We’re delighted that the first screenings of our 2017 tour will take place in the wonderful surroundings of the Mhor Festival.

We will screen over 70 films in the 3 days of the festival and are delighted to be working with Glasgow Short Film Festival, Film G, The Scottish Documentary Institute, The University Of West of Scotland, Wee Linties, Lisa and Tom and many others to bring you this programme.

From family animations to warm-hearted classics, political documentary to experimental forms we aim to inform, challenge and entertain you. Below are some specially selected highlights of the festival for the full programme for each day go to Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

Wee Linties Travelling Archive presents The Singing Street – Saturday 3pm 

The Singing Street is a wonderful slice of Scottish life. This 1951 film is a collection of children’s songs and street games, recorded on the streets of Edinburgh. After the screening, Wee Linties are inviting you out to play! We’ll be learning some of the songs and games featured in the film and having a wee go at making up our own. If you have songs and games from your own streets to share, we would love to hear them and add them to a special archive of our own! Workshop suitable for all ages

10 Years of Film G – Friday 6pm 

FilmG is a Gaelic Short Film Competition. Launched in 2009, with the aim of finding new talent for BBC Alba, and acting as a platform for writers, filmmakers and actors, the competition has gone from strength to strength over the years, attracting over 600 entries thus far. Join us to enjoy some of the very best of their back catalogue.

Geordie | Frank Launder | 1955 | UK  –  Sunday 12noon

This charming and warm hearted comedy uses the Trossachs and the area surrounding Monachyle Mhor as the setting for the early years Geordie MacTaggart (Bill Travers). A slight boy who lives in the Scottish Highlands and is constantly bullied by the other boys, who call him “Wee Geordie.” He decides to embark on a bodybuilding course, and is so successful that he grows up to be an elite hammer-thrower, representing Britain at the Olympic Games in Melbourne. His girlfriend, Jean (Norah Gorsen), is put off by his vanity, but, while competing in Australia, he meets and falls for female shot-putter Helga (Doris Goddard).

Sita Sings the Blues | Nina Paley | 2008 | USA – Saturday 6pm

Sita Sings the Blues is a wonderful animated film written, directed, produced and animated by American artist Nina Paley. Episodes from the story of Ramayana and scenes from the artist’s own life are animated and set to songs performed by 1920s jazz singer Annette Hanshaw. Sita, and this re-interpreted myth of Ramayana  are brought to life using the strikingly modern technique of vector graphic animation as the ancient mythological and modern biographical plots intertwine inviting new interpretations and understandings.

Film critic Roger Ebert was “enchanted” and “swept away” by this film and called it one of the year’s best films in 2009.

The 39 Steps | Ralph Thomas | 1959 | UK – Saturday 8pm  

Ralph Thomas’s 1959 version of the 39 Steps uses Central Scotland and the Trossachs as the backdrop for the adventures of Richard Hannay (Kenneth More) . With one famous scene filmed on the bridge over the River Balvag in nearby Balquhidder.

The film commences as Hannay arrives in London and saves a nanny from a hit-and-run driver before discovering that she’s actually a spy trying to stop the theft of military secrets. After the woman is killed, Hannay goes to Scotland in an attempt to stop the plot’s leader himself. Along the way he has several narrow escapes, dodging both the police and assassins, as well as getting handcuffed to a girls school instructor (Taina Elg) who doesn’t believe his wild tale.