Head Curator: Grahame Reid
It was exciting. It was engaging. And it was very affordable. The Central Scotland Documentary Festival, held in late October and early November, offers unlimited admission to its five-day programme for just £15, or individual tickets from £4.50. The offer was almost a challenge: see as many documentaries as you wish, for a bargain price.
The enthusiastic tone of the festival was set by its head curator, Grahame Reid. He introduced movies, led Q&A sessions, handed out awards and chatted to movie-goers. Most importantly, he presided over a high-quality selection of documentaries.
All five of the events attended, held in four different spaces, were excellent. In the Filmhouse, we were treated to a screening of Mark Cousins’ superb A Sudden Glimpse To Deeper Things (reviewed on this site by Helen Tope), about the life and work of Scottish artist Wilhelmina Barns-Graham. The film-maker was present, paying a heart-felt tribute to two of his former lecturers who were in the audience. Cousins studied Film & Media at Stirling from 1983 to 1987.
Another fascinating artist biography, John Craxton: A Life Of Gifts, by Tony Britten, was shown in the Playhouse and introduced by Sarah Bromage, curator of the university’s art collection. She told the story of the commissioning of a fabulous tapestry, based on a Craxton painting, which was displayed in the adjacent foyer.
Since Yesterday: The Untold Story Of Scotland’s Girl Bands (another film featured on this site) was presented in the Macrobert’s Mainhouse, a luxurious setting where waves of warm laughter accompanied this informative and compelling celebration of women singers, songwriters, musicians, reflecting on their younger days.
Back in the Playhouse, Plastic People, by Ben Addelman and Ziya Tong, explored the effects of plastics on the environment. If you thought you knew about this, the well-priced festival pass persuades you to take a look anyway, and you will be glad you did.
This full-length Canadian movie provides a potted history of the production of plastics, including a focus on how single-use plastic became a driver of sales and profits. We get the expected part about the impact of discarded plastic on wildlife, but the main theme is about how tiny particles of plastic are finding their way into human bodies too – organs, blood, brain tissue, even the placentas of new mothers.
Any film of this nature depends on its storytelling to maximise its impact, and the creators have gently laid out their evidence rather than shouting a message. It’s entertaining and persuasive; we can draw our own (devastating) conclusions. The movie is extremely well edited, striking a great balance between factual thoroughness and narrative pace. Do catch it if you get a chance.
Perhaps the quirkiest and most intimate event was packaged as ‘A Doc / A Dinner / A Drink’ and was held on the Macrobert’s sizeable stage, curtain down, with the movie being projected onto on a screen with its back to the main auditorium. We were seated at circular tables and the dinner turned out to be two vegan curries with flatbreads; if you asked nicely, you could have a bit of both.
The documentary was a splendid 1965 black and white curiosity from STV, an hour of Alfred Hitchcock paying tribute to the acknowledged father of the British documentary movement, John Grierson, born in the local area, and whose archive is held by the university.
The film features clips spanning Grierson’s career, while Hitchcock’s witty quips seem to be directly addressed across time to his festival dinner audience. What a pleasure! This was a good reminder of both Grierson’s influence and the breadth of interests of the Master of Suspense.
Overall, this edition of the festival was a fine reason to visit the City of Stirling in its 900th anniversary year, with a good buzz around the screenings and plenty of bonus elements adding value. Having never been before – the festival was established in 2017 – The Reviews Hub is already looking forward to next year’s events.
The Central Scotland Documentary Festival ran from 31 October – 4 November 2024
The Reviews Hub Score
Full of delights
