The Moomins will take over Tiree next week as part of the annual Sea Change festival, which celebrates the life and work of female filmmakers.
In honour of their creator, Tove Jansson, the event will look at how her work was inspired by remote islands and the rich links between Finnish and Hebridean culture.
As well as a family Moomins trail, documentary maker Eeva Putro will introduce her film Tove, the inspiring and moving life story of the woman who created the cartoon favourites.
Some of their adventures will also be translated into Gaelic in a selection of hand-picked shorts.
Jen Skinner, festival director, said: “We are so excited to bring people back together in person, for this year’s Sea Change. We are delighted to be working in partnership with the Finnish Institute to bring you a celebration of Tove Jansson and her Moomins.
“Tove’s work was inspired by nature on a remote island, the island of Tiree is the perfect place to explore it further.
“We will travel with Tove and her partner across Japan, we will spend time in Finland, Portugal, France, returning to Scotland for a dance and a walk along the beach.
“There will be workshops, talks, lots of fantastic films and of course our daily swim! We have so many amazing directors attending either in person or virtually this year, it is going to be brilliant.”
The festival was founded with the mission to support women across the screen industries, both by running a Development Lab to help nurture new talent and by running a series of screenings to bring a new community of audiences to films made by female filmmaking talent.
The Development Lab will run from September 21 to 23 and will bring together experienced practitioners and respected industry experts to inspire participants to explore new ways of working, promote discussion and facilitate learning around the challenges and barriers facing women in the UK screen industries in a safe and positive space.
Confirmed speakers include Melanie Iredale from Birds Eye Films, Milia Mokkola from Finland’s Midnight Sun Film Festival, Catharine Des Forges from Independent Cinema Office, Ros Cranston from BFI Archive and Lindsey Dryden from Little By Little Films.
Alongside intensive coaching and development sessions participants will enjoy beach walks, barbeques, swims in the Hebridean seas and Tyree Gin tastings.
The festival will then, between September 23 and 25, open a public programme of new and classic films by women.
Highlights include Journey to the Isles: Marjory Kennedy Fraser, a number of silent films shot by the legendary Hebridean song collector in 1905 with a new soundtrack performed live by Marion Kenny and Mairi Campbell.
Also being show is The Camera is Ours, a collection of pioneering documentary shorts by British female filmmakers from the 1930s – 1960s. This includes work by Scottish directors Ruby and Marion Grierson, sisters of celebrated documentarian John Grierson, curated by the BFI’s Ros Cranston, who will introduce the screening.
Lizzie MacKenzie will also be on hand for the showing of her award-winning documentary about Ken Smith a.k.a The Hermit of Treig.
The public festival will take place at venues across the island, including the distillery, Baugh Church, and An Talla Community Hall.
Check out our trailer for Sea Change 2022!
Festival passes starting from £35.00 are available on our website: https://t.co/2q62JggsvT
Independent tickets for screenings coming soon ✨ pic.twitter.com/BM5rXG4XMz
— @Screen Argyll (@screenargyll) September 12, 2022
Skinner, who is also director of Screen Argyll, added: “We want to work together to bring change, to support women in the industry to find their voice, to give us the opportunity to see ourselves on screen and to widen the access to voices and experiences that are portrayed in cinema, opening up the world through film.
“All of the films in our programme are directed by women, our opening night event, Journey to the Isles, from HippFest, celebrates Hebridean culture, landscape and stories, setting the scene for the weekend.”
For more information visit screenargyll.co.uk
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