Sea Change film festival returns to Tiree
The Sea Change Film Festival is returning to Tiree with a programme of international movies directed by women.
The annual celebration of female film-making talent will take place on the big screen at An Talla, as well as online. The festival, from November 6 to November 9, is curated by Screen Argyll and supported by the Film Hub Scotland BFI FAN Exhibition Fund.
The past 18 months have been a bumper time for acclaimed work by female directors and Sea Change 2021 is a chance to enjoy a hand-picked selection of modern classics and cult gems.
Saturday November 6 begins with an 11am screening of Lisa Rovner’s Sisters With Transistors, the remarkable untold story of electronic music’s female pioneers who transformed how we listen to and produce music today.
It will be followed at 2pm by an online workshop with
Leeds-filmmakers F=, who explore the significance of feminism in creative practices.
The next screening at 6.30pm, Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliche, is the life story of the X-Ray Spex legendary front woman, directed by her daughter Celeste Bell who joins the festival for a digital question and answer (Q&A) session.
It’s a bracing start on Sunday November 7 at 10am with the Polar Bears Swim at the island’s Crossapol Bay, followed at 2.30pm by a selection of the best short films from the Feminista Film Festival.
This is followed at 4pm by the Oscar-nominated tale of beekeeping traditions in North Macedonia Honeyland and at 6.30pm by Frances McDormand in Nomadland, which earned director Chloe Zhao the Best Director Oscar, making her only the second woman to win it.
As world leaders gather in Glasgow for the COP26 climate summit on Monday November 8, the festival hosts a 6.30pm screening of Scottish director Dr Emily Munro’s new feature documentary Living Proof, which unpicks Scotland’s complicated relationship to the global climate crisis using archive footage and a soundtrack by Scottish musicians past and present.
On the final day, Tuesday November 9, there will be a 7pm screening of Cathy Brady’s Wildfire, the gripping drama of two inseparable sisters growing up on the Irish Border whose lives are shattered by the mysterious death of their mother, followed by a digital Q&A with the director.
On November 29, Sea Change will host a bonus screening of Zeina Durra’s new haunting romantic drama Luxor followed by a digital Q&A with Zeina.
The Farmhouse Café will be running a pop-up café throughout the weekend.
Jen Skinner, director of Screen Argyll and festival director, said: ‘We have a fantastic selection of films and access to some brilliant directors. I am so excited about the possibilities of connecting people through film across the UK via our online player and opening up the shared experience of cinema radiating out from the isle of Tiree.’