GSFF: We Are Guided
We Are Guided is a selection of Scottish short films exploring myths, histories, and the way that these things can either haunt us or connect us (or both).
In UFO, the first film in the selection, Miles and Stanley are reunited with their father after 15 years apart when they stumble across a group of ‘UFO monks’. Their father claims to have been abducted by aliens and has been living with the cult ever since. The film veers skillfully between fun absurdity, surreality, and touching sincerity as it explores what it means to be a family.
How the Earth Must See Itself (A Thirling) combines beautiful Scottish scenery with a haunting soundtrack and dreamlike choreography. The film was made as a response to Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain, a writer whose work, according to director Lucy Cash, imagines a different kind of relationship with what’s around us. A group of women move amongst nature – they are silent and non-intrusive. They move seemingly without purpose; they do not communicate with each other, but they move together. It is like a dance, but not a performance – we, as the viewer, feel incidental. Narrated by Shirley Henderson, the visuals and audio are hypnotic together. The final, haunting, line rings in your ears: “I have walked out of the body and into the mountains.”
UFO
In the documentary My Name is Anik, director Bircan Birol is visiting Istanbul from her home in Scotland. She is staying with her grandmother, Anik, in order to learn Kurdish to connect with her family’s history. Anik doesn’t understand why it’s so important to Bircan, but she has her own internal conflicts with the language – it was illegal in Turkey until 1991. Bircan and Anik are at ease in front of the camera – they are obviously very close and their chemistry is a joy to watch as they navigate their shared heritage and generational differences.
On New Year’s Eve in 1918, naval yachts were bringing soldiers home from World War I to Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides. The ships crashed off-shore and 201 people died. Tha thu air Aigeann M’Inntin tells this story, in Gaelic, through the voices of survivors and witnesses that director Catriona Black found in the BBC’s interview archives. The film was made as part of the centenary of the tragedy – at this point, all the survivors and their children had passed, and the community finally felt able to talk about it. In Black’s words, they were “opening a festering wound in order to heal it.” The film is animated; the animation-style is simple but effective, making use of shadows and darkness. Combined with the haunting score, it captures the grief and collective mourning of a community that has been altered forever.
Starting Over, based on one of Ian Rankin’s short stories, details a personal history rather than a shared one. Set in HMP Edinburgh, Ronnie is due to be released, but he’s haunted by nightmarish hallucinations about what he fears is waiting for him outside the walls of the prison. It’s an interesting exploration of the way the past can hold you prisoner – both physically and mentally.
In the final film, The Motorist, an ordinary tragedy gains epic mythological significance. A man refuses to get out of his car after running someone over, and events take a disturbing turn. It’s a very unsettling note to end on – it leaves you with more questions than answers, but that’s the point. It’s a film you’ll still be thinking about long after you’ve finished watching it.
