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| azzuri |
Gaelic movie leads language renaissance.....see - http://www.sundayherald.com/53939Gaelic movie leads language renaissance By Brian Pendreigh ONE of Scotland’s most experienced film producers is to make an ambitious feature film full of myth and magic, and shot entirely in Gaelic. It is believed Seachd (Seven) will be the only the second-ever Gaelic-language cinema feature film. The only previous Gaelic feature, Hero, was directed by a visiting Englishman called Barney Platts-Mills and starred a bunch of amateurs from Drumchapel, who spoke dialogue phonetically. It flopped in cinemas and set a record audience low when it screened on Channel 4 in 1982. Christopher Young, who produced Gregory’s Two Girls and Bafta nominee Festival, has drawn on Scotland’s growing pool of Gaelic-speaking creative talent for Seachd. The word means Seven, though the film will have the alternative English title The Inaccessible Pinnacle, after the peak on Skye which figures in the storyline. Young insists he is not aiming Seachd purely at Scotland’s tiny Gaelic-speaking community, which numbers around 60,000-100,000. “I believe there is a potential market for the film as large as any other foreign-language, subtitled feature – and that can be very large,” he said. In recent years, Chinese films such as Hero (which had no connection to its Gaelic namesake) have grossed many millions worldwide. Seachd will present a series of stories told by an old man to his sceptical grandchildren. They illustrate facets of Gaelic history and character and include one story in which a girl enters a horse race on a seahorse. Although the budget of £600,000 is modest, the film is extremely ambitious in scope and vision and Young believes it can appeal to the same audience as the Ewan McGregor film Big Fish and the family classic The Princess Bride. “There is a place for Gaelic cinema alongside other non-English cinema in the global feature film market. It depends entirely on the quality of the product of course.” Young has made five feature films, stretching from Venus Peter, in 1988, to Festival, which was named best film at the British Comedy Awards in December and is up for two Baftas this month. Although born in Edinburgh, he has lived on Skye for several years and speaks Gaelic. Two years ago, he made a 15-minute film called Foighidinn (Patience), in which an old man relates a story set in the Middle Ages, and the feature film will use the same framework and characters. BBC Scotland and the Gaelic Media Service are backing the new venture and cinema distributors have also expressed interest. Seachd has been written by a team of five writers and will have four directors, including the young playwright Iain Finlay MacLeod. It will shoot on Skye this summer. Young said he was trying to “develop new Gaelic talent”. Demetrios Matheou, the Sunday Herald’s film critic, welcomed the movie. He said: “It doesn’t matter what language it’s in, if it’s a good film, it’s a good film. “Up to 100,000 Gaelic speakers in Scotland will have the pleasure of seeing a film in their own language and for the rest of us it will be like watching any other foreign language film with subtitles.” Mark Cousins, of Edinburgh-based 4-Way Films, agreed the movie was “good news” but added: “It shouldn’t have too much of a commercial impact because it will be competing in the arthouse market, but frankly so do most UK films.” Christina MacKenzie, of Aberdeen University’s Celtic department, suggested Seachd was part of a Gaelic cultural renaissance. “It’s part of an ongoing new confidence in Gaelic and I think it’s wonderful,” she said. A new Gaelic Language (Scotland) Bill, approved by MSPs last year, will give the ancient tongue official recognition and the Scottish Executive is committed to a Gaelic TV channel. But Young slammed the Executive for failing to fund Gaelic sufficiently. He said: “Not enough public money is spent on Gaelic in Scotland. “If you compare situation here with Wales and internationally, for example Catalonia in Spain, we have a long way to go. “The depth and richness of Scottish culture owes much to Gaelic culture and we ignore this at our peril.” 05 February 2006 |
| SLG |
First Gaelic film will tell a tale to boost the tongue
RHIANNON EDWARDS The Scotsman, 20.5.06 THE first Gaelic movie is to be announced at the Cannes Film Festival next week, with shooting due to begin on Skye later this month. The film, Seachd - The Inaccessible Pinnacle, is about a storyteller who helps his grandchildren face the tragic loss of their parents on the Cuillin mountains by telling them extraordinary tales. Padraig Morrison, from Grimsay, North Uist, will play the nine-year- old boy, and the Gaelic bard and novelist Aonghas Padraig Caimbeul his grandfather. Scottish Screen has invested £150,000 in the film, which comes a year after the Scottish Parliament gave Gaelic, which is spoken by about 70,000 people, equal status with English as an official language of Scotland. Chris Young, a Scottish film-maker who has had two English-language films compete at Cannes in previous years and is learning Gaelic, is trying to breathe new life into the Celtic language through cinema. He said: "Gaelic has the most fantastic tradition of music, poetry, literature and storytelling. Films are about stories. I thought it tragic that there wasn't a Gaelic cinema, so let's begin that." Though he comes from Edinburgh, Mr Young, 45, has lived with his wife and family on Skye for seven years. "I'm passionate about Gaelic," he said. "I'm not a fluent speaker, but my children are. I live in a part of the world where people are speaking Gaelic. There's a bilingual culture." He was "absolutely thrilled" to have the backing of Scottish Screen, adding that the film was the beginning of "a Gaelic new wave". Asked if there would be a big potential audience for a film in a minority language, he replied: "People will go and see a film if it is good." The feature film will be launched by the Highlands and Islands Film Commission at Cannes on Monday. |
| Leathlaobhair |
Films in other languages, especially ones like Gaelic are always in vogue anyway. I don't see why it would have a small market, as long as it had subtitles. |