How Sturgeon has cornered the market on public trust
Because the island is “hermetically sealed”, food costs have risen as islanders can’t access the supermarkets on the mainland and there are concerns about easing of lockdown and the possibility of a second peak, with only three hospital beds on the island.
The film will be around 45 minutes long, depending on how much footage is filmed. And the final edit will submitted to The Mull Museum, Ross of Mull Historical Centre and the National Library of Scotland’s Moving Image Archive.
Alasdair said: “What we need to do throughout the editing process is as look at any common threads that run through it and see what narrative we can build visually from that.
“What’s the logic that imposes itself through our creative interpretation?”
With more than 600 hits on the website calling for submissions, the Satchels are hopeful they will end up with a breadth of different perspectives on island life from some of the approximately 3,200 residents of the four islands.
With public gatherings not likely to return for some time, screenings of the film will more than likely be online, via YouTube, and Twitter. Because some islanders have poor or no internet services, streaming is not an option but a viewing party hosted on social media with interactive comments should allow maximum exposure until official screenings can be held.
Having worked closely in the past with Screen Machine, Scotland’s mobile cinema funded by Creative Scotland and Highlands & Islands Enterprise, Alasdair is hopeful they can show the film with them “when things get back to normal”.
“It’s important [that people take part and see the film] because it’s capturing a moment in people’s lives at this point in time, whether that’s different from their day-to-day reality or a heightened version of that because of the situation or entirely different.
“The thing it offers is connection – this human connection that you can make, and to give people enough space to interpret things their own way. These human connections to place and space and time are really, really special.”