Screenplay is here!

Screenplay is here again!

Screenplay, Shetland’s annual film festival, has come around the corner for its eleventh year. As a young film maker and member of Maddrim Media, I am over the moon for it to shortly begin. Usually, one of my short films would be shown in the “Homemade” section of the festival, but as I am going off on my own big adventure to Dundee for university this year, I haven’t had the chance to enter a film. I’ll also only be at Screenplay (come see me at the volunteers table!) for the opening weekend as I leave for university during the festival, which is terrifying, but also exciting! That means, I’ll be working as hard as I can to make this screenplay the most memorable, a hard feat considering last year there were over one hundred balloons and two hundred cupcakes to celebrate Screenplay’s tenth birthday! Even though I won’t have a film to show, I can’t wait to see Mark Kermode (Kermode and Mayo, anyone?) and his family - directors of the festival alongside Kathy (a familiar face for all at the Mareel venue) - again, and for one of the final times!  This year we have a wide variety of screenings, from Guest speaker Bill Nighy’s new film, “The Limehouse Golem”, to obscure clay motion children’s film “My Life as a Courgette” to the Faroese documentary “The Islands and the Whales”- a sobering yet largely impartial look at the tradition of Whaling and the damaging affects it is now having on the health of the Faroese population, which I was lucky enough to watch at the Edinburgh Film Festival (and highly recommend). And of course, our educational screenings, talks and workshops, ever growing in popularity, continue this year. Meaning that Screenplay is truly a mixture o’ mercies and that there is something for all!

However, the one event I’m truthfully excited for is the “Great Poster Giveaway”- wherein for one whole day Mareel will be letting the general public of Shetland browse and take film posters, and they have amassed hundreds in the past five years, for a suggested donation of £1 per poster. As I’ll be moving into Halls when I get to university, I’ll certainly make use of this event to decorate the red cork noticeboard above my desk! This event runs between 10:30 and 3:30 on the 27^th of August and is situated in the Auditorium.

I cannot wait for this year’s Screenplay, starting on the 25^th of August and running to the 3^rd of September, but these are also my last days on my island home. While this is upsetting, I truly am excited to start my new adventure studying Law at uni, and I look forward to city and student life. I’d call for a leaving spree, but I’ll just get those over the age of 18 to Mixology at Mareel on the 25^th for film inspired cocktails, if you please!