Loch Ness Monster documentary to open Inverness Film Festival
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Loch Ness: They Created A Monster tells the story of those who tried to track down Nessie in the 1970s.
Filmmaker John MacLaverty’s fresh take on the Loch Ness monster hunters of the 1970s is described as an affectionate, funny and shocking ride with World War II veterans and Japanese pop impresarios among those who travelled to the Highlands to try to find the Loch Ness Monster in the 1970s.
Mr MacLaverty is a three-time Scottish BAFTA winner and Loch Ness: They Created A Monster is set to hit UK cinemas from November 10.
It gets its premiere, however, at Eden Court this Friday (November 3) as the opening film of this year's Inverness Film Festival.
Using both rare archive footage and contemporary interviews the documentary shows how the quests of the great Nessie hunters of the 1970s often descended into chaos and even violence.
The "official" expedition by the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau strategically placed vans and cameras around the loch and watched it non-stop, year after year.
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Then there was the International Loch Ness Monster Search Party led by the eccentric Japanese pop promoter Yoshio Kou, who happily declared that he wanted to capture Nessie and take her around the world – either that or gift her to Princess Anne as a wedding present!
There were also lone explorers like Frank Searle, a Cockney ex-soldier who lived by the loch for years and Dr Robert Rines of the prestigious-sounding Academy of Applied Science who brought a team of ‘super-geniuses’ to the loch every summer, capturing images that even David Attenborough declared merited further investigation.
The film is produced by Indelible Telly and Hopscotch Films, with funding from BBC Scotland and Screen Scotland through the National Lottery Fund.
