SCALARAMA SKYE // A CENTURY OF MARGARET TAIT
Date:
19 September 2018
Time:
7.00pm - 9.30pm
Location:
ATLAS Office, The Basement, Skye Gathering Hall, Portree, IV51 9BZ
Enquiry Email:
suzy@atlasarts.org.uk
Enquiry Telephone:
01478611143
As part of Scalarama Skye and our month of F-rated film screenings, we will be celebrating Margaret Tait’s centenary. The works show the breadth of her practice from experiments with painting directly onto film stock in works such as Calypso (1955) to Portrait of Ga (1952) where Tait creates a personal biography of her mother and life in Orkney where she grew up.
Short Films by Margaret Tait
Calypso, 1955 (4.29mins) sound
John MacFayden, 1970 (3.30mins) sound
Garden Pieces, 1998 (12mins) sound
Happy Bees, 1955 (17mins) sound
Portrait of Ga, 1952 (4.27 mins) sound
Margaret Tait (b. 1918) was born and raised in Kirkwall, in the Orkney Islands. After attending the University of Edinburgh, gaining qualifications in Medicine (1941), she moved to Rome, where she studied filmmaking at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (1950–1952). On her return to Scotland, she founded Ancona Films and has become one of Scotland’s most loved filmmakers, producing 32 shorts films and one feature over her live time. All but three of her thirty-two films were self-financed. She wrote poetry and stories and produced several books including three books of poetry.
As part of the event, April (2018) by Sarah Forrest will also be screened. Forrest was the recipient of the Margaret Tait Award in 2017/18 and was the winner of the inaugural Margaret Tait Residency in 2012.
Sarah Forrest (b. 1981 Dundee) is an artist based in Glasgow. After studying at Duncan of Jordanstone, Dundee, Forrest gained her masters from Glasgow School of Art in 2010, during which time she also studied at the Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam. Forrest works across film, installation, text and sound. Her practice weaves together elements of theory, fiction and philosophy to produce narrative-driven works that playfully explore perceptions both of and by the self.
About Scalarama
Inspired by the energy and creativity of the legendary Scala Cinema (1978-1993), in 2011 a new festival was created that invited all cinemas to take part and share their passion. Since 2011, every September, cinemas, film clubs and film festivals plus various organisations and individuals who have a love for movies, have united to celebrate and encourage watching films together. This annual celebration sees September transform into a month of amazing films, screened in various locations and by all different types of people – from established picture palaces to newbies, completely new to screening films.
For their full line up of events – check out their website here…