Searchd Opens in Cardiff, a Scottish Galeic film at the heart of a language controversy with the Oscars . . .
"SOME OSCAR CONTROVERSY!"
"Seachd has not been put forward by BAFTA as the UK's official non-English language Oscar nominee."
See more here:
Forget Highlander and see Seachd, the first REAL Scottish Gaelic film
Searchd opens at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff this weekend:
Fri 21 - Sun 30 Dec
Gwe 21 - Sul 30 Rhag
Friday, 21 December 2007 17:00 Cinema 1
Saturday, 22 December 2007 15:00 Cinema 1
Saturday, 22 December 2007 17:00 Cinema 1
Sunday, 23 December 2007 17:00 Cinema 1
Thursday, 27 December 2007 17:00 Cinema 1
Friday, 28 December 2007 11:00 Cinema 1
Friday, 28 December 2007 17:00 Cinema 1
Saturday, 29 December 2007 15:00 Cinema 1
Saturday, 29 December 2007 17:00 Cinema 1
Sunday, 30 December 2007 17:00 Cinema 1
{Pictured above: publicity still from the Gaelic Language feature film, Searchd: The Impossible Pinnacle (2007).]
Scottish film director Simon Miller has put out an appeal for help, as it's been reported to Celtic Cult Cinema that the Scottish Parliament is poised to debate BAFTA Oscar Controversy over the alleged snub of the Gaelic Feature Film 'serachd: The Impossible Pinnacle (2007).
Simon Miller's Gaelic language feature film opens across Scotland this week, just as the BAFTA Oscar nomination controversy has caught fire.
It’s a film specifically about storytelling, and about the firm location of old stories in particular landscapes."
"A fitting theme for the first ever feature film in Scottish Gaelic."
[Quoted above from the programme book of the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2007]
What the critics are saying:"Gorgeously-realised blend of magic realism and family drama" THE HERALD
"Dramatic, funny, spectacular and steeped in Gaelic mythology" THE LIST
"Glows with warmth and humanity" THE OBSERVER
"Visually breathtaking" BBC
Simon Miller writes:
"As you may have seen in the Seachd group blurb on facebook BAFTA (The UK's film academy) has failed to put forward any non-English language films for the Best Foreign Language Film category at next year's Oscars - which includes Seachd."
"THERE IS SOMETHING YOU CAN DO TO HELP, PARTICULARLY THOSE OF YOU FROM OUTSIDE THE UK..."
"Of 18 Western European countries invited by the Academy to put non-English language films forward for the Oscars, the UK is the only one to fail to do so."
"BAFTAs decision is sensless and really could not have been made on some measure of the "quality" of the film, given the strong early reviews we have had (“excellent” The Sunday Times, “breathtaking” BBC, “tender, graceful…gorgeously-realised” The Herald, “worth shouting about” The Scotsman, “dramatic, funny and spectacular” The List, and “an astonishing production” Eye For Film). And surely they wouldn't have put forward such obviously English language turkeys as they have in recent years if quality really was the issue?"
"BAFTA is an institution designed to promote British film - in whatever language - and their decision feels dangerously close to censorship and it will mean - ultimately - that less people will get to see the film in the UK internationally."
"YOU CAN HELP CHANGE THAT..."
"We have been able to gather a great deal of support to help overturn their decision within the film industry in the UK, and also from the Academy who have written to BAFTA asking for an explanation. And we have just learned that this issue is on the agenda to be debated in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday this week."
"HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP..."
Read the entire story here:
http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,2177934,00.html
Read more here:
A CALL FOR HELP TO OVERTURN OUR GAELIC FILM'S OSCAR SNUB!
UK/2007/100 mins/subtitled/ctba. Dir: Simon Miller. With Aonghas Padruig Caimbeul, Padruig Morrison, Coll MacDonald.
This delightful Scottish Gaelic film features stunning scenery and powerful performances. Angus travels to Skye to say a final farewell to his grandfather and find out the truth about his parents.
"a poignant ode to storytelling" - BBCi
Seachd: The Inaccessible Pinnacle is the first feature film in Scottish Gaelic.
It is a film from the Scottish Gaelic community starring local Gaelic-speaking actors from the Highlands and Isles and was filmed entirely on the Isle of Skye (An t-Eilean Sgitheanach) off the West Coast of Scotland.
Seachd is not a Hollywood film. The film was shot across just 25 days on a tiny budget, but it is a film with a big heart and it represents the lives of people living in a part of the world that has yet to be shown on the big screen.
The soundtrack to Seachd features some of Gaeldom's greatest living vocalists and musicians - and ancient Gaelic instruments such as the Carnyx (Celtic battle horn), the metal strung Clàrsach (Gaelic harp) and the triplepipes (the predecessor of the bagpipes).
As it's said in Gaelic: Làn fhìrinn na sgeòil -- The truth is in the story. When a young man, Angus, visits his dying Grandfather in hospital he cannot hold back his boyhood quest for the truth - the truth behind the death of his parents and the truth behind his Grandfather's ancient, incredible, fearful stories.
Stories from the whole swathe of Gaelic history of poisoned lovers, bloody revenge, water-horses and Spanish gold.
His Grandfather hijacks Angus' life for one last time leading him to one of Scotland's most treacherous mountains, The Inaccessible Pinnacle on the Isle of Skye, and an ancient truth he never expected to find.
Làn fhìrinn na sgeòil. Tha Aonghas air a bhith air tòir na fìrinn o òige, miann a tha a' teannachadh na inntinn 's na chorp nuair a thuigeas e gu bheil am bàs gu laighe air a Sheanar.
Tha fios aig Aonghas gu bheil an t-àm dha eòlas a chur air an fhìrinn mu bhàs a phàrantan 's cuideachd mu sgeulachdan a Sheanair. Sgeulachdan iongantach, eagalach a thug air cuairt tro eachdraidh nan Gaidheal iad le gaol, sabaid, eich-uisge agus òr Spàinnteach nam measg.
Tha Aonghas 's a Sheanair a' gabhail aon chuairt eile còmhla, cuairt a tha gan toirt gu mullach Sgùrr Dearg 's gu fìrinn ris nach robh dùil sam bith.
Simon Miller's Searchd Official Website
Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries
mwoods[at]glam[dot]ac[dot]ukClick here to go directly to my personal blog page called Welsh-American Family Genealogy, on the World Wide Web.
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© 2007 Mark Leslie WoodsSmart & Sexy? Your Queer Advantage is waiting!
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