Young Highland film makers seek votes for Gaelic competition final

Young film makers taking part in the FilmG short film competition need votes to get them to the next stage.

The competition attracted a record-breaking 103 entries this year and 75 of its original films were made by people aged 5-18.

Inverness schools Millburn Academy and Culloden Academy, along with Tain Royal Academy in Ross-shire, were among the schools which took part.

Films ranged from Millburn’s documentary Am Botal (The Bottle) looking at the impact of plastic on our environment, to a comedy from Culloden called Eilean nam Muc (Pig Island), which tells the tale of an old man who comes up with an innovative solution to a Scotland-wide shortage of black pudding, to Tain’s drama film Sìm (Simon), in which pupils become hooked on a Simon Says-style app.

Independent filmmaker Orla Johnson from Inverness made a stop-motion animation which follows the adventures of Barraidh am Peansail (Barry the Pencil), while Luke Fairns of Dornoch Academy, who uses filmmaking as a means of keeping up his Gaelic-language skills now that he attends a school where Gaelic isn’t on the curriculum, made a vlog-style diary of his summer holiday to St Andrews in Fife.

In the open category, Dingwall-born Eilidh Johnson’s Smuaintean an Diabhail (Cursed Thoughts) is a stop-motion with a dramatic storyline, while Eoghan Stewart’s Treòraich (Guide) looks at how Dingwall’s popular Gaelic church services began and how integral they are to the area.

Visit www.filmg.co.uk to see this year’s entries and to vote.

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