Blackbird, a film inspired by Martyn Bennett's track from the album GRIT, has been nominated for this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival Michael Powell Award

Transgressive North presents a Deerstalker Films Production in association with Scotland South West screen Commission.

Directed by Jamie Chambers and nominated for this year’s prestigious Michael Powell Award, BLACKBIRD is a captivating tale of belonging and loss that receives its public world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on Tuesday 25 June at Filmhouse 1 at 8.50pm and Thursday 27 June at Cineworld 3 at 6.25pm.

Aspiring young bard, Ruadhan (Andrew Rothney), despairs as the fabric of his Scottish hometown begins to change. There are no fish in the sea, no jobs and a steady exodus to the city. Life as he loves it is slipping away and Ruadhan's idol, town bard Alec (Norman Maclean), has little stomach to fight the decline.

Long-time best pal, Calum (Patrick Wallace), and returning childhood friend, Amy (Scarlett Mack), spark Ruadhan's struggle to keep the past alive. When Alec takes off to a retirement home in mysterious circumstances, Ruadhan must act quickly to save him and protect the town he loves. As his battle spirals out of control, it soon becomes Ruadhan who needs saving.

Featuring legendary performers Norman Maclean and Sheila Stewart, BLACKBIRD brings Scotland's most loved folk heroes to the big screen alongside up-and-coming Scottish talent.

Of the film’s inclusion in this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, director Jamie Chambers comments, ‘I am thrilled that we are able to debut Blackbird in my hometown, at the festival where I first saw the films of Bong Joon Ho and Foreign American alongside many others that have inspired and fed BLACKBIRD.

‘Whilst BLACKBIRD cannot escape a sense of elegy at a time when the loss of a generation of tradition bearers is a very real phenomenon across Scotland, we hope that the film still embodies a sense of hope  in depicting and embodying an engagement between generations of Scots old and new.'

Producer James Barrett adds, ‘I don’t think we could have hoped for a more fitting place to debut our film than the Edinburgh International Film Festival. The communities where we shot the film (the Machars in Dumfries and Galloway) rallied around us during the film-making process and their engagement was critical. The spirit in which the film was undertaken remains an inspiration and to be able to screen the film at one of the world’s most prestigious film festivals – and to be nominated for the Michael Powell Award – seems a fitting tribute to their passion and enthusiasm for the project.’

Jamie Chambers on the making of Blackbird

The 'Blackbird' film project started for me with Martyn's music.

For me, Martyn served as a gateway to a whole side of Scottish culture that , up to that point, I didn't know existed. As a young Scot I had long been looking for something amidst the tartantry and the tack that I felt was 'authentic', and in Martyn's music I found something both old and new - that made me feel proud about where I was from, but also gave me a desire to travel both literally and culturally - and which led me in turn to a deeply exciting and inspiring Scottish folk discourse in the work of Hamish Henderson, Timothy Neat and Margaret Bennett, which then in itself led me subsequentlyto Sheila Stewart (who's performance on 'Move' I had loved from the second I heard it) and the legendary Norman Maclean - all of whom have played a part, whether directly or indirectly, in the making of the film 'Blackbird'.

More than a gateway to an authentic Scots tradition however, Martyn's music was also bracingly new to me. As a teenager growing up in Scotland listening to Fatboy Slim, Goldie, Orbital and Leftfield, it was exhilarating to find someone in Scotland making music with a similar pulse it, but which also managed to incorporate a sense of locality and specificity from where it came from.

The central character of Ruadhan Begg in 'Blackbird' isn't Martyn, but he's someone who - like Martyn - cares a great deal about preserving the past, and the 'old soul' of his community. Unlike Martyn however, Ruadhan is initially unwilling to embrace the new as well as the old, and so it is that Martyn's track 'Blackbird' plays so significantly at the end of the film, at the point where Ruadhan begins to understand the importance of embracing change as well as holding steadfastly onto the past.

Along with its sister film 'When the Song Dies', (which also features Martyn's music and appearances from Margaret, Norman and Sheila), I hope that 'Blackbird' will help bring Scottish folk culture to audiences around the world through the medium of film. 'Where the Song Dies' has screened at Raindance, Glasgow, Berlin, Tribeca, Los Angeles with several more screenings TBC - and we hope Blackbird will have a similair international career and take Martyn's music, the talents of Sheila, Margaret and Norman, and the ideas of Hamish and Tim to the wider global audiences they deserve.

Director: Jamie Chambers
Producer: James Barrett
Exec Producers: Margaret Glover, Alasdair Robertson
Scriptwriters: Jamie Chambers, John Craine, Robyn Pete
Editor: Martin McEwan
DoP: John Craine
Production Designer: Anisha Fields
Sound Production: Tom Hatcher
Music: Duncan Strachan, Jamie Chambers, Michael Brogan, Esther Swift, Patrick Kenny, Brendan Musk
Cast: Andrew Rothney, Scarlett Mack, Patrick Wallace, Sheila Stewart, Norman Maclean, Margaret Bennett

About Jamie Chambers

JAMIE CHAMBERS came to filmmaking after eight years studying music at St Mary's Music School and Oxford University. He is the Artistic Director of Transgressive North (TN), a Scottish artistic community who in the past year have led various outreach and standalone projects featuring contributions from Irvine Welsh, Jarvis Cocker, Norman Maclean, Four Tet, Gang Gang Dance, Rustie, Sheila Stewart, Owen Pallett and Margaret Bennett. Jamie is passionate about making films in and about Scotland, and under the umbrella of TN's Strange Home project, hopes to bring Scottish folklore to a new generation through the medium of cinema.

FILMOGRAPHY

Ruadhan the Bard, DIRECTOR/CO-WRITER, RED, Feature, James Barrett / Transgressive North, 2011
When the Song Dies DIRECTOR, EX1, 16m, LFS/Transgressive North, 2011
School of Curry, EDITOR, 35mm, 15m, LFS, 2009
Into the Woods, WRITER/DIRECTOR, EX1, Transgressive North, 2009
Into Kilfinnan Forest, CO-DIRECTOR/DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY, DV, Trangressive North, 2009
Blue Baby Elephants, DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY, 35mm, B&W, 15m, LFS, 2009
Home Bittersweet Home, PRODUCER, DV, 12m, LFS, 2008
Everything is New, WRITER/DIRECTOR, DV, Transgressive North, 2008
The Collector, WRITER/DIRECTOR, 16mm, 3m, LFS, 2008
Pocket Lint, DIRECTOR, 16mm, B&W, 3m, LFS, 2008