WavelengthConnecting Scotlands Creative Community

Folk Film FestivalReturnsInterview with Linda Gra-ham, Trainspotting Newsand much more

Content

1. Plans for Scottish Film Studio Firming up

2. Wold Record Store Day

3.Folk Film Festival

4. Film Screening Tackles Economy

5.Q and A with Linda Graham

6 Trainspotting Update

With plans for it’s first film studio proggressing, filming of Scottish cult classicTrainspotting and season 2 of Outlander, the show that single-handedly boostedthe industry, launching this month aswell as a Folk Film festival returning nextweek it’s a very exciting time for the Scottish film industry.

Plans for Scottish FilmStudio Firming Up

Plans to build a Film Studio in Scotlandare firming up as experts claim the lackof one is “holding Scotland back”Of the number of Scottish sites pro-posed to home Scotland’s first perma-nent film studio Wardpark is thefront-runner.Last month the Scottish Governmentbacked plans to build a permanent filmstudio in Wardpark Cumbernauld.The Scottish smash hit “outlander” iscurrently filmed in the purpose builtstudio in Cumbernauld but plans totransform this into a permanent spot islooking increasingly likely.Star of the show Sam Heughan hasbacked the plans saying the progressmade in the makeshift studio “proves itcan be done”The development, which also includesa back lot and offices, would increasethe size of the facility by almost twothirds, taking it up to almost 80,000sqft.The private company, which shootsOutlander, at Waldpark, has requested4 million in Scottish Government fund-ing to expand the site from four soundstages to six.Experts have claimed that Scotland isfalling behind, as it’s the only country inthe UK without a film studio, which hasresulted in a struggling industry.Professor Nick Higgins, award winningdirector and head of creative media at

the University of the West of Scotlandwho thinks Scotland is ‘missing a trick’said: “Pinewood are so busy thatthey’ve had to open another studio Inwales, wales is so busy that you’ve gotpeople opening a studio in Yorkshireand Scotland sadly is not so busy thatwe haven’t got a studio”Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop saidearlier this month that Scotland hasprospects for "not just one, but a num-ber of studios"The other site proposed will be on theoutskirts of Edinburgh and is currentlyestimated to cost more than £230 mil-lion to build.The Pentland studio project based inMidlothian is estimated to take aroundfive years to build.The site is said to include “soundstages” up to 70ft tall for indoor filming,two backlots suitable for blockbusterproductions, a film academy, a hotel, a50,000sq ft creative industries hub and50,000sq ft of workshops.So far the plans, which have been onthe table for three years have receivedno official endorsement from the Scot-tish government and has been op-posed by Midlothian council chiefsafter they claimed it would cause anunacceptable disruption to local resi-dents.

World Record StoreDay- What to Expect

WORLD RECORD store day is look-ing to be the biggest to date in Glas-gow and across the world.Every 3rd Saturday in the month ofApril holds a dear place in the heartsof vintage music lovers, one of themost anticipated days in the musiccalendar: World Record Store DayThis year is shaping up to be no dif-ferent with independent record storesacross Glasgow gearing up to pleasethe fans with rare and exclusive vinylrecords.Last year hundreds of Glaswegiansflocked to Record stores includingLove Music, monorail and mixed uprecords to get their hand on exclusivecontent.Since it launched eight years agoRecord Store day has become in-creasingly popular. Love Music, cen-tred in Glasgow City has had toambitiously take over 3 venues to

host the event after last year sawqueues up to an hour long.Although Vinyl records are looking un-likely to reach the sales it saw in thepeak of the 70s and 80s the numberin recent years has steadily in-creased. With an all time low in 2007with around only 200,000 records soldin the UK the number has increased.Last year the number of Vinyl soldreached 2.1 million proving there’sstill some life in the grooves of 12’’Record.Kim Bayley, CEO of the Entertain-ment Retailers Association who coor-dinates Record Store Day in the UKwith a board of indie retailers, said:"Record Store Day continues to en-courage new entrants to the marketwith a further 17 independent recordshops having opened in UK in thepast 12 months.”Lewis Renfrew, Music lover and em

From Alan Partridge to David Bowie: The Vinyl Resurgence continues

ployee of Oxfam Music, a spotrenowned for it’s exclusive and alterna-tive content including records said:“there’s something about the exclusiv-ity of it that people love, it’s the onlychance to get certain records”With a collection of exclusive contentincluding T-Rex, Fleetwood Mac andeven a chance to buy The Force awak-ens soundtrack, scored by JohnWilliams.Also expected on the day, as has be-come customary, is live music and DJsets to celebrate the yearly event.Bass player in Glasgow based bandTweaking has been a patron of theevent for 5 years now and highlightedsome changes: “It’s definitely busier,year after year the crowds and thequeues get bigger and bigger, the con-tents good but it’s often pretty expen-sive”With 26.8 billion songs streamed lastyear he emergence of the internet andstreaming has made a huge dent in thephysical production of music but worldrecord store day represents a symbolof hope for fans of vintage, physicalmusic.It’s almost the one-year anniversarysince the launch of the UK’s first Vinylchart.David Bowie’s exclusive records areexpected to top the charts after thesinger’s death earlier this year.

“there’s something about the exclusivityof it that people love”

A Scottish film festival which tackles socialissues gives film fans a chance to see alter-native perspectives of society.THE FOLK FILM FESTIVAL is set to returnto Scotland's capital, for a second year, tocelebrate folk culture, history and the experi-ences of the working class.The festival, which made its debut last yearin Edinburgh, boasts an obscure and alterna-tive selection of folk cinema, from Bradford toEthiopia, with a focus on tradition, social is-sues and film makers interactions with com-munities.

Folk Cinema, which organiser of the eventJamie Chambers describes as: "a collectiveSubaltern experience" gives an opportunityto represent the working class' experience,with too many film projects: "done to commu-nities rather than by them"The festival aims to look at alternatelifestyles that are often misrepresent on thebig screen, Chambers said: "We're trying toexplore the different ways in which workingclass and subaltern experiences can be au-thentically, accurately and respectfully repre-sented in film"

Folk Film Festival Re

The project which bills itself as the world'sfirst festival of folk cinema will be held in thecapitals Filmhouse as a collaboration withTradFest.The event will play host to a mixture of origi-nal films and some newly restored contentfrom Scotland's past.Scottish tradition and the art of storytellingwill feature heavily throughout the festivalwith screenings opening with a TradFest sto-ryteller exploring the correlation betweenScottish oral traditions and the big screen.After what Chambers described as a suc-

cessful debut last year the project has con-tinued to grow with the festivals programmealmost doubling this year."The films have a sense of collective experi-ence and community, it's a wider celebrationof traditional culture, folk culture and Scottishculture"Social issues such as land reform will be ex-plored, though the median of film. LostTreasure by Dawn Cine looks at a Glasgowbased project, from the 1950's, which investi-gates depopulation within rural areas ofScotland. The project has been reinvigorated

eturns to Edinburgh

with help from film maker Minttu Manty-nen responding to the lost footage. Theaudio-visual project which was commis-sioned by the Glasgow short film festivalwill be accompanied by live musiciansDrew Wright (aka Wounded Knee) andHamish Brown (Swimmer One).Some highlights of the festival include arare opportunity to see the 1989 Scot-tish classic Venus Peter in 35mm withproducer Christopher Young, who pro-duced TV comedy The Inbetweeners.There's also the chance to see the Scot-tish premier of the Cannes hit: Songsmy Brother Taught Me, which comesfrom across the pond, and examines thelives of a community of Native Ameri-cans in South Dakota.Film makers will be participating in theevent, including a Q and A with directorAllen Moore after the premier of the re-stored version of the rare documentaryShepherds of Berneray.Chambers believes the festival haslongevity and the potential to be an an-nual fixture among Scotland's long lineof film festivals: "we very much hope our

festival will become a long standing partof the cultural landscape in Scotland"Animal's and their relationship to com-munities as well as children's perspec-tives will also be explored throughoutthe festival which will take place laterthis month, starting on the 28th Apriland ending 12th of May.

Screening of documentary that ex-amines the economy is set to launchits tour across East Lothian today. THE SCREENING tour of 'BoomBust Boom', which aims to start a di-alogue amongst communities aboutthe future of our economy and howto create stable banking, startstonight. The project which was launched byCommon Weal East Lothian andPositive money Haddington aims toeducate the community using, thewhimsical yet insightful, documentaryas a catalyst for change. Through a combination of live actionfootage, animation and puppetry the

film aims to explain, why economiccrashes happen and attempts tomake the subject palpable. Co-written by director, historian andMonty Python star Terry Jones andeconomics professor Theo Kocken,the multimedia documentary is partof global movement to educate andprotect the world from booms andbusts.Marek Wasniewski, coordinator fromPositive money Haddington and adriving force behind the event,hopes the film will change the waypeople look at the economy: "weneed to change the way money isviewed, money is about relationships

Screening Tour Tackles the Economy

between people"Wasniewski plans to use the film as ajumping off point to get the conversa-tion going: "The film content is a goodgrounding for further discussion anddebate. It does not put forward toomuch in the way of solutions but sug-gests the general direction we oughtto be going in and invites us to talkabout it. "The overall aim of the project is to dis-cuss the possibility of reforming Scot-land's banking' and to change theperception of economics. There are seven locations across EastLothian on the tour and after the finalshowing a panel will discuss the topicsraised, guest speakers includeGeorge Kerevan MP, a member of thetreasury select committee and econo-mist; and Gemma Bone, author of'Banking for the Common Good'. Strategies for creating a stable bank inScotland as well as the future of Scot-tish businesses will be on the agenda. Focused on young people Wasniewskisaid: "its, their future, they're the peo-ple who will be affected by what wedo now, they'll have to pay taxes andrely on a stable economy" Positivemoney Haddington, in the future,plans to tour the film across schoolsand focus on educating the next gen-eration. The project also plans to target thebusiness community: "they play a cru-cial role within the economy and theyare the most likely to be affected first"According to a survey by retail re-

search over 6,800 employees were af-fected by the 25 companies that failedin 2015. The documentary, see's contributionsfrom leading experts including AndyHaldane, the Chief Economist of thebank of England, as well as viewsfrom journalist Paul Mason and prolificmovie actor John Cusack. All showings are free of charge, thefirst screening starts tonight at 7:30pmin Gifford village hall.

Q and A with Linda Graham

With the emergence of BBC's plans to launch a new Scottish hour long show'the Scottish six' it's a very exciting time for broadcasting in Scotland. How-ever, it's not just big organisations like the BBC that are progressively tying toinform the nation, Linda Graham operator of Broadcasting Scotland dis-cusses whether the 'Scottish six' is a good idea, the potential and talent inthe industry as well as what more could be done.

Broadcasting Scotland is an independent new media service that aims to in-form Scotland with balanced fair news. The project evolved from Referen-dum TV which had originally been established to cover Scotland'sIndependence Referendum.

Is the Scottish 6 a goodIdea?Oh yeah, it has to be, even ifits relatively badly done i stillthink it'll be better thanwhat's there just nowIs Scotland Capable ofdoing it to a high stan-dard?“We have a really talentedpool of presenters, produc-ers and journalists in theBBC, when i say relativelythey're never tested orproven to their abilities halfthe time in Scotland. BBCpresenters, journalists, inter-national reporters have beensome of the best. We al-ready do GMS and news-drive, where the edit thenews, the top story is the topstory, there's a top Britishstory a top Scottish story anda top international story andone of these will be the topstory depending on how im-portant it is, if there's atsunami that would be thetop story so you'll edit thehour long programme basedon that. The capability of doing itexist at the pacific Quay al-though the BBC like to tryand belittle the Scottish pro-gramming." What do you think of theBBC?“Although people claim theBBC is bias, I do sometimes,it's designed to preserve theBritish state, there is talentcapable of doing it there. The only thing that let downthe BBC Scottish content isthe programming they pro-duce just now, the don't dothem to the quality they good

do. There's a whole lot ofscope to do things a lot bet-ter”What would you want tosee in a Scottish news Pro-gramme?“Fair relevant news, what wedon't need in our news at 6o'clock is stories about thehealth service in the southwest of England, i doesn't af-

fect us except to the extentthat budgets affect us whichcome under politics. localCrime as well, unless itsegregious and serious itdoesn't need to be reportedin Scotland so the choice ofwhat is reported is impor-tant.” What would Scotland dodifferently?“The stories could rangefrom Rangers getting pro-moted back to premierleague again, it might hap-pen, that could be a Scottishstory but it could equally be arefugee story, which mighthave a different editorialslant than it would be donefor London, guess what peo-

ple in Scotland aren't dyingto see refugees kicked out,the take would be different.In Scotland if they can freeup the style and the editorialplatform there's potential tobe brilliant stuff”How would you rival a pro-gramme like the 'Scottish6'?“We won't, we may at somestage, news gathering is ex-pensive, if i had a fraction ofBBC resources i could do alot but to begin with we can-not even begin to look atcompeting. I can get interna-tional news and stories butits just the whole newsroomconfiguration of that takesmassive amount of organisa-tion and resources and tobegin with you can't do that.”What do you aim to do atBroadcsing Scotland?“We aim to be able to pres-ent a positive vision of Scot-land by people in Scotland topeople the Scotland stories,interviews, political discus-sion and build on the wholegambit that's already outthere in a way that can basi-cally show that we're morethan capable of doing this forourselves.”

Trainspotting SequelUpdate

Sequel of the highly anticipated cult classicTrainspotting begins shooting next month.Original author of Trainspotting Irvine Welshand one of the film's stars Robert Carlisle re-vealed some interesting information at anevent in Edinburgh celebrating the 20th an-niversary of the filmRobert Carlisle, who plays psychopath Beg-bie revealed that filming is set to start nextmonth and said the script is looking “ab-solutely fantastic”Despite the original film set in Edinburgh themajority of scenes were filmed here in Glas-gow.This time around Carlisle told: “it's going tobe pretty much 50-50 between Edinburghand Glasgow”Carlisle also revealed some information

about the script itself: "The strength of thisnew script is the fact that the narrative is abit stronger than it was in the original.”"In the first one, when you think about it, it'shard to remember what they did other thanget together, the drug deal at the end, andthen it's over.Also the film was awarded £500k from cre-ative commons earlier this week.With the original Budget of only £1.5 million,the stakes are higher this time around withan estimated £13 million.The film is expected to be released nextyear.