“It’s as though you were here, before you were even born”
After sold out premiere screenings on Berneray, North Uist, Edinburgh International Film Festival and Glasgow, here is another opportunity to see DÙTHCHAS | HOME on Berneray.
Director Andy Mackinnon will join us to introduce the film and for a Q+A session at the end.
For many of us, there are two places we can call home – where we were born, where we still feel we belong, and where we now live. This film is about the yearning for their birth home felt by those who have left the Isle of Berneray in the Outer Hebrides, and the remembrance of the ever-living past for those who have stayed or returned when the home in their heart is also where they live.
The documentary feature Dùthchas | Home is poignant, touching and emotive exploration of what it meant – and still means – to people, especially women, to have to leave the island of their birth to get an education, work, and live. We explore the effect this had on the Gaelic language and culture of the island. A particularly moving film for anyone with a connection with the Hebrides. This film features previously unseen Kodachrome 8mm archive film of everyday life on the Isle of Berneray in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland through the 60s and 70s, intercut with interviews with people from the island including many featured in the archive film which reveals repeated iconic scenes of leaving the island, friends and relatives on the pier waving as they recede into the distance. Although the film is silent, you can almost hear the keening. A specially composed soundtrack by Donald Shaw draws on the rich tradition of traditional Gaelic songs and their compelling melodies as inspiration.
The film is currently on release on the Screen Machine and in cinemas and community venues across Scotland. For all other screening dates and locations, please visit the Dùthchas website.
There are limited spaces for this event. If you need to cancel your space for any reason, please email taigh@taigh-chearsabhagh.org as soon as you can so we can offer it to someone else.