SCOTTISH films are few and far between at this month’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, so Spike recommends the finalists of the Short Scottish Documentary Award for those cinemagoers interested in seeing some home-grown talent.
The six films on show are all made by first or second-time short documentary filmmakers working in, or from, Scotland. All are contenders for the award, sponsored by lawyers, Baillie Gifford, with the winner announced later this month.
Some are very straightforward: one gives an amusing insight into the Really Terrible Orchestra, a group of amateur musicians set up by novelist, Alexander McCall Smith; another explores life after prison for those jailed for crimes they did not commit.
From the selection, Spike particularly liked ‘A Map With Gaps’ by Alice Nelson, which tells the story of the director’s father travelling across Russia in the early 1970s, in his car, Supervan.
The film, which was made with the help of Edinburgh’s Scottish Documentary Institute, mixes old home-movie style footage with quirky and colourful animations illustrating her father’s diary.
The Short Scottish Documentary Award screening is tomorrow.
