringing you interviews as well as the usual reviews, but before we do here is our annual preview.

2018’s programme has so much to recommend it we couldn’t possibly do anything other than make some considered suggestions here, but you can and should download the full brochure, settle back, and peruse at your leisure.

However, before you do here’s a taste of what’s on offer:

As ever, there are various categories and strands to guide you towards whatever may be your cup of tea. This year they include Behind The Scenes, Rebel Heroes, Ireland: The Near Shore, Cinemasters, Local Heroes, Sound & Vision, Modern Families, Stranger Than Fiction, Future Cult, Poineer, Window On The World, Crossing The Line, Pure Baltic and the always popular FrightFest.

Add to those some very special events at appropriate venues, a surprise film, school discos, a wide-selection of Gala events, the Glasgow Short Film Festival, the Glasgow Youth Film Festival, and many Special Guest appearances and interviews.

You can keep updated throughout the festival on Facebook and on Twitter @glasgowfilmfest #GFF18 and you can sign up the the GFT Enewsletter which is not only essential for the festival, but all year round. Continue reading →

You Have Been Watching…Benny

February 27, 2017May 20, 2017 / alistairbraidwood / 2 Comments

benny-lynch

Any informed discussion of the greatest all-time Scottish sports stars will throw up familiar names. Alongside the likes of Alan Wells, Liz McColgan, the Lisbon Lions, Andy Murray, Denis Law, Jackie Stewart and John Thomas ‘Jocky’ Wilson will be that of boxer Benny Lynch. However, the passing of time increases the risk that those who have been members of this elite group for the longest are in the greatest danger of being forgotten. The fact that the Lynch legend has lasted this long is testament to his impact on sports fans and beyond. Like Ali, Leonard, McGuigan and Chavez, he transcended the sport of boxing to become a national icon and hero. But Lynch last fought in 1938, lest we forget.

Andrew Gallimore’s documentary, Benny, which previewed at the Glasgow Film Festival last week, is timely for this very reason. It is not only a reminder of a great boxer, arguably one of the very best, but of a time and place, namely Glasgow in the 1920s and ’30s, which is also in danger of being forgotten. Glasgow was overpopulated, ripe and rotten, and at the heart of it was the Gorbals, which had a population density six-times higher than anywhere else in the city. Continue reading →

You Have Been Watching…The End Of The Game

February 21, 2017May 20, 2017 / alistairbraidwood / 2 Comments

Our first film review of this year’s Glasgow Film Festival is of David Graham Scott’s The End Of The Game. And what a place to start. When documentary is at its best it trumps fiction every time as it gives us stranger and more telling tales. It is certainly the case that if someone was to write a character such as ‘Sir’ Guy Wallace, the focus of The End Of The Game, then an editor would dismiss him as being unbelievable. But when faced with the real thing, he is impossible to ignore.

He is a man whose story needs a film-maker as fair and even-handed as Graham Scott for audiences to see behind the facade and try to understand just what makes the man who he is. It would have been all too easy for the director to hold his subject up to ridicule. There is a lot of humour in the film, but it is as much pointed to the man behind the camera as to the one it is trained on, and much of it comes from their two very different worlds colliding. But, as with the likes of fellow documentarian Jon Ronson, Scott tries to understand the personality and the driving passion of his subject. It is the result of an inquisitive mind, and one which is keen to see the best in people, even when initial evidence may prove otherwise. Other filmmakers could learn a lot in terms of approach and perspective Continue reading →

You Have Been Watching…T2 Trainspotting

February 3, 2017May 20, 2017 / alistairbraidwood / 3 Comments

trainspotting

The sweat wis lashing oafy this boy. Was T2 Trainspotting a terrible idea, destined to disappoint and lessen the memory of seeing the original on its day of release in 1996, emerging blinking from a cinema thinking someone had made a film for me and mine? As soon as the credits roll, with Mark Renton pounding the virtual pavement of an Amsterdam running machine, interspersed with clips of Johan Cruyff showing that anything Archie Gemmill could do he could do better, it’s clear we are in safe hands.

This is a film which is an unashamed nostalgic experience for audience and cast alike, but it’s not wallowing – and it’s certainly not viewing that past through rose-tinted glasses. This is through a glass darkly, with old scores looking to be settled and many demons to be faced down. It’s rare for a film to hold a mirror up to its audience in this manner and ask them to take a good, hard look at themselves; who they are, who they were, and what they have done. Regrets? Too few to mention? If only. Continue reading →

You Have Been Watching… 16 Years Till Summer

November 23, 2016 / alistairbraidwood / Leave a comment

savjebi4

I don’t normally bring anything directly personal into a review – it’s rarely relevant, but I want to make the point that sometimes a piece of art, whatever form it takes, comes along at the right time to help you make sense of the seemingly nonsensical, and help you through tough times. That’s what Lou McLoughlan’s film 16 Years Till Summer did for me. It’s an amazing piece of work made more special by the circumstances around when I watched it. As the film shows with heartbreaking clarity, sometimes timing is all.

A documentary set in the western Highlands, and filmed over four years, 16 Years Till Summer follows Uisdean who we meet caring for his ageing father. Theirs is a warm yet antagonistic relationship, with the older man raging against the dying of the light, and determined to make sure his son meets his high standards. Then comes the first major reveal when, while eating together, Uisdean says, “The soup you get in jail they can’t put meat in it because of the vegetarians.” Continue reading →