2017 the year of forging ahead

                                                           2017 IN REVIEW
                                                           

                                            AMAZON PRIME THE BIG INDIE SUCCESS

2017 was a year that proved successful in film terms, on a number of fronts. In January Amazon Prime had launched itself heavily for Independent film makers in a new system called Amazon Direct. It meant to stay on Amazon we had to get all our previous products on it with new sub titles in English which meant paying hefty deposits for each film for this work. However we decided it was worth it and our decision paid off by March we could see that in total our titles had generated over one million minutes watched by faithful Amazon audiences. It began to generate meagre monthly income to pay the office rent and phone, something that had been denied by previous distributors. As summer progressed this income stayed with us, though we thought it may be a flash in the pan, as you do. However other indie film makers confirm that audiences like to view Indies Film products almost as a release and means of rebellion against a constant diet of dumbed down, mainstream fodder, which has flooded the film markets since the 2008 crash. People like local authentic stuff which is not pushing one diagnostic view point or political force. The diversity, people power, and public accountability spawned by internet distribution is forcing old style distributors to re-evaluate their formula for audience participation. Great bring it on! With over 18 films of ours on Amazon Prime we are not complaining. Sadly I also expect other distributors will try to derail Amazon.

You can catch up with Palm Tree Films at this  link for the list on the UK Amazon Prime. These titles are available on USA Amazon and in Germany and Japan HERE

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=robbie+moffat+films&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Arobbie+moffat+films

DOCUMENTARY ON PASCHENDAELE 100 COMMEMORATION

                                                John Smith with buddies in Hospital

This year also saw a move towards my own independent voice by the making of a documentary about my mother's father PRIVATE JOHN SMITH who was at the battle of Paschendaele in World War One. It is  a 'Work in Progress', but I have created an assembly cut of most of the material. Now the challenge for me is to create a final of an hour long in length about John's contribution to the battle. I learned how to edit final cut  pro 7 for this documentary. It has been a long process of trial and error over many months in a new environment of an office that was not fully operational due to technological challenges in an old building. Along the way like many more professional editors I ditched buying the new final cut express 10 software, because of the very very poor reviews of it and the number of respected film editors who stuck to the earlier final cut 7. Editing developers must think hard about the changes they had to make to amend final cut 10 back to the early more successful final cut 7 interface. New is not necessarily always better just for the sake of it. You can see the new promo trailer about PRIVATE JOHN SMITH  at this link by hitting HERE

It was a privilege to listen to other stories of descendants of the battle, then to record their important personal stories, which will also feature in the long version. The full documentary will be available next year 2018.


More films are in are in development and I have no intention of giving up producing yet but I have also begun a return to acting when time permits. A small comeback was seen earlier in the year. Mostly I will be producing some projects for Palm Tree Universal and some others I am developing on my own. The most popular being a feature film drama about the life of the scientist William Murphy who discovered the cure for Pernicious Anaemia, resulting in his team getting the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1934. I am also continuing to develop a screenplay about the life of the film maker Jenny Gilbertson as well as some others than are too early to say much about here. The development slate of Palm Tree Universal can be seen HERE Elephants will feature highly in the early part of the year.

Mid year I met the name sake Kiefer Sutherland at a concert and that was inspiring because his performance was magic. Hopefully he will have more concerts in the future to aim towards and maybe some new songs?  It was a bright patch in the year to experience his dedication and determination to fulfil his musical career. Cool.

                                                    Kiefer Sutherland at Glasgow 02 Gig
                                                    Photo by Mairi Sutherland (Lol)



RETURN TO ACTING

2017 also saw a return to acting with 2 roles in 2 short films by March 2017. It was hard work, to keep going for both the students of the Screen Academy Scotland and the University of the West of Scotland. Below the photograph is of myself in the pink with actress Patricia Elliot for the story called Lianne and Brenda by director/writer Jodie MacArthur. The story was about 2 friends who had gone to the wrong funeral of their friend in brightly coloured clothes only to discover that they had attended the funeral of someone else whose friends were all in black. The comedy should have been called 'All things Bright and Beautiful' as this photograph shows with an appropriately seasonal flavour.

                                                            HAPPY NEW YEAR 2018


I'm not ignoring the SEXUAL HARASSMENT scandal and in fact I will be hosting a series of workshops in 2018 on the subject for film makers. Watch this space! Get your diaries out now!

War Poet 'Private' John Smith

The project to bring together information about my grandfather at the battle of Passchendaele WW1 continues. It is slightly marred by the fact he was John Smith the most common name and there are over 4000 of them in the war records so without his war record number I can't put up a Life Story of him on the WW1 website the link for which I enclose here 

Because it is National Poetry Day I thought I would commemorate his Poetry by listing some of it below. The photo of him is from his World War 2 days when he was working as a translator of German, a soldier and intelligence officer capturing German spies.

                                       Sergeant John Smith Dispatches World War 1 and 2 

Storm and War

Storm

All day, all night, along the storm-swept shore,

The gale, blind giant astride the waves, drives hard,

They madly gallop and crash with thundering roar,

To spumy fragments rent -such is their reward-

Tis nature's law alone that they hold in regard.

White birds on tense wings above the chaos ride,

Flying, unresting as the wild gale raves.

Seeing destruction scattered far and wide,

When seaweed and silken tresses the storm laves:

Unwitting they scar, glide,wheel, o'er unsought graves.

War

All day, all night, along earth's war swept coasts,

War, grim tyrant, astride the nations, drives them hard,

And they assenting, crash midst thundering hosts,

To gory fragments rent - such is their reward -

Lured on by wealth and power, vain, illusive ghosts.

White love on strong wings above war's chaos glides,

Yearns, unresting, questing for the peace of home,

Longs to stop destruction ranging far and wide

O'er all earth's coasts and oceans embattled foam:

Waiting, oh Man, to make they errant heart her home.

'Leven Mail' (East Fife Mail) 25^th Feb 1953 SAR TOR

Aftermath 1945

Give me the quiet autumnal hours

Those mellow hours that soothe

After the toil of battling day,

While our dead companions of the May

Now scan a deeper truth

Than we read in the Flowers,

And still know happier hours

Beyond their toil, Beyond the calm

We now enjoy: They add unto our rest

A richness else unknown

Mild as yon evening star is

When autumn scents

Are by the Zephers Strewn

SAR TOR, (John Smith)

Written 10^th May 1945

Haig and his Heroes

A Garland o' Poppies and Heather

I'll weave them a garland of Poppies and Heather,

For poppies and heather shall never decay.

Entwined with our hearts it shall bloom for ever,

Inspiring us all to match needs of the day.

Frae land o' the heather the callants a' rallied,

And marched to the field in the wild battle array;

Where fighting was hottest, 'twas there that they tarried,

When over the top, were first up and away.

Haig, son o' the heather, big deeds was aye planning,

He saw the way throught at the tail o' the day.

At grey dawn his lads o' the heather were scanning,

The track, with its horrors thought which victory lay.

He planned and they did, they worked to each other,

Their trust it was mutual, its worth who can say?

All is secure when man's true to his brother,

And people thus loyal shall never decay.

As in their loyalty they triumphed together,

Through grim weary hours of war's stormy day

Now they are resting neath poppies and heather,

And loyalty's bright star leads peace on her way.

So I'll weave them a garland o' poppies and heather.

For poppies and heather are nobler than bay.

Entwined with our hearts it shall bloom for ever,

And Caledon's minstrels have theme for their lay.

Methil 18^th Feb 1928 Sartor

Earl Haig

The Appeal of his Deathless Army

We hear a muffled murmour saying 'He is dead'

A strange dawn of hope comes under the ground,

To us who lie shattered by fierce of steel and lead,

In darky shade of a grass-green mound

We grinning awake and feel ere long.

That our brave Commander shall be coming along.

Through death he lives with his armies again

And we stir to a glow with the sound of his name;

We spring to attention, give a loud ringing cheer,

Our brave loyal commander, he is near, he is here.

We salute him now as we salued him then.

His care is renewed for all his men, all his men.

We have missed him a while but he's here at last,

And we will follow him on yet again

Past where roaring shells have crashed

And bullets whined like rain

We will follow him onto further fields

And revel in hell-glare fun.

As we faught by him then,

And we will follow him now

And fight till his victory is won.

We have watched all your ways

Through those horrible days,

That have stretched to wearying years,

And you have paid our chums,

Who fed the guns

With hunger and bitter tears.

He pled for our pals,

But you spurnned his calls;

Your a long way yet in arrears,

You would cower and pray.

Or move shame-faced away,

If your heard our ringing cheers.

And we follow him on to further fields.

Facing flare of a hell-fired gun;

And we fought by him then,

We'll follow him now,

And fight till his victor is won.

Our stuggles through blood and fire were great,

And we were loyal and true.

His pleading for our pals are great.

Will you be loyal too?

Oh follow his lead, as we followed it then,

And treat our pals as chums, Be Men!

Follow him onto further fields.

Dare all in his work begun.

Give freely as we gave it then

Our pals and chums are worthy men.

And we'll rest in his victory then.

SARTOR 2^nd February 1928

3 War Poems from John Smith, 'Sartor', Maternal Grandfather of

Mairi Sutherland

mairi.sutherland@gmail.com 

The Battle of Passchendaele Private John Smith- Grandfather I knew

It is such a shame that my busy life took me away from this blog for a while, because most of my summer has been taken up with editing  my visit to Ypres, of the commemorations of Passchendaele as a descendant of a soldier who was at the battle. He was my mother's father John Smith and the grandfather I knew and who was present when I was a child.

                                                      Wife Tabitha and baby Tabitha with Private John Smith

Despite being at the battle, he lived to be 76, and he was present at my home, when I had just started school. I fondly remember him helping me and my mother peel potatoes as well as  showing me the childhood pastime of making paper chains. He died of Esophageal cancer in 1965 arguably from the effects of living through World War One.

While at the battle of Passchendaele he received mustard gas poisoning and in the last days of the carnage he was invalided out of it in the middle of November 1917. He told the story of being unconscious for some time and remembered waking up in hospital hearing Christmas Carol singers. He said he thought he had died and gone to Heaven. After being sent from the Western Front to one hospital and another, he finally ended up at Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh where it seems he was treated for shell shock, now known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

There he met the famous war poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. It was while learning to combat the effects of shell shock, at Craiglockhart, where writing was considered a helpful cure, that he began to pen war poetry in the same style as his mentor Wilfred Owen.

Through his life he continued to write poetry both about the War and other subjects. His poems were published in the East Fife Newspapers, in Scotland, under the nom de plume Sartor,which is Latin for tailor, after his civilian day job. His poetry extends to 2 volumes of notebooks.

The commemorations were a wonderful experience, not just for remembering the fallen, in such a dignified way, but because they were an opportunity to revisit the past and preserve the items belonging to John Smith, a task that continues today with a documentary I am making about his life.

The commemorations gave hundreds of descendants a chance to treasure the memory and impact of the achievements of their relatives by launching a unique social history project managed by the UK Department of Culture, the Museum of Passchendaele in Flanders and the website Ancestry.co.uk It continues to be on going project allowing thousands of descendants to build on what they found out then add to the new profiles they have discovered about the participants of Passchendaele.

The battle was distinguished from any other in World War 1 for having the most casualties of 500,000 in total in Allied, British and German casualties combined.  It was the first and arguably the last battle to use Mustard gas, and it will go down in history as ending it's use as an a weapon of war. By World War 2 Mustard gas was banned under the Geneva Convention of the United Nations Charter.  The voices of the War poets contributed to the end of Mustard gas in 20th Century warfare. It is therefore tragic that it seems to have reappeared in the 21st Century.

(This blog will re visit the subject of Private John Smith with photographs, poems and further descriptions over the coming months.)

Going Green - My film - A nod to the Summer Solstice

This week sees the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year caused by the rotation of the sun. Back in the day when I was 25, I was at the last Free Music Festival of Stonehedge when UK New Agers had gathered since Woodstock to celebrate the Solstice at the ancient monument stones. My film Going Green, which I wrote and directed is loosely based on characters I met at the Stonehedge Free Festival in the 1980's and our subsequent escape to the Ridgeway ancient right of way road.

It was always a peaceful event when I had gone in previous years, but in 1985 I awoke from my tent with my hippie boy friend, Al Murray, nicked named Free Wheeling Frankin from the Alternative Comic book, to hear the rumour that police were gathering down the road. I had been sent out to collect the wood for the cooking fire. We all I am afraid, took advantage of the freedom we had to cook food on open fires right beside the monument. It is understandable that the monument took at bit of a beating in those days when Hippies and New Agers from all over the planet converged on Stonehenge, but the violence that ensued from the police seemed disproportionate to the 'crime' of endangering the monument. I had returned to the camp with the wood and was told by Al the safest thing we could do was to leave. Being a peaceful person he packed up the camp and because we were on foot we carried everything on our backs and walked past the road blocks of the police. Another hippy took pity us and offered us a lift in his car.

We did see that they had blocked a convoy of travellers in cars and that the truncheons were out on the cars. The Battle of the Beanfield remains to be the event where the largest number of people were arrested in the UK at one time. You can read about it here

I was not arrested and in our case under threat of that, the police escorted our group to the Ridgeway, an old road high up on the Wiltshire hills near Avebury, where we had tried to set up an alternative small encampment, and from which we were also moved on from by Police.

We camped happily and peacefully there on the Ridgeway with the blessing of the police for a few days. During that time I got to know the 20 or so campers who all had different stories about their lives. The characters in the comedy Going Green are my homage to their particular alternative look on life and how a homeless family are helped by them in Scotland on the other famous right of way the West Highland Way. You can see my film Going Green on Amazon at this link here
You can see a clip of the film Going Green at this link here


It is of credit to this generation that now Stonehedge is a protected national monument and that the Glastonbury Festival is it's legacy. A nod to my namesake who is appearing there as a singer song writer this weekend.

Cannes Film Festival 2017 - The Spectre of fascism is haunting Europe

A spectre is haunting Europe, the Spectre of Fascism. Freedom is a bad word, at the Cannes Film Festival 2017 in France, particularly for women where the body shaming dress code symbolises a return to an age Oppression. This spectre extends more importantly to the work Women do in the film industry, particularly when it comes to directing feature films. The 2017 proudly announced it had 7 women directors in it's selection, but let's see that in perspective. Out of the 60 or more Male directors 7 women were featured. The maths of this  tells you that at the Festival, Women directors amounted to less than 10% of the selection. Since female attenders have been banging on at the lack of serious female supervision in films at Cannes Film Festival for 5 years, it maybe that it is now time to request a special section in the festival for Female achievement in film to re dress the balance.

Fascism is a strange thing it pervades peoples minds slowly and creeps darkly into the manners in which people compete with each other. Women are less free than they were 30 years ago and Cannes does nothing to promote a free, confident, working women, who have accepted the mantle of emancipation. Instead women there are clothes horses, with hidden bunions on their feet, smiling sweetly like 'Stepford' wives, trailing after male business men who march round in comfortable shoes and black fascist  style Tuxedos. Women are failing to speak up about the endless body shaming, which was rife at this year's festival when men openly berated and made fun of women who they said were not thin enough or acting in a way that was not submissive to them. What!

Fascism is a breeding. It is a force lead by men in tuxedos, with flat feet, and beer bellies. It is the men who should be taking a good look at themselves before they utter the fat word. With the exception of a few actors mostly the Festival was awash with over weight men, but the tabloids never discuss it or comment about their weight, their clothes or their shoes. So why do men like that think they have the right to have a Size 8 on their arm when they are not slim themselves? Ridiculous. Arise Dear Women and head forward to become film Directors and not just 5% but 50% of the employed working force of the film industry seizing it from these elitist, male, tuxedo, creatures. Not that I should be biting the hand that feeds me. Sure we are all trying when it comes to the weight game. However the trend of body shaming has really gone too far and a person is more than the some of their parts.

Cannes 2017 marked a return to an age of  Oppression as if  Europe was in the 1930's when Fascism gained ground prior to World war 2. It is up to Women to stop this trend and for men to shut up with their mocking laughs for once.

The Marche Du Film was a different this year with over 12,000 attendees according to Sydney's Blog piece. So there were some good pointers to film distribution with the people that count, mostly the smaller distributors who work hard for the Independent Film Maker and put their best foot forward usually a steady Doc Martin  I may add, while they wrestle with the over wrought Studio  Execs selling their block busters with the ubiquitous high heeled shoes in tow. Don't women realise in ten years when their bunions develop high heeled shoes will be a thing of the past for them too?
Hail Caesar Hail the High Heeled shoe! Lets keep the Mache Du Film going with Women at the foremost while they train to become good film Directors.

A nod to the sales agents and the work they do to keep us all in a job.

For my fans, I think I have some, here are some photos from Cannes 2017. I go between a size 10 and 12, but I could do with some work on my tummy. But who really cares? It's what you achieve that counts.

If we are to counter extremist ideology of all kinds, drastically changing the way all men from all backgrounds, treat women would be a great start.

Selfie outside the Majestic Hotel, Cannes

Outside the Majestic Hotel 

Actor Adam Lannon Presenter of the HP Presentation

Anonymous young film maker stating

'We should all be feminists' on her T-Shirt. 

A moment of fun with the Star Wars Photo Exhibit

May the Force Be With You.

Live Long and Prosper.

For the Amazon Fans

Photoshoot Movie Screenplay

You can get the screenplay of the film, Photoshoot one of the films I wrote and directed here

and the DVD here

Going Green Movie 

Also the other film I wrote and directed Going Green seems to available on DVD at Amazon.com here

Robert Szemis Fans

For Robert Szemis Fans

You can see his role as Roderick Haile in the Winter Warrior on Amazon Prime UK here

Also Winter Warrior is on Amazon Prime USA here

You can see him in the Bone Hunter on Amazon Prime UK here

Bone Hunter is also Available on Amazon prime USA here

You can also see him as Tax Inspector Corbett in Red Rose here

You can see Red Rose on Amazon.Com USA here

Enjoy

Robert Jan Szemis, Actor and Friend

Robert Jan Szemis

Obituary

Robert Jan Szemis was a good friend, marvellous actor and wonderful happy person. He had many gifted attributes, namely loyalty, discretion and wisdom. These qualities were not always to the fore in his later years when his illness took hold of him, but at the height of his powers, he was greatly admired in his acting profession for an ability to say his lines perfectly in a way that made a scene shine from the page. During filming he was always there to help other actors work through their lines and was greatly supportive of them, so much so in his later years he designed his own film course called 'Acting for Camera' offered at Strathclyde University Ramshorne theatre.

When he was employed by Palm Tree Entertainment he starred in 5 films, Love the One You're With, Finding Fortune, Winter Warrior, The Bone Hunter and Axe Raider. In the trilogy Celtic Warrior he made the part he played of Roderich Haile his own and went on to play this role in 3 films. On film sets when he worked as an actor, casting director or agent he was also there as a calming influence on the proceedings and everyone confided in him about their problems He was always there with a helping hand or kind word. Never once in all his life did he ever raise his voice in anger to me and if he encountered a problem he was always discrete, wise and helpful. He had a great ability to defuse a situation with kind words or a joke.

In his earlier career he was the Face of the Glasgow Evening Times promotional pages. Prior to acting he was Head Croupier in a number of International Casinos from Sri Lanka to the Bahamas.

After working on a number of feature films, he became an actors agent and ran his won agency called Academy Casting based in Glasgow. He therefore helped to develop the careers of a number of actors from Scotland by arranging work for them internationally.

However he was brought up in Glasgow under difficult circumstances. His father came from the Grodno, in Poland but fled the enforced resettlemants during World War 1 to settle in Scotland. Bringing up a family was hard but his father got a job at the famous Roxy cinema as a lift operator. As a child Robert liked to go in the lift with his father enjoying the excitement of the crowds. There he got an inside view of lots of films as a child, that developed into a love of acting in adulthood.

Robert is remembered fondly by his acting colleagues, particularly in the Gay Community, for his charming joy de vie and quick witted approach the techniques of acting.

I will always remember Robert's beautiful warm smile. This picture was taken after Christmas 2015 when there was a window of opportunity for him to combat alcohol dependency. Sadly he was unable to overcome it and died peacefully of liver and multiple organ failure on Sunday 9th of April 2017.

Bone Hunter - a film with a theme. #AmazonPrime

The fans of Bone Hunter keep returning 14 years after the film was made. It seems the theme of the lone Warrior walking home to save his lands and family resonates along the Centuries.  Amazon Prime agrees because it groups the film in it's  'Warrior' Section, where it achieves a regular audience.

However another theme rests in the story that has it's own special coterie of Scottish fans due to the central subject of the film which is about the true legend of the bones of St Andrew. His relics were brought to Scotland by a Saint Regulus in the 4th Century AD, who left Patras in Greece after a dream to remove the bones to safety. His journey to flee the wrath of Emperor Constantine, brought Saint Regulus to Scotland and their final resting place Saint Andrews, after a ship wreck.

The film Bone Hunter takes up the tale at this point and proceeds to provide a hearty romp through the heather with grumpy Pictish tribes and angry Maidens in the Scottish mud.

Here are the characters Louis, played by Alan Torrance the good natured Pict, and Beith his wife in the story played by my good self, Mairi. The picture above was the original poster picture.

You can view the film on Amazon Prime in the UK here.
To view the film in the USA on Amazon Prime you can get it here
To view the film on Amazon Prime in Germany you can see it here
And to view it on Amazon Prime in Japan you can download it here

When it attracted the interest of distributors the poster soon became a fusion of all the pictures below.

James Watson in Highland gear. Some of the items were hand made like the shirt, which was sown by Isabelle Moffat, the film Director's Mum. Oh well, the linen was very authentic!

Above the Angle tribes make chase to meet Warrior Fingal. Their costumes and weapons were hired from the West Viking Society.

As well as James Watson, actor Michael Rodgers was the star of the show. Behind the scenes I remember fondly how both of them hid from a bat that had flown into the local accommodation. Fun and laughter at their terrified screams.

Oliver Cotton played Saint Regulus, while the Picts watch on in the background.

The Picts negotiate with Fingal to return the bones to him after they accidentally rescue them from the Angles.

Michael's character rescues the forlorn maidens in the mist played by Lydsey Baxter and Joanna Kate Rodgers.

That's it for now. Enjoy the film on #AmazonPrime https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bone-Hunter-James-Watson/dp/B06W5FKGVC

Getting Business Done and Keeping it Going.

Update 20/02/17 See links below for Winter Warror movie on all Amazon Prime sites including the USA, UK, Japan and Germany!

Things are really hard aren't they, well except for those in denial who never have anything wrong until it is so obvious that the eyes can see it.  Those folks walk about in a perpetual state of hurried fast talking, which they hope will convey they are highly successful, happy bods who never have a care in the world. Not so and nobody is really fooled by the 'fast talk' and lippy self congratulations. Nuff said about them. We spend our evenings watching these talkers bad mouth everyone and everything until we are forced to do the thing they fear the most - pressing the 'off' button......and turning to AMAZON.COM

Things are Looking Up for Film Makers

That aside things are looking up for film makers because finally the new downloads from Amazon are starting to kick in for Independent film makers. Last year audiences started to get the hang of the download movie and Amazon Prime led a new way of paying and viewing them. It is now possible to find that movie you missed or seek out Independent Films then quickly fast-forwards to Prime.

 Amazon's years of work of creating space for new talent, aspiring film makers is finally paying off for them. So much so they launched a Film Production wing that promises to attract new talent and new stories to their screens both theatrically and for download. The word from the Berlin Film Market is that buyers and sellers are more confident and we are going to see a comeback for the film business in what was hitherto a slow almost dying market. Competition between Netflix and Amazon is adding a little extra zest to the mix and keeping everyone on their toes.

So what is new with Amazon and how are Palm Tree Universal's titles fairing? We have been on Amazon for about 5 years and we have watched it through all it's metamorphosis from its CreateaSpace portal to the newly launched Video Direct this month, which sees many of our titles being put back up with subtitles in English. My only comment on that is the films originated in English but hey well our best seller Winter Warrior does have  characters in Scottish accents so one could be forgiven for the insistence on these English subtitles. It is not clear why the film made some years ago seems to be liked and continues to gain a fan base on Amazon.

The subject matter could have something to do with it. It's about, Fingal the Celtic Warrior, who in 575 AD returns home to Scotland from his exploits fighting for Rome as a mercenary soldier, only to discover that his lands have been taken from him. Thinking he would return home to peace he makes the decision again to take up the Sword he thought he had forsaken to defend his community. The film also includes  romance for Fingal, in the form of a slave girl, whom he releases from her captors.

For me it was exciting to make. As well as helping as the co-producer of the film for the writer/ director Robbie Moffat, I was able to participate in front of camera as an actress playing the comedy role of Beith the Pict, which along with the 2 other Pictish characters brought a kind of elfish mysticism to the story.

The character Beith is funny and whimsical at the same time. She spends her days collecting things and is often caught out by her own avaricious nature. It was wonderful to find a Pixie like helmet for her in an unusual Medieval style armoury in Edinburgh and match it with a moss-like autumnal cloak from the Scottish Opera's Glasgow wardrobe. Here I am below in the creation that made Beith take her character into 3 other Celtic Warrior Films, namely Winter Warrior, Bone Hunter and Axe raider.

                                            Mairi Sutherland as the Pixie-like, Beith the Pict

Whist it was difficult for me to work behind the scenes and act at the same time, it was enjoyable because the story melded with the scenery and costumes to create a mythical landscape for the characters. Audiences seem to appreciate it. In Russia the Trilogy was in the top ten DVD's sales from 2007 and actor Jon Paul Gates was approached for autographs in his visit to Lithuania.

 Amazon are clearly getting used to it because, last week alone, the film received 45000 impressions in it's new Video Direct Launch. How that will translate into cash we are not sure, but let's wait and see.

                                                    Above Cast of Winter Warrior.


To see Winter Warrior you can buy it on Amazon Prime here.  (hit the word here.) For the UK.
To see Winter Warrior on USA Amazon.com hit the link here
To see Winter Warrior in Germany on Amazon.de hit the link here
To see Winter Warrior in Japan on Amazon.co.jp hit the link here

The success of the trilogy also prompted me to add acting to my list of achievements and return to it recently with some short films in  December 2016 and again this month in 2017. More of that later on.

And as if that is not enough I have also returned to my first real love for art and painting with my submission to Imago Mundi, the artists miniature calling card on canvas. This marks my return to landscape with the painting' Tanera Mor' pictured below. In the background is the stark mountain of Stak Polly, in Sutherland, a famous old volcano, seen in shadow from the island of Tanera Mor during it's astounding sunsets.

Whatever the state of the World, it falls on the individual to preserve their own accomplishments from those who would seek to destroy them by virtue of the fact that they have not created anything yet. Let's just ignore the fast talkers and instead make and do the things that create value to life and community. Hardship is the anvil that melds the art.