Tiree film festival Sea Change announces programme

Sea Change, Scotland’s annual film festival celebrating female filmmaking talent, returns to the Hebridean island of Tiree this autumn. Expect wild swimming, daily walks and a great selection of humane films celebrating community

Article by Jamie Dunn | 19 Jul 2024
  • Notes From Sheepland

Sea Change is back for its third edition, running 20 to 22 September with another programme celebrating female filmmaking, and once again it's taking place on Tiree. The great documentarian Jeanie Finlay heads to this gorgeous Hebridean island for the opening night to introduce her empathetic documentary My Fat Friend. On closing night, there’ll be a live concert from Oban-born musician Kim Carnie, frontwoman of the Celtic band Manran, following a special screening of Kim Carnie Out Loud. The film sees Carnie travel around the world meeting members of the LGBTQ+ community who’ve had to hide their sexuality in their youth, as Carnie did with her first same-sex relationship when she was a teen.

Among the other films coming to Sea Change across its three days are three great-looking documentaries. There’s Cara Holmes's Notes From Sheepland, a candid observational doc about foul-mouthed Irish artist and shepherd Orla Barry; Chloe Abrahams’ The Taste of Mango, an autobiographical film about three generations of extraordinary women in Abrahams' family; and Esther Johnson’s evocative archive documentary Dust and Metal, telling stories from Vietnam through the lens of the country’s favourite mode of transport: the motorbike.

In terms of fiction films, there's Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s Senegalese romance Banel & Adama, Mika Gustafson’s Swedish family drama Paradise is Burning and Shuchi Talati’s Girls Will Be Girls, set in a strict girls' boarding school nestled in the Himalayas. There are also short film programmes planned and a special sing-along screening of ABBA romp Mamma Mia!, which has a drop-in workshop beforehand where you can create your own wedding attire to wear to the screening.

A big part of this festival’s charm appears to be the community it creates over its three days, with daily wild swimming, Gaelic walking tours and a seaweed foraging trip among the itinerary. But if you’re looking for a bit of solitude, there’s One Bum Cinema Club, the festival’s new ‘one bum at a time’ cinema, which lets you take a solo trip to watch a hand-picked selection of Scottish animated films.

“This year’s festival focuses on stories of humanity and community, it has a big heart,” says Sea Change’s artistic director Jen Skinner. “We are all about bringing communities together through film. I can’t wait to share cinema, connections and Tiree with audiences this year. See you there!!”


For the full Sea Change schedule and to buy tickets, head to screenargyll.co.uk