Broadcast News

Bookmark and Share
20/08/2004

Scottish Screen to hold retrospective for unique filmmaker

A major retrospective of the work of Margaret Tait will be presented at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival.
The retrospective is the result of a two-year collaboration between Scottish Screen, the Lux and film programmer/writer Peter Todd to preserve and re-present the work of one of Scotland’s internationally acclaimed filmmakers.
Presented by Peter Todd, a series of five screenings of shorts from newly preserved prints made by the Scottish Screen Archive will be shown nightly from August 23.
Orcadian artist, poet and filmmaker Tait realised her vision of the world across many of the artificial boundaries in the arts. She produced in excess of 30 films between 1952 and 1996. Due to geographic isolation and the fact that she worked so independently most of her work remains relatively unseen by the general public. Her work references both cinema and visual arts as well as being an important ethnographic record of Scottish and Orcadian life: all the more unique for being produced by a Scottish woman working outside the traditional film industry.
Most of her films were self funded and distributed and have remained outside the commercial exhibition network. The scarcity of prints and her distrust of the institutions of film production have meant that her work has been difficult to access in the last 20 years. She directed her first feature film, ‘Blue Black Permanent’, in 1992 at the age of 74.
Curator of the Scottish Screen Archive, Janet McBain, said: "Preserving the Margaret Tait collection is one of the most challenging projects faced by the Scottish Screen Archive. An array of experimental and non-conventional film making techniques, such as painting and scratching on the films’ surface, splicing negative and positive film stocks together within one title plus the physical characteristics all compounded by the ravages of time and the environment made this a fascinating if difficult assignment."
The conditions of storage in Tait’s island studio, a converted kirk building, had not been kind to the films - damp being the main problem. This was compounded by the fact that the filmmaker had an ‘individual’ relationship with film laboratories. Early in her film career a laboratory mislaid the negative of Rose Street (1956). It has never been found.
She preferred that all original material and printing masters be returned to her studio instead of being placed into store in laboratory vaults as is customary. As a result all the elements of the film, camera reversals and negatives, have been affected by damp and mould, not just the projection copies that a filmmaker would normally have in their possession. Most alarming is the evidence that original copies (sometimes the only existing copy of a work) had been used as projection prints, original negatives were scratched, and damaged, prints had been re-edited after printing, with paint added to some to produce different endings.
The Margaret Tait retrospective begins on Monday August 23 at Filmhouse in Edinburgh and continues until Saturday August 28, when her only feature film, Blue Black Permanent, will be screened.
(GB)
Solidmate Ltd Memory Card Hire London

Top Related Stories
Click here for the latest broadcast news stories.

08/06/2023
Zero Density Announces Its Green Screen & XR Workshop
Zero Density has announced its Green Screen & XR Workshop, an upcoming virtual production event created in partnership with Vū Technologies. The
05/04/2023
Magewell Adds Wireless Screen Sharing Inputs To USB Fusion Video Capture And Mixing Device
Magewell has dramatically expanded the input source possibilities of its exceptionally flexible USB Fusion video capture and mixing hardware with new
09/07/2003
Scottish Screen funded film to open Edinburgh Film Festival
For the second year running a Scottish Screen lottery funded film will have the honour of opening the Edinburgh International Film Festival. 'Young Ad
08/03/2006
Scottish Screen to present a feast of Scottish film in NYC
As part of the Tartan Week celebrations, Scottish Screen will present an eight-day festival of Scottish film in New York during the first week of Apri
19/10/2006
BAFTA Scotland To Run Scottish Students On Screen
Scottish Screen has announced that BAFTA Scotland will now run Scottish Students on Screen, the successful project which showcases the work of Scotlan
16/08/2001
FILM SCHOOL IN WALES INTRODUCE MA COURSE IN FILM WORK
THE INTERNATIONAL Film School have introduced a full-time Masters course aimed at film work in fiction, faction, animation and non-genre. The MA cours
20/09/2004
New opportunity for Scottish visual artists launched
A £50,000 fund for Scottish visual artists working in film and video has been created by a partnership between the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish
30/08/2023
TNDV Puts New Sony And Panasonic 4K/HD Camera Fleet To Work
TNDV has been putting its new Sony and Panasonic 4K/HD camera fleet to work this summer for high-resolution content acquisition of live and recorded e
24/02/2023
Equipson Expands WORK PRO Brand
Equipson has expanded its WORK PRO brand with the launch of SYNTHEA, a new range of multi-purpose amplifiers that are specifically designed for AV ins
17/11/2017
UK Studios: An International Success Story
It has often been said that Hollywood is the most recognisable film industry in the world, with hundreds of movies and television series generated eve
04/03/2024
StillMoving Appoints Head Of Film
StillMoving has appointed Joseph Turp as its Head of Film. The appointment signals the next stage of growth for the company, which enjoyed a record ye
11/07/2023
Fabstir Unveils Vision To Democratise Film And Media Market
Fabstir, a groundbreaking platform leveraging Web3 technologies, has announced a vision to transform the film and media industry by democratizing the
10/07/2023
Brompton Technology Helps Cyans LED Virtual Studio Transform Taiwan'sTV And Film Production Industry
Harvatek, a Taiwanese supplier of LEDs, has partnered with an experienced local equipment distributor to establish a joint subsidiary called Cyans Vis
07/10/2003
Scottish Screen backed film takes French award
Richard Jobson has won the award as Best Director for his first feature film, '16 Years of Alcohol' at the Dinard Festival of British Film in France.
11/11/2002
Scottish Screen postpone Obree film project
Scottish Screen and Flying Scotsman Films have announced that due to a last minute funding difficulty, 'The Flying Scotsman', a planned film about cyc