Tiree hosts first film festival

By Aidan Donaghy THE ISLE of Tiree hosts its first film festival this spring, and will also see the launch of a new company, Screen Argyll, to support film-making in the region.

The three-day film festival, which will celebrate women in film, has been organised for March 2-5 and will include an ideas lab and public screenings with Q&A sessions.

Screenings will include Make more noise - the Suffragettes in Silent Film, the Gleaners and I and a National Library of Scotland archive film programme.

Speakers for the weekend include the head of Queens’s Film Theatre in Belfast Joan Parsons, Rona Murray from the Women’s Film and TV History Network, and Nuala O’Sullivan of the Women Over 50 Film Festival.

Festival director Jen Skinner said: ‘It is important to me that when bringing people to Argyll, they give something back. During this weekend we will have the opportunity to hear from women working in film, their ideas and share in their knowledge as well as joining in their discussion.

‘This festival will focus on ‘powering women in film’. The Times Up campaign and #MeToo have been massively influential over the last six months and I hope that Sea Change will give women the opportunity to reflect on new ways of working and how to engage audiences, make change within their industry and form a network to support each other. We will also celebrate women in film through the medium of cinema. The screening I expect to be the biggest hit with the local audience is the Adventures of Prince Achmed which is going to be screened with a live musical accompaniment. This event will see the launch of a new company: Screen Argyll. Building on the success of Screen Tiree, Screen Argyll has been created to support and grow all forms of cinema and film activity in Argyll.

‘We hope that this lab will become a biannual event here on Tiree, with Sea Change focusing on a different subject’

For further details email Jen Skinner via screenargyll@gmail.com