Into 2019 without a blink (new up date)

Pictured Producer Mairi Sutherland at Berlin Film Festival 2018 at Check Point Charlie. A fun moment there.

Happy BELATED New Year Everyone and Happy Berlin Film Festival. I opted not to go for this years 2019, but here is some of the things that continue for this year. It is February and already with January rushing through like a train on a mission. So far so good in that some new things are on the go. Some debts were paid and other  projects micro-managed as you do when things take up attention when really you should be looking at those ones that will make money. Oh well the time to plod through it all and keep going. 

WW1 Private John Smith and a new Progress report.
The World War One film about my maternal (mum's dad) grandfather Private John Smith, Passchendaele missed its deadline to be completed by the 11th of November 2018 but with that failure, I have just had to look at the project in a different way saying to it that it will be finished when it is finished. It has been dogged with technical problems in the editing suite where lately it will just not save the correct version of the piece and so far the current editing file will not save to other drives because it says it needs a password to do that. All very strange... but par for the course with an out of date final cut pro 7 piece of software that finally seems to have given up the ghost. Now other more up dated versions are being looked at so hopefully the project can be transmigrated to the final cut 10 x system. Lets see what befalls this project but lets not give up. In way of a postscript with help from my daughter, we found the missing version of the film so we think we are back on track. Final cut has a beastly auto saver which can save hundreds of versions of edits. So I learned that it is important to use the 'save as' element and give your main edit a new name every time you work on it. Simply it is not enough to make a general save because this does not differentiate your working files from the auto save versions. It is a learning curve but now it looks as if we are back on the right train track. 

In the meantime my grandfather's book of some 200 poems is still being typed up by my brother to form a manuscript for publishing it's pages. So a painstaking process is happening.

Walking With Elephants
This project was filmed under difficult circumstances by Robbie Moffat in Africa last year with the main staging post being Botswana. He hopes it will be like a Marching With the Penguins type of film and is currently planing a voice over narration. It is in post production in London at the moment. It certainly was a Mammoth project and sadly the Elephant seems to be loosing the race which could see it extinct in the same way its ancestor became as a species that died out. Can it be stopped asks the documentary? Can a new habitat be built for the Elephant in time before it is too late? Moffat manages the dialogue and move towards an ecological observation that modern man seems hell bent on destruction no matter what befalls the Elephant in the process. The film plans to premiere at the Cannes Film Market 2019. 

I supported this project as a producer, researcher along side the marketing element of getting the project known about. 


Chopin -The Last Nocturne
Palm Tree Films continues to develop its own state of films and has turned its attention to one that has been in development for over 10 years, a script written by Robbie Moffat about the famous composer Chopin, who in his last years was forced out of the French Kings court during the second French revolution in the 1840's and found himself having to seek refuge in Britain with his fawning pupils, he was teaching and relying on their income to support himself. Sadly his adventure in Britain lead to his death, but it was nearly prevented by the aristocrat Jane Stirling who who picked up the tab and sent him on the rounds of a concert tour in the grand houses of Scotland and England. Unrequited love is the theme. 

Robbie is also reprising the character Robinson Crusoe for a TV series proposal.

My Stuff - Historical  

That would usually be enough to be kept busy but there are also my own self written projects, some which are a bit hush hush because mainly if you announce anything they get ripped off the wall before the paint has dried.

Like Private John Smith I have the serious Jenny Gilbertson Project a worthy bio pic about the pioneer film makers life, which has now had all her real life diaries added to it so for I am drawing from historical exactitude to form authentic biographical style screenplays. None of this is for the fainthearted.  It's high brow and not for those who pride themselves on a diet of thrill pill films. No apologies there. However there is one fantasy adventure series I'm developing that ticks all the boxes, its action, adventure, drama, and sex all laced up in the Celtic Legends of the 5th Century when Britain was negotiating a new way of life between Pagans and Christians - a tension that was to create Warrior Kings and Warlords. Game of Thrones hold your horses a new TV series is beating its path to your CGI, or so I hope.

2019 has many hopes, dreams. The challenge is to overcome the obstacles, take the technicalities by the horns and say politely to those holding me back excuse me thank you for your time and input, but actually the goal is over that hill and if you are standing in the way, you better move because my train is going in your direction. 

2019 get out the way here I am.
 (On postscript is as well as my film work, Im now also developing my portfolio as a visual artist.) You can read all about my film work and other projects on my website by hitting the word here  

Above my sketch based on a study of the artist Leonard Da Vinci's flower examinations as you will read on my website I have an artistic side and its decided to come out.

An armistice reflection 2018

This blog has lost its way so I though I would change it's template to be entitled Mairi's Blog to give me more scope to cover different things. This year has flown by and I just have not go off the starting blocks. Even my documentary making on private John Smith got delayed in the final weeks of its editing process, because I got bad concussion for 3 weeks after banging my head on a heavy car door! But I decided to carry on with completing the documentary and not worry that I missed the deadline of Armistice 2018 to screen it. So without more fuss I list below my maternal grandfather's story about Private John Smith and his time in WW1 Passchendaele battle.

This picture was taken a month before he was called up under the Derby scheme of enlistment in mid 1917 in June. He left his daughter barely a month old and his wife Tabitha, to go to the Black Watch training centre, where his special skill of speaking German was sought after in the later part of the war. Within 3 weeks he found himself close to the Messine Ridge in Ypres and soon enough he was plunged into the worst battle of the war - Passchendaele. This battle became famous because it's casualties amounted to 500,000 from a new weapon, Mustard Gas, which combined with the unfortunate conditions in the trenches of dangerous water filled, flows of mud the men toppled into the ground creating horrific mass graves. The use of Mustard gas was to become it's first and last achievement in that when the top brass realised that it was causing multiple deaths in a grossly inhumane and 'inefficient' way, its was banned soon after as a weapon of war.

John's war was not to last long because although he got to the end of Passchandaele he received Mustard Gas poisoning which meant he had lung erosion that was to trouble him for the rest of his life. When Passchendaele ended on the 10th November 2017 John was making his way to the field hospital in Ypres, where it was decided he must return home to become one of thousands of men who could not return to the battlefield. In the UK he woke up in hospital a month later hearing carol singers at Christmas time. Awaking from unconsciousness, he thought he had died and gone to heaven, when hearing the notes of the music that had brought him round.

It would take a while before he would realise that he was at Craiglockhart hospital a special place for soldiers with the newly coined term 'shell shock' though John was also dealing with the effects of Mustard gas. There the hospital had a regime to give soldiers rehabilitation therapy by doing tasks and jobs which might distract them from the thoughts of the battle scenes they had witnessed. The hospital was the place where the poet's Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon were available to other soldiers to help show them see the benefits of poetry as a means of dealing with shell shock. John was to take up poetry himself while also participating in the occupational therapy of needlework a job that was familiar to him because he was a professional tailor before the war. In the picture above his is on the right front seated but the Black Watch badge he made is being held by another wounded soldier. 

John did not return to the action of the war , but he was to write poetry, which was published in local newspapers in Fife, Scotland, under the pen name SARTOR, which means tailor in Latin. Below is one of his poems called Storm and War which was published in 1953 after his time in World War Two serving again in the Black Watch. 

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

Finally I hope to complete the documentary for a Christmas screening which seems appropriate because he woke up at Christmas time after being unconscious on his travel back home. It is not too late to contribute to the Go Fund Me, which has no deadlines in its scheme. The money raised so far will go on a student editor for one week. As a contributor you will get a Producer credit, a copy of the film on DVD and small booklet of John's story containing some of his poems. You can donate by going to the link on the word here

Hello Big Summer Heatwave. Just back from a journey of attending a few Kiefer Sutherland band concerts from his #RecklessTour2018 and I will, of course, be sorting out the photos I took over the next few weeks. Certainly, in the UK it was a victory for him with full houses and good responses to his new album called This is How it is Done. In the meantime here is a photo, I took, from last year's Glasgow concert. Bear with me while I grapple with the inevitable geg sizes of some of the photos. (Storage space!!!)

Kiefer Sutherland Not Enough Whisky Tour 2017 Glasgow

Now onto the Next Thing

Cycle Feature Drama

On to the film news and the films from Palm Tree Universal's stable on Amazon, I thought I would take a look at the less known thriller Cycle, which is a shameless 'slasher' style movie. It turned out much more violent than I expected from reading the script in pre-production, but I did think the writer Robbie Moffat had nailed the scary things that could be lurking in the hills of Scotland particularly places like the famed Glencoe valley and Mountain where it was shot a few years ago.

The story revolves around 3 students who take a hiking and camping holiday during their term break.  They attract the attention of a loner on a bike thus the name Cycle. He turns out to be more than a 'Peeping Tom' or Stalker. He is altogether something more sinister but because of the dysfunctional nature of the 3 girls friendships, they do not notice when one of them goes missing. By then it is too late for them to see they are in the clutches of a serial killer. 

It sounds like a cliche but the way the lead actor Andreas Beltzer portrays this deranged character is very chilling and forces one to look away at times. So this will not be everyone's cup of tea. However, the bright spark of the production was the actress Vivien Taylor who has the capacity to add an extra nuance to a line. She reminded me of the film when I shared accommodation with her at the Cannes Film Festival and so I decided to feature it here this month. The sharp heat here also reminded me of the summer it was shot in, at the time. The cinematography of the Highlands of Scotland is stunning and it is a must for people who know these hills. You can see it on Amazon when you hit the link of the word link on the word Cycle

Vivien is pictured with me below at the Cannes Film Festival 2018

Vivien has gone on to receive awards for the film Train Set 

I hope you have time to watch Cycle.

Photoshoot Movie directed by Mairi Sutherland #MeToo Theme

The film Photoshoot was written and directed by my good self in 2009 but it took a few years for it to be readily available on Amazon Prime. An Independent British film I wrote it as a satirical comment on the attitude of the film industry to women and in that sense it was certainly before its time. Since then the MeToo Movement has created a tidal wave against Hollywood male attitudes and so this film with its story of a women who loses her career because she was sexually assaulted by a well known photographer, is now a film that has an up to date theme. The film delves into the psychological effects of sexual assault and the resulting fall out with the male film making hierarchy. For this portrayal of a women on the edge the lead actress Debbie Arnold received a Best Actress Award from the British Worthing Film Festival in 2010.

In writing it I was drawing from my own experience of being sexually assaulted by a BBC freelance reporter in 1991. Now over 25 years later we know from the Saville and others, that this was common place in the BBC with a culture that saw it as acceptable and part of the male celebrity belief that they were entitled to demand sexual favours from women, without consent as part of their job.

Now with the plethora of court cases, it is no long considered fashionable, or savvy in any way to have been part of that culture or to be seen as maintaining it in the BBC or Hollywood for that matter. Through out my 15 years as one of the most employed female film producers in Britain (according to blogger Stephen Fellows who compiles such film statistics) I have to say that I have had my fair share of humiliations from the male film community including being lined up with 9 other women, in a corporate setting to become a possible date for a famous film producer. In that respect I'm glad I was not chosen for the night out as more likely I would have defended myself in the manner of the character in Photo-shoot May Hudson.

I enjoyed making the movie and once the assault scene was filmed and accomplished with dignity by the actress Lara Clear I felt I could move on from the part of my life that had haunted me. If you want to support independent female voices in the film industry like myself please watch my film on Amazon Prime by hitting the link on here   

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.)