Shetland Arts has today released the full Screenplay 2014 Programme and put all the festival events on sale. Screenplay is Shetland Arts’ annual film festival, running this year from 29 August to 7 September and curated by Mark Kermode, Linda Ruth Williams, and Kathy Hubbard.
Screenplay 2014 is Shetland Arts’ 8th annual celebration of the moving image and this year features over 95 events including: 20 feature films, 6 documentary screenings, 3 workshops, 1 lecture, 11 Q&As, 2 film quizzes, 6 education screenings, 2 outreach events, 1 gig, 1 wild party, loads of local films, and short films galore.
Shetland Arts’ Marketing Officer, Lisa Ward, said: “The programme has been released online at shetlandarts.org/screenplay and you can book your tickets now via Shetland Box Office in Mareel or Islesburgh, over the phone on 01595 745 555, or online at shetlandboxoffice.org or mareel.org. The hard copy of the programme is being printed now and will be available to pick up from this Friday (8 August) at Mareel.”
This is the first year that Screenplay and Wordplay are being held separately. Screenplay Director Kathy Hubbard said: “Whilst there have been definite advantages to holding both festivals at the same time in previous years, the benefits of allowing them both to ‘breathe’ and expand will, we believe, ultimately afford our audiences more choice. Wordplay will be held later in the year, from 12 – 16 November.”
There will be some excellent guests visiting the festival this year including actor Brian Cox (Believe, Manhunter), Shetland’s own Steven Robertson (Inside I’m Dancing, Joyeux Noel), British director Clio Barnard (The Arbor, The Selfish Giant), Welsh cult musician Gruff Rhys (American Interior), British director Joanna Hogg (Exhibition, Archipelago), and many more.
Screenplay 2014 received a significant grant from Regional Screen Scotland to develop a programme including a focus on “looking north.” There will be films from Iceland, Denmark and Sweden, including wry, often dark comedies (Of Horses And Men, Either Way), the latest in Scandinavian noir (The Keeper of Lost Causes), as well as stirring tales of childhood and adolescence (We Are The Best!, We Shall Overcome, Eskil and Trinidad).
Responding to feedback from last year’s festival for more workshops and lectures, screenwriter Norina Mackey will be giving two public seminars on writing and making short films. As well as this, the festival will provide the launch-pad for a major new research project headed by Professor Linda Ruth Williams and Dr Shelley Cobb, on the role of women in 21st century screen culture. Clio Barnard and Joanna Hogg will be joining Linda and Shelley to launch this prestigious project.
Screenplay 2014 will also celebrate a wealth of home-grown film talent, which is fundamental to the vision of the festival. No Screenplay would be complete without local input, and this year there will be plenty of films made about Shetland and films made by Shetlanders. Alongside the ever popular Home Made screening, there will also be short films made by Shetlanders for the Glasgow 2014 Festival of the Commonwealth Games (Ebb Tide), a debut film by Bruce Eunson (Dis Quiet), a film about the proposed windfarm in Shetland (Windfall), a short horror from the peat-hill (Trou), and a film about one of Shetland’s best poets (Nort Atlantik Drift: A Portrait of Robert Alan Jamieson).
There will also be a number of education screenings at Mareel, introducing children and young people to the best in world cinema. The festival will welcome two visiting youth groups to the festival for the first time – Kirkwall Grammar School Film Club and SKAMM (Scottish Kids Are Making Movies) from Edinburgh. For young people, there will be a wide selection of film screenings, plus the first ever Young Film Quiz (for 10-16 year olds).
Other first-time events at the festival will include a come-in-costume screening of Flash Gordon (the theme is “Spaced Out”) followed by Mixology@Mareel in the Cafe Bar with the same theme, and a live concert from Welsh singer-songwriter Gruff Rhys, following a screening of his brand new film American Interior.
Kathy Hubbard said: “We would like to thank most sincerely our funding partners and supporters: Regional Screen Scotland, Shetland Film Club, J.G. Rae’s, Amnesty International Shetland, UNISON, The University of Edinburgh and the Arts and Humanities Research Council have all helped to make this year’s festival special, as have Shetland Island Council Education Department, Shetland Moving Image Archive and Edinburgh Short Film Festival.”
She added: “Special thanks go to the volunteers who commit so much time and energy to Screenplay, and also to our festival curators who work all year to put together what we hope will be an exciting programme of events.”
The full programme can be viewed online below. View the programme as a website online here.
All ticketed events at Screenplay 2014 are on sale now. Booking is via Shetland Box Office at Mareel and/or Islesburgh, over the phone on 01595 745 555, or online at shetlandboxoffice.org and/or mareel.org.
