The Glasgow Short Film Festival has announced that it's hosting a screening of Lost Treasure, a major unfinished film by Dawn Cine Group, with a specially commissioned soundtrack by Drew Wright (Wounded Knee) and Hamish Brown (also of Swimmer One).

Dawn Cine Group was a pioneering socialist film-makers' collective, from a time where the communist party still seemed like it had most of the answers. It was formed in the 1950s by Charles Bukelis as the production unit of Clydeside Film Society, and aimed to make films that reflected political and social issues in Scotland from a socialist perspective. The group made several films, including 1956's Let Glasgow Flourish, a striking exposé of the city's slums, but it broke up in the late 50s due to chronic lack of funding and a Cold War political environment that was less than sympathetic to the idea of socialist collectivism, even in film form.

Lost Treasure was planned as a look at the Scottish Highlands' crisis of depopulation, and was shot on locations in Glasgow, Sutherland and the then-under-construction Dounreay nuclear power development facility. It was shot in 1956, but due to the collapse of the group, the rushes were never edited into a finished film. The screening will open the Festival, and will be accompanied by a new piece of music from Drew Wright, well known for his use of traditional materials, and Hamish Brown, who besides his musical activities also finds the time to put together The List's regular music newsletters. With the premiere of Lost Treasure, another piece of vital Scottish culture is saved from the memory hole.

Lost Treasure receives its world premiere on Wed 16 Mar as part of the Glasgow Short Film Festival. Tickets go on sale on Wed 2 Dec.