Inverness, 2-6 November 2005

WITH TWO UK premieres in “Mrs Henderson Presents” and “Breakfast On Pluto”, six Scottish Premieres including “A Cock And Bull Story”, “A Woman In Winter” and “Goodnight And Goodbye”, documentaries, shorts, workshops and a classic dose of Chaplin and Fellini, this year’s Film Festival programme gave local audiences the opportunity to sample a varied range of screenings and activities as well as the launch of two important programmes to develop both audiences and film making in the North.

One of the most exciting aspects of this year’s festival is the ongoing commitment to cinema as an art form in the new Rural Cinema Initiative and the new Digital Access Scheme.

The latter scheme will offer support and training in such areas as animation, computer based artwork, video installation film and documentary making, and is funded by Scottish Screen’s Digital Media Access Fund. Groups and individuals are invited to apply for assistance to design and create a digital screen project exploring an aspect of Highland life. Each Digital Eden project will be shown on the website and on the big screen as part of the Inverness Film Festival 2006.

The launch of these projects are an important step in encouraging participation and awareness of film in the North. It is fantastic that Eden Court is looking beyond the boundaries of its own building and forging a role in the creation of new work.

This year’s festival was based in the VUE Multiplex and the original HI-Arts Screen Machine (currently serving as a stand-in cinema for Eden Court) for scerenings, and Inshes Church for free workshops in Horror Film Makeup, Animation, and a Beginners Guide To Filmmaking and Screenwriting.

Eden Court’s two new cinemas and studio space will no doubt add to its capacity to deliver screenings and workshops. but the expansion of these creative activities into the wider community through these new initiatives will nurture talent, boost creative confidence and develop audiences.

Education and Outreach are an extremely important function of the new Theatre and I have no doubt that funds and energy directed into these projects now will reap great rewards in the future.

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An ultimately life affirming and uplifting film, “Breakfast On Pluto” contains some hilarious scenes that teeter on the edge of tragedy but never fall into that black hole

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Of the screenings I attended at the festival, Neil Jordan’s “Breakfast On Pluto” was an absolute delight with a great central performance by Cillan Murphy (Batman Begins, 28 Days Later).

Set against the 1970’s troubles in Ireland, this film reminds us of the individual stories and humanity that are all too often consumed in ongoing political conflict and headlines. Like its central character this film resists the temptation to be drawn into the conflict and retains a sense of self and uniqueness that is its strength.

The irrepressible character of Patrick “Kitten” Braden is evident from childhood and endures throughout the film with great humour and poignancy. As a transvestite growing up in Ireland and the illegitimate child of a priest in a small parish (played by Liam Neeson), Kitten is blessed with an overwhelming sense of who she is but not where she belongs, and invents a whole mythology around the identity of her Mother “the phantom lady.”

There is an element of fantasy and humour that sustains our unlikely heroine and transforms what could have been a stereotype into a human being the audience cannot help but care about.

An ultimately life affirming and uplifting film, “Breakfast On Pluto” contains some hilarious scenes that teeter on the edge of tragedy but never fall into that black hole, such as Kitten’s confrontation with gun runners which could have ended so differently. With excellent support from Stephen Rea, Brendan Gleeson, Ruth Negga and a cameo by Bryan Ferry. I hope the festival UK premiere screening will not be the only chance for local audiences to see this film.

I was sorry to have missed the Scottish premiere of the documentary “Enron -The Smartest Guys In The Room”, but I looked forward to Docspace, a screening of two films, “My Cousin Wallace” (Derek Murray, Scotland 2004) and “Lomax the Songhunter” (Rogier Kappers, Netherlands 2004).

However, “My Cousin Wallace” was too clumsily made to really explore its subject matter fully, and “Lomax the Songhunter” could have been an exceptionally affecting film with a healthy dose of editing!

The story of American song collector Alan Lomax, it contained genuinely moving and important scenes amongst drawn out footage of director Kappers revisiting some of the places and people touched by Lomax’s obsession to capture the music of the world in field recordings.

A fascinating story and subject on many levels, Lomax’s character and commitment (often at the expense of his family) was driven by his love of the folk music he sought to preserve. The film’s best moments are his testimony and the original footage rather than that created by the director as he revisits the scenes of the original field recordings in Scotland, Italy and Spain.

In a world at the mercy of a global music business Lomax identified the silencing of a multitude of cultures and called for “cultural equity” for every culture to have their “airtime” or expression. He sought the authenticity of music borne out of the ordinary lives of ordinary people, singers and musicians who are able to provide a voice for their communities and a powerful expression of humanity that lives in his recordings.

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With the Digital Access Scheme up and running, perhaps next year we will be able to sample some local product in the short films section.

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Tartan Shorts were an absolute highlight for me. Where else but a film festival do we ever get to see shorts these days? Perhaps a regression to the short film screened before the feature would be an innovative idea at next year’s festival?

The range of what can be expressed by a filmmaker in a ten minute production never ceases to amaze. This year’s selection of Scottish shorts, “Sweetie” (Becky Brazil, 2005) “Run” (Peter Mackie Burns, 2005) and “At The End Of The Sentence” (Marisa Zanotti, 2005), were real gems.

Showing extraordinary moments out of the everyday, “Sweetie” distils all the tension in a family’s journey home from shopping into the release of a moment of recognition between a child and an unknown woman on a bus.

“Run” in which a woman escapes from the confines of her life behind a newsstand was affecting for its strong central performance. Certain shots would have made perfect stills, a perfect human face to express a modern predicament.

“At The End of The Sentence” with its reference to Johnny Cash and exclamation points was extremely funny, quirky (in a very good way) and cleverly written. With the Digital Access Scheme up and running, perhaps next year we will be able to sample some local product in the short films section?

I hope that next year’s festival will launch even more initiatives that expand the reach of cinema as an art form beyond the screen and into the lives of many more people in the Highlands.

© Georgina Coburn, 2005

Link

• Inverness Film Festival website