‘The local in conversation with the global’ is how producer Jamie Chambers describes the thinking behind Folk Film Gathering’s eclectic programme. Now in its tenth year and produced by Transgressive North with funding from Screen Scotland, 2024’s folk-themed events include Scottish musician Luke Sutherland presenting a live soundtrack for Earth, Alexander Dovzhenko’s 1930 silent-film hymn to nature; the Scottish premiere of Irish auteur Pat Collins’ documentary Songlines about singers from the Irish traveller community; and Mexican director Itandehui Jansen’s Itu Ninu, a science-fiction film about climate change set in 2084 but shot in Edinburgh.

So what binds such a diverse programme together? ‘We’re still working that out!’ says Chambers. ‘Folk cinema is primarily about solidarity; if you look back to our first programme in 2015, we haven’t changed much at all.’ Aiming to represent community experiences and perspectives, with an emphasis on cultural accuracy, other events include To See Ourselves, with Musselburgh-based activist Fraser McAllister’s passion for Scottish independence observed by his director daughter Jane; Michel Khleifi’s documentary Tale Of The Three Jewels, a poignant 1995 tribute to the children of Gaza, with an introduction by Palestinian/Scottish poet Nada Shawa; and celebrated musician Aly Bain playing a mini-concert alongside his screening Down Home, a restored 1986 film about Scottish fiddling traditions. 

‘We still have a strong sense of a core of Scottish films, and then looking outwards towards world cinema, and communities elsewhere in the world from there,’ says Chambers. ‘Over the past two years, that’s led us to explore how films from Ukraine and Palestine, in particular, might fit into this latest programme.’

Folk Film Gathering, Cameo Picturehouse and Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh, Friday 3–Sunday 12 May.