This is My Land

(film still from This is My Land, Ben Rivers)

Although the festival is not explicitly about climate change, it is the underlying theme to the whole festival. It has been curated in such a way as to provide a platform to explore current issues surrounding climate change, rural isolation and what it means to live and work in the countryside in 2009.

The festival has been designed to celebrate our countryside and explore serious issues such as climate change in a approachable and interesting way. All aspects of the festival have been considered to highlight particular areas of interest such as, local conservationist, Bill Shaw's introduction to the Scottish section of the festival with a talk about his time on the island of St Kilda and the changes he has been monitoring there. To Ben Rivers film This is My Land which explores a solitary man living self-sufficiently off the land, and documents his way of life that quietly, but resolutely, refuses to submit to the demands of conventional living. Watch a short clip of the film here (please note it contains some mild swearing)

This is My Land

Our main aim for the festival is for the films and talks to act as a catalyst for an informal discussion between a diverse group of people from conservationists, film makers, local farmers and members of the community about their personal experience of climate change and what it's like for them to live and work in the countryside.