The Inaccessible Blog

More reviews of Seachd: The Inaccessible Pinnacle

"When is a subtitled film not a foreign language film? When it’s the first Gaelic feature to be made specifically for the cinema. And Seachd does indeed look fantastic on the big screen – New Zealand only wishes it looked this good in Lord Of The Rings. Visiting his dying grandfather, Angus (Coll MacDonald) flashes back to his childhood, the death of his parents on a mountaineering trip and the old man’s endless store of rich, mythical folktales. These timeless stories of poisoned lovers, magical flowers and water-horses seem to come out of the misty landscapes of Scotland itself. As Angus makes discoveries, the film continually surprises us with the range of its imagination and a unique structure that owes more to our oral storytelling tradition than Hollywood scriptwriting sessions."
Daily Record (4 STARS)

"The stories within the story prove you don’t need megabuck special effects to open eyes to wonder and beauty – especially if you have the good fortune to be shooting on the Isle of Skye"
Lovefilm (4 STARS)
http://www.lovefilm.com/features/detail.html?section_name=editorial&editorial_id=5009

"The skill of the filmmakers matches their ambition, resulting in a visually arresting and poetic work that will have a cross-generational appeal."
iofilm (3.5 STARS)
http://www.iofilm.co.uk/fm/s/seachd_the_innaccessible_pinnacle_2007.shtml

"It is a wonderful, warm and personal story with some superb performances and I hope there are many more of these films to come from Scotland."
Filmstalker (5 STARS)
http://www.filmstalker.co.uk/archives/2007/09/seachd_the_inaccessible_pinnac.html

"Scottish heritage gets a boost in Seachd: The Inaccessible Peak, but more than that, it's a poignant ode to storytelling."
BBC (3 STARS)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2007/10/01/seachd_the_inaccessible_peak_2007_review.shtml

"Admirable intentions and deep pride in Skye's culture of storytelling are at the heart of this well-rounded debut, the first contemporary film in Scots Gaelic."
The Guardian (3 STARS)
http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_review/0,,2183733,00.html

"To avoid this film because it is subtitled is to miss out on an opportunity to witness some amazing talent at work."
Eye for Film (4 STARS)
http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/reviews.php?film_id=12605

http://www.seachd.com

BAFTA, the Oscars and Seachd: The Inaccessible Pinnacle

Moran moran taing!  Many many thanks for the overwhelming support we have received after BAFTA strangely neglected to put any non-English language British films for the Best Foreign Language Film category of the Oscars.

We have been inundated with messages of support from around the world and the debate has even made it in to the Scottish Parliament.  We do not know whether it is still possible for BAFTA's decision to be overturned, but regardless we sincerely hope that BAFTA will change their system such that every British film has a chance to enter the Oscars whatever the language spoken within it.

A quick summary of some of press articles from around the world:

 "BAFTA attacked over Oscars"
Variety, 04-0ct-07
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117973511.html?categoryid=19&cs=1

"Protests spread over BAFTA snub"
Scotland on Sunday, 07-Oct-07
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/entertainment.cfm?id=1600992007

"Oscar controversies in Britain and China"
The Envelope
http://goldderby.latimes.com/awards_goldderby/2007/10/oscars-controve.html

"Gaels force the issue"
Sunday Herald, 07-Oct-07
http://www.sundayherald.com/arts/arts/display.var.1741499.0.0.php

"MSPs query lack of Oscar nomination"
The Press Association, 05-Oct-07
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jaWlgflC1yKrjuaP3JiBp2cINw-g

"Film Producer quits BAFTA in Oscar row"
Netribution, 04-Oct-07
http://www.netribution.co.uk/2/content/view/1314/182/

"Row as Gaelic film is overlooked for Oscar"
The Herald, 03-Oct-07
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1734091.0.0.php

"Producer quits BAFTA over Gaelic film snub"
Scotland on Sunday, 30-Sep-07
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/entertainment.cfm?id=1560962007

"And the Oscar will not go to..."
Scotland on Sunday, 16-Sept-07
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/entertainment.cfm?id=1482232007

http://www.seachd.com

SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY: Producer quits over Gaelic film snub

30th September 2007

A LEADING figure in the Scottish movie industry has resigned from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in protest at their refusal to nominate a highly rated Gaelic movie for Oscar glory.

Producer Chris Young's shock announcement came just hours after the American Academy criticised Bafta for failing to submit his film Seachd - The Inaccessible Pinnacle in the Best Foreign Language category.

"Bafta is there to support British film. Not only are they not supporting a British film and a British film producer, but they are actively putting obstacles in our path," said Young, whose previous films include Venus Peter, Gregory's Two Girls and the award-winning comedy-drama Festival.

"What actually is the benefit of being a member of Bafta? I have decided to quit."

Meanwhile, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the American organisation that administers the Oscars, has contacted its British counterpart demanding an explanation.

"I do not understand why they would refuse to submit the film," said Sandy Lieberson, chair of the US Academy's London committee and himself a member of Bafta and a vastly experienced producer. "I have never known a country refuse to submit a film.

"The merit of a film's worthiness is totally subjective and the experts are continually making grave errors of judgment about movies. Therefore it would seem only logical for Bafta to have chosen one of the films to represent the fact that Britain is a multi-language country." Bafta also had a Welsh film up for consideration.

Lieberson, whose films include Performance and Jabberwocky and who was president of production at 20th Century Fox, was also critical of Bafta's Scottish branch and of the Scottish Government for not intervening.

"What I don't understand is why Bafta Scotland did not take a more proactive position on this. This is an issue not just for the producer, but for Scotland. In the future perhaps the choice should be left to Scotland and Wales and not Bafta in London.

"I think this is an issue that should be raised with the Department of Sports and Culture and the minister for film. There is a Scottish Parliament - don't they have any interest in these issues?"

The original decision was made by a six-strong Bafta sub-committee, but it horrified some members. The full film committee of 10 top producers and others met to review the decision last week and after a lengthy debate could not reach agreement, so the original decision stands.

Each country is allowed to submit one foreign-language film to the US Academy, which whittles the submissions down to the final list of five nominations. In the UK it is up to Bafta to decide which film to submit.

Seachd - The Inaccessible Pinnacle has been promoted as Scotland's first genuine Gaelic feature film, has garnered positive early reviews, has secured a commercial release next month and was considered hot favourite to go forward as a UK Oscar submission.

The film, shot on Skye, is a fantasy movie and has been compared to the classic The Princess Bride. An old man (played by Gaelic poet Angus Peter Campbell) tells his grandchildren a series of stories involving a magic horse, a man who has lived for 1,000 years and shipwrecked sailors.

Bafta refused to give a reason for the decision not to put forward either Seachd or the Welsh film. But Douglas Rae, producer of Mrs Brown and Becoming Jane and a member of the sub-committee, said they "didn't merit being put forward".

The decision came under attack earlier this month from various organisations and individuals, including Scottish Screen, the national film agency, which contributed about £170,000 towards a budget of £700,000.

Jude MacLaverty of the Gaelic Media Festival, said it was "hugely important" for Gaelic culture. "Wales and Ireland have a huge culture where their minority language is concerned, but Scotland needs to keep pushing. It's a shame."

The news caused uproar, not just within Scotland, but among senior members of Bafta, who knew nothing about it before it was reported by Scotland on Sunday two weeks ago.

Louise Beasley, Bafta's film awards officer, said the decision was irreversible. But Finola Dwyer, who has just recently taken over as chair of the film committee, subsequently indicated that the organisation might well review the controversial decision. She said: "This is a decision that I have inherited. I've just literally stepped into the chair of film. We totally understand the concern and I'm dealing with it."

The film committee met in private last week and decided to stick with the original decision. "There was a great deal of discussion, but it was a majority decision," said Dwyer. "I am unable to add anything more because of the Bafta code of confidentiality."

Young said: "I feel I have been treated with total disrespect, as has the film. They've made my life hell for the past two weeks. I'm trying to shoot a comedy at the moment and I've spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to get a decision and get an explanation for the decision."

Young feels Bafta in London has been entirely negative and has been disappointed by the lack of support from Bafta in Glasgow. "Maybe Scotland should have its own film academy," he said. "It's certainly something I would like to talk to Alex Salmond about."

Hong Kong submits a film independently of China, but Alison Forsyth, director of Bafta Scotland, said: "I've never dealt with the Oscars. I'm a branch of Bafta UK."

Bafta Scotland organised a preview of Seachd for its members earlier this month.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "Scottish Screen leads on issues relating to film for the Scottish Government. We, like Scottish Screen, are, of course, extremely disappointed that the Seachd has not been forwarded for an Oscar nomination, particularly given the wide critical acclaim that the film has had at its limited showings to date, including at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

by Brian Pendreigh

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/entertainment.cfm?id=1560962007

http://www.seachd.com

THE SUNDAY TIMES - "It's Excellent"

30th September 2007

The movie is called Seachd. No, that’s not a misprint for “searched”, but Gaelic for seven. The first Gaelic feature film to make it to the cinema, it comes out in Scotland on Friday, then in England, at a scattering of art houses, later in October.

It’s excellent, a family saga directed by an Englishman, although Simon Miller grew up in Scotland and has recently learnt Gaelic. But few in England are likely to see it, partly because cinemas say they can’t show a film the public can’t pronounce. Actually, Seachd is pronounced “shack”.

There will be no amusing Oscar speeches in Gaelic for Seachd, either. After the high praise it received at the Edinburgh film festival last month, it seemed a shoo-in as a contender in the foreign-language category. But Bafta, which oversees these matters, has this year decided not to offer any non-English-language British-made film, which counts out Seachd. Daft. Nor will Bafta explain its reasoning.

 

by Richard Brooks

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article2541216.ece

http://www.seachd.com

THE GUARDIAN: The movie at the edge of the world

27th September 2007

They found their lead actor up a tree and they held the premiere in a cinema on wheels. Kirsty Scott travels to the Western Isles to catch a little piece of film-making history

It's a blustery morning on the northern edge of the small island of Grimsay and 11-year-old Padruig Moireasdan has just settled himself into one of his favourite positions: hanging upside-down from a tree in his back garden. There are few trees in this part of the Western Isles. The land is low-lying, dwarfed by loch and sea, and flayed by wind.

But Padruig's house is next to a small copse, and he likes to take to the trees when he has important decisions to make. He swings his legs over a makeshift trapeze and lets himself fall back. "I was like this when the director and the producer came to tell me about the film," he says. "The director told me the whole story while I was up in the tree."

Film-maker Simon Miller and producer Christopher Young had been looking for a boy to play the lead in Seachd: The Inaccessible Pinnacle, the first ever contemporary Scots Gaelic feature film. They had already cast most of the other characters but needed someone to play young Angus, who is sent to live with his grandfather, an inveterate storyteller, after his parents die in a climbing accident.

Then the two men heard about this boy from Grimsay, which is connected to North Uist whenever the tide goes out. He came from a family with great storytelling traditions, was fluent in Gaelic and as nimble on the accordion as he was on the PlayStation. On the way to his home, they got lost and Padruig was dispatched on his bike to find them. He spoke to them in Gaelic, guided them to the house, then took to his tree.

"Padruig is such a find," says Miller, a genial former Wall Street banker turned writer and director. "We went to every school we could find. Then we heard about this boy. When we got there, I was sold in five seconds. He was in the tree the whole time, and we talked about the script and he challenged parts of it and said what he thought might happen. He was totally unfazed, exactly the kind of kid you need."

Miller and Young are back in the Western Isles for the first public showing of the film. It featured at Cannes in May and Edinburgh in August, and will play at film festivals in Vancouver and Rome in the next few weeks. But both wanted its British public premiere to be in the heart of the Gaelic community, before it goes on release across Scotland, with arthouse appearances in England later in the month. The Screen Machine, Britain's only mobile cinema, has parked up outside the Benbecula hotel where Miller is staying, and later that evening will expand into a 102-seat auditorium.

For Young, the film and its themes are close to home. His previous works include Venus Peter, Gregory's Two Girls and Festival, for which he won a British Comedy Award for best film, and a Bafta nomination for best British film. He relocated to Skye in the 1990s with his family and his company, Young Films.

He knew some people would think he was taking a risk in making his film in Gaelic. According to the 2001 census, only 1.2% of the population of Scotland speaks the language, some 58,600 people; and that's a 15% decline over the previous decade. Most are in the Western Isles. That said, the language is enjoying a status it has not been afforded for many years, with concerted efforts at a political level to sustain this ancient tongue, first introduced to Scotland from Ireland in the fifth century. Less than 100 years ago, children were beaten into speaking English at school. Now, Gaelic-medium education is championed. A national plan has been launched, aiming to stabilise the number of speakers over the next few years, and increase them to 100,000 by 2041. There has been an increase in funding for education, media and development, and moves to create the first dedicated Gaelic TV channel.

"For me, the question is not why make a film in Gaelic but why not make a film in Gaelic?" says Young, who is self-taught in the tongue and whose children are fluent. "It seemed strange that a culture so full of storytelling didn't particularly have a tradition of cinema. I have never been to a cinema to see a film in Gaelic. There is plenty of Gaelic drama but it does seem to have suffered from stereotype. It tends to have been period works. There is a feeling that Gaelic is old-fashioned. I wanted to tackle that head-on."

"Film is the kind of thing that, if you get it right, it does not matter what language it is in," says Miller. "Mel Gibson has proved that more than anyone in recent years. You don't have to know the language to experience the film." For both men, authenticity was the key. So they collaborated with Gaelic writers, co-directors and a local Gaelic amateur crew and actors. The soundtrack features noted Gaelic musicians, and the whole thing was shot on the island of Skye for £650,000.

Subtitled and set in the present day, it centres on the relationship between Angus, played by Padruig, and his grandfather, played by the renowned Gaelic poet and writer Angus Peter Campbell. The old man uses storytelling to try to connect with his grandson, allowing flashbacks to different periods of Gaelic history. Seachd translates literally as "seven", and stems from the number of stories that were originally to have been told by the grandfather. It was given the alternative English title The Inaccessible Pinnacle, the name of one of the most treacherous peaks in the Cuillin mountains that dominate Skye and provide a magnificent backdrop for some of the film's most dramatic scenes.

It is worth pointing out that there was actually a previous Gaelic feature film. But few people took Hero - a fifth-century medieval epic, made 25 years ago - seriously. Time Out called it "a clumping village pageant".

Seachd has been warmly reviewed. Comparisons have been drawn with works such as Big Fish, even The Princess Bride. There has been particular praise for young Padruig, who gives a compelling performance as a bereaved youngster struggling to come to terms with unfathomable loss.

For Gaels like Ishbel Maclennan, the film's great merit lies in its celebration of Gaelic as a living language and its depiction of young people and their connection to the language. Maclennan, commissioning editor of BBC Alba, one of the co-funders of the film, has been heartened by the response, among Gaelic and non-Gaelic speakers alike: "It is very difficult to overestimate its importance. Gaels are surprised by it - the sense that it is culturally rooted yet contemporary. It's not TV on the big screen. What they are seeing is filmic. People are responding to a film. They are not just saying, 'This is Gaelic so I should like it.'"

Padruig has been nervous about how the film will play to his friends and fellow islanders. "It's always harder with the home crowd," he says, just before attending the Benbecula screening. But there is instinctive applause when the credits roll and lots of backslapping at the ceilidh afterwards.

Padruig himself had just one problem with the film. At one point, the script required him to turn to his grandfather and shout angrily in English: "I hate Gaelic!" He didn't think he could do that, and had to be persuaded by Young. So he said it, but didn't mean it. In fact he hopes the film might lead to more, and help sustain the language that he loves. "It is quite important," he says, "because it needs to keep alive".

· Seachd: The Inaccessible Pinnacle is now showing in the Highlands and Islands, will open in the rest of Scotland on October 5, and nationwide in November.

by Kirsty Scott

http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,2177934,00.html

http://www.seachd.com

Seachd reviews - a little round-up!

"dramatic, funny and spectacular...and steeped in Gaelic mythology"
Miles Fielder, The List
http://www.list.co.uk/article/2539-seachd/

"worth shouting about"
Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=909&id=1288032007

"tender, graceful"
Allison Rowat, The Herald
http://www.theherald.co.uk/filmfestival/display.var.1620938.0.seachd_the_inaccessible_pinnacle.php

"breathtaking"
Adrian Hennigan, BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/filmnetwork/A25623902

"glows with warmth and humanity"
Jonathan Coe, The Observer
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/7days/story/0,,2156344,00.html

"a magic, mystical tale of landscape, myth and storytelling"
The Telegaph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/08/24/bf-edinburgh.xml

"a little piece of film-making history"
Kirsty Scott, The Guardian
http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,2177934,00.html

"a superb film filled with tons of passion and pride"
Richard Bunton, Filmstalker
http://www.filmstalker.co.uk/archives/2007/09/seachd_the_inaccessible_pinnac.html

"an astonishing production"
Andrew Robertson, Eye For Film
http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/reviews.php?film_id=12605

"visually compelling"
J S Hatcher, Cinema Minima
http://cinemaminima.com/world/2007/08/14/seachd-the-inaccessible-pinnacle/

http://www.seachd.com

FILM STALKER: Review - "5 stars"

16th September 2007

Initially I decided that I should see this film because there was a gap in my schedule and the film was the first Gaelic feature with high production values, and since I was born a Highlander, I couldn't not.

It's often these gap fillers and "almost didn't see" films that can turn out to be surprises of the festival, and this year was no exception. Seachd is a superb film filled with tons of passion and pride, and it is almost entirely in Gaelic.

Now you may not know that Gaelic was not the majority language of the Scottish people. Head for head it was Doric, but since Gaelic is the more romantic sounding and further removed from English, it seems to be the one enjoying all the focus.

I'm not complaining as I love anything that brings a sense of pride and belonging to being Scottish, and in the context of Seachd it hardly seems to matter as hearing the language on screen soon becomes like watching any other foreign language film, just closer to home.

Seachd is the story of a Highland boy and his strained relationship with his Grandfather. When he was younger a series of events starting with the death of his parents atop the Isle of Skye mountains, saw them grow apart and his boyhood idolisation of his Grandfather turn to feelings of betrayal and bitterness.

These feelings have stayed with both of them and as he has grown to adulthood he moved to the City and began a career, breaking contact with him.

Now the film opens at his bedside, he is obviously very ill, perhaps dying, and his Grandson sits, fulfilling his obligation.

However as they sit their memories return to the past and revisit the events that created the gulf between them, we start to understand them and they way they feel about each other.

If you've seen Tim Burton's Big Fish then you'll have an idea of the way this story is going, although here there’s nothing so fanciful. This is more down to earth and builds more on the relationships of the characters who are well developed from the script to the screen.

The relationship is still based on a series of tales that the adult tells the boy, but the Grandfather here tells more fables of Scottish folklore than of his own fantastical stories, and we see them play out on screen. That’s not where the similarities end either; the emotional impact of both films is very similar, although Big Fish hit me harder.

The relationship between the boy and the Grandfather is very well built through the fables that he tells. These stories make up a large part of the film but never detract from the heart which remains the relationship between the Grandfather and the boy and how the feelings from the death of his parents build up this resentment within him.

The stories are well created and entertaining, not just distractions or vehicles to bring across some point in the film, and serve as short stories on their own. For the most part they are serious and convey some point that the Grandfather is trying to make to the children, often with a hint of Scottish history added in, for instance the tale of the Highland clearances. One story though changes the tone of the film, and when it first begins it feels out of place.

The Grandfather tells a tale about a Scotsman stranded on an island alone who one day is joined by a shipwrecked Spaniard. With him he brings a feast of potatoes and black pudding, and the story leads to a few hilarious jibes against the Scottish way of life, one of the only places where clichés are used. I loved the chip shop moment.

It is something refreshing as well, a Scottish film about Scotland that doesn’t have clichés of perceived Scottish life throughout. It could be said that the film goes too far out of its way to avoid these clichés when we see the ceilidh scene, a ceilidh with no tartan in sight.

Still I think this is one of the films strengths, because it concentrates on great characters and relationships, it just happens to be in Gaelic and filled with some of the most stunning scenery you can imagine.

It is beautifully filmed, filled with amazing scenery and backdrops that reminded me why I love the country I was born and live in so much. It is a gorgeous country that looks amazing on film and was captured wonderfully and seamlessly woven into the story as a character itself.

Overall the film had two turning points, and at both times I felt a slight surprise at the change of direction which I hadn’t expected. It turns from being the film I expected to something a little more, and a little different, and both changes were strong story choices.

The script is very good, with the actors who play the Grandfather and boy providing great performances. In fact the whole cast is good, and when you start out expecting a cast of Gaelic speaking Scottish actors to be made from a small slice of Scottish television actors, you end up surprised.

For a start I didn’t recognise any from Scottish television, and none of them give a television performance. Their delivery and emotion is natural and strong, and they all feel like real feature actors. I was impressed, particularly by Aonghas Padruig Caimbeul, who played the Grandfather, and Padruig Moireasdan who played young Aonhgas.

There was one moment where I thought all could be lost. As the boy is driving back to Glasgow he sees characters from the tales his Grandfather had told him, as vividly as we had seen them on film, in the woods and fields to his side.

To me this felt like some internal moment of recognition or realisation, except it was shown too vividly, too plainly in view, and altogether too real. With the subtle handling of some of the questions regarding the reality of these tales and of his Grandfather, it felt like this moment was too real, and was like a sledgehammer slamming home a moment to the audience.

However the film recovers quickly from this and returns back to the relationship between the Grandfather and the boy and the past concerning the death of the parents.

The ending, and in fact the final sequences leading up to the ending, are very good without anything too predictable or twee. Once again it avoids clichés and expected endings and keeps in focus the main plot and the characters.

The film is moving and really made me proud to be a Highlander and Scottish, living in this gorgeous country. It is a wonderful, warm and personal story with some superb performances and I hope there are many more of these films to come from Scotland.

However make no mistake, this isn't one of these films that's for Scottish people only, much like The Flying Scotsman (Filmstalker review) this is a world contending feature film, and in the case of Seachd it's a superb foreign film, not just for Scottish consumption.

by Richard Bunton

http://www.filmstalker.co.uk/archives/2007/09/seachd_the_inaccessible_pinnac.html

http://www.seachd.com

SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY: And the Oscar will not go to...

16th September 2007

EVER wondered what an overwrought Oscar winner's speech would sound like in Gaelic? Well, you'll have to wonder a lot longer.

Gaelic feature film The Inaccessible Pinnacle has been robbed of potential Academy Award glory after London-based film experts took the controversial decision that it was not even worth nominating for a foreign language Oscar.

The move has outraged many in the Scottish movie industry, who were convinced Seachd - its Gaelic title - was a shoo-in as the UK's official candidate for the prestigious title.

Seachd created a buzz at early screenings, was compared to the Ewan McGregor fantasy film Big Fish, and will open in British multiplexes next month alongside the latest Hollywood blockbusters.

But it seems the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) failed to read the script. A Bafta subcommittee responsible for putting forward UK films to be considered for Oscar nomination decided against including The Inaccessible Pinnacle.

Bafta film awards officer Louise Beasley told Scotland on Sunday that a Welsh language film had also been up for consideration but: "The jury has decided not to put any films forward."

She added: "I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to discuss the contents of the jury's discussion because it's confidential."

Seachd producer Christopher Young, whose credits also include Venus Peter, Gregory's Two Girls and Festival, said: "I'm gobsmacked. I just assumed that there was a better film in their opinion. I'm gobsmacked that they just said 'Oh no, we don't like your film and we're not putting anything forward.' I think that's a bit weird."

The national film agency Scottish Screen, which put £170,000 of taxpayers' cash towards the movie's £700,000 budget, also criticised Bafta. Chief executive Ken Hay, said: "Seachd is an excellent film which deserves to reach the widest possible audience.

"We have supported the film through its development and production, and we are obviously disappointed and puzzled that it won't have a chance to compete for an Oscar."

And Margaret Cameron, business manager at the Gaelic Media Service, which put in £400,000, said: "We think the film has delivered and it also tried some innovative things by bringing along new Gaelic talent in the writing and directing areas.

"It's short-sighted of Bafta not to make any nomination, whether it was the Welsh or Gaelic film. I think it's bad news for minority languages when they make decisions like that."

In the film, which was shot on Skye, an old man - played by Gaelic poet and novelist Angus Peter Campbell - tells his grandchildren a series of far-fetched stories involving a magic horse, a man who has lived for 1,000 years and a couple of ship-wrecked sailors - one from the Spanish Armada and a Scot called MacDonald, who may or may not have a lasting impact on fast food.

Each film-making country is allowed to submit one foreign-language film to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which considers the national submissions and whittles them down to the final list of five nominations.

An Oscar nomination would have been a tremendous boost, not just for Seachd, but also the Scottish and the British film industries, with free worldwide publicity.

Without explanation or justification, a committee of six unnamed individuals in London decided not to exercise the British right to be part of that.

Reviewers raved about the movie on its release. James Rice, one of the programmers for the Edinburgh Film Festival, praised its vision and landscape photography and wrote: "Seachd is a literate, captivating success. Just the thing for anyone who loves a good story."

The English novelist Jonathan Coe enthused about it after seeing it at the festival. "This film glows with warmth and humanity," he wrote.

Bafta has a long history of controversy and outright gaffes when it comes to awards. Prime Suspect won the 1992 Bafta award for best drama serial in a secret jury vote. But four of the seven jurors then publicly declared that they had voted for GBH. It was dubbed "Baftagate".

A few years ago Bafta issued voters with lists of potential candidates for its acting awards, but missed some out and got the sex wrong for others.

by Brian Pendreigh

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/entertainment.cfm?id=1482232007

http://www.seachd.com

THE TIMES: Gaelic film tipped for Oscar

11th August 2007

A £650,000 Scottish film conceived, produced and set on the Isle of Skye has been tipped for an Oscar – for Best Foreign Language Feature.

Seachd: The Inaccessible Pinnacle is the first full-length Gaelic feature film and has its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Hannah McGill, the festival’s artistic director, said: “ Seachd combines myth-making and fantasy with a real sense of grit and pragmatism. That’s very Scottish to me – the wildest flights of fancy presented in a sort of down-to-earth, straight-faced manner.

“It’s pretty amazing that there’s never been a Scottish Gaelic film before, but it’s great that the first one is creating such buzz.”

Seachd is a rights-of-passage movie that unfolds through Gaelic mythology. At its heart is the relationship between the nine-year-old Angus, played by Patrick Morrison, and his storytelling grandfather, Angus Peter Campbell, who cares for the child after his parents are killed on a remote and rocky peak.

The film’s producer, Christopher Young, has learnt Gaelic since he moved to the Inner Hebridean island in 1999. He said: “In the islands, language is the passport to almost a hidden world.”

Seachd will be screened at the festival on Thursday.

by Mike Wade

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article2237457.ece

http://www.seachd.com

EYE FOR FILM: Review - "an astonishing production"

Star rating: ****

The first feature film in Gaelic to receive mainstream distribution, Seachd premiered at the 61st Edinburgh International Film Festival. It's fair to warn you of that right away, because that fact is at once one of its greatest strengths, and, unfortunately, its biggest weakness.

Aonghos, a young professional in Glasgow, visits his Grandfather in hospital, and remembers. This isn't the beginning of the story.

Seachd starts with an accident on a mountain, an incident that kills the parents of young Aonghas, admirably portrayed as a child in two tongues by Padruig Moireasdan. He, and his two siblings, go to live with his grandfather, another Aonghas, and his aging Grandmother.

The film moves in time, and widely among the highlands and islands of Scotland, as the younger Aonghas recalls his childhood and his grandfather's stories. There are many of them, of a various nature, all with important lessons for the children.

Seachd could be called magical realist, in that there are magics, and it has the gritty feel of kitchen sink drama. After all, these are orphans, raised by their grandparents, and even on an island like Skye the fact that they are raised in Gaelic separates them from others. Aonghas is an angry young man, and even as an adult Coll Domhnallach's performance has a sullen, brooding intensity.

Despite the involvement of BBC Alba, Seachd lacks the feel of tokenism that benights most Gaelic television. This is a crisply professional production, beautifully shot. The landscapes of Scotland are breathtakingly presented, and across Aonghas the elder's stories there's a wide variety of tones. There's a lucky Spaniard, in a delightfully comic turn from Vidal Sancho, a harsh tale of the Highland Clearances with both kinds of magicians, and others. These are stories that bear repeating, but you deserve to hear them for the first time from a master storyteller.

Aonghas Padruig Caimbeul is that storyteller, and his presence fills the screen with a warmth and sincerity that needs no translation. Despite being in Gaelic and English, and Spanish, and with some Scots in as well, Seachd is crisply subtitled.

It's an astonishing production. The score is a little heavy handed, but one can forgive it when the cinematography is so lush. This is a gorgeous exercise in filmmaking, with subtle shifts in tone as it moves from genre to genre with Aonghas' stories. It's not perfect, with a handful of anachronisms appearing in the childhood of the younger Aonghas, but if one treats them as the haziness that results from young memory they can be readily overlooked.

Harder to avoid is the fact that it's in Gaelic. This is a brilliant film, but for many the language barrier is going to be insurmountable. Many have noted this film's similarity to Tim Burton's Big Fish, but while Seachd treads similar ground it does so with a touch that is in many ways lighter.

To avoid this film because it is subtitled is to miss out on an opportunity to witness some amazing talent at work.

by Andrew Robertson

http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/reviews.php?film_id=12605

http://www.seachd.com