Please read Understanding catalogue records for help interpreting this information and Using footage for more information about accessing this film.

Title: FLIGHT: Searching For Scotland

Reference number: 5641

Date: 1997

Director: d. Emma Davie

Sponsor: BBC Scotland, Scottish Arts Council, National Lottery Fund, Nova Scotia, Film Development Corporation Vision TV

Producer: Frances Higson, Peter D'Etremont

Production company: Antonine Films Ltd and Triad Films (Canada)

Sound: sound

Original format: 16mm

Colour: col

Fiction: non-fiction

Running time: 28.20 mins

Description: A road movie about Scots in Canada. "Flight" traces the culture they perpetuate and through a series of portraits, follows how emigrants express their identity often generations after their families have moved there. [synopsis courtesy of director]

Shot in Scotland and Canada, Autumn 1997. A slightly longer version of the programme was aired in Canada (Vision TV) and the film was screened at the Atlantic Film Festival, October 1997. Distribution was picked up by London based company TVF International.

"Some keep their roots alive through Clan Societies, others through Loch Ness Monster dolls which play Scotland the Brave or Scottish pubs where they play football pools faxed from home and feel like they've never left. One descendant of the Ross Clan has never been to Scotland but lives in a mini Dunvegan Castle near Halifax, Novia Scotia. In Cape Breton, a very different Scotland exists. Road signs echo back to the Highlands where emigrants first came from 200 years ago. Some still speak Gaelic, remembering stories and songs that are generations old. More and more Scots now travel over to Canada to learn about the lost part of Scotland that still exists in Cape Breton. Eighty two year old step-dancer, Willie Fraser passes on the same steps to his grandchildren which have been in his family since they first came from Scotland. This form of dancing has now disappeared from the Old Country, but as less and less young people speak Gaelic in Canada, how will the culture based on it survive?" [Emma Davie]

Credits: An Antonine/Imagex Production for BBC Scotland, Scottish Arts Council, National Lottery Fund, Nova Scotia, Film Development Corporation Vision TV.

This film is dedicated to Alex Currie, Piper, who died in December 1997.

d. of ph. John Walker
ed. Angela Baker
sd. recordist. Alex Salter
sd. ed. John Gow
nar. Gerda Stevenson
cam. assts. Ernie Kestler & Kirstin McMahon
dub.mix. Cy Jack
prod.accountants Louise Coulter & Debbie Finkbeiner
prod. coordinator Natalie Angelucci
prod. assts. Lauren MacNeill & Michael Higson
Gaelic translators Jim Watson & Ian MacDonald
titles G.A.P.
rostrum camera Malcolm Paris
post production Andrea (Angie) Kokic,Tracey Hatcher, Deborah Keogh
Music played and sung by Neil Beaton & Stephanie Wills, Christmas Island Feis, Alex Currie, Mary Jane Lamond, Ashley MacIsaac & Guests at Ashley's Roots Concert, Joe Peter MacLean, Malcolm MacNeill & Michael John MacNeill, Fiona Moore, Hamish Moore, Fred Morrison.
Dancers Maureen Fraser-Doyle, Lindsay Fraser, Willie Fraser, Hugh MacDonald, Clare & Melanie McQuarrie, Joy Tolev's Highland Dancers with piper Sean McKeown
etc
exec. prods. Paddy Higson, Chris Zimmer
special thanks to COOPERATION ACOA & Nova Scotia's 'International Years of Music Project'
w. Emma Davie

Shotlist: Scottish scenery, cut to ext. Glasgow airport, title, view from aircraft (1.22) gvs Toronto. Interview with ex-pat originally from Glasgow and views of his large house (2.46) ext. Scotch Corner restaurant and bar, int. view and regulars talking (3.25) intv Neil Fraser and wife about Scottish family history. i/v with other ex-pats intercut with footage of Scottish landscapes and Canadian cityscapes, Scottish streetscenes and Canadian streetscenes (7.30) girls Highland dancing outside Shoppers Drug store in mall. Kiltmakers shop, tourist items (9.00) ext. mini Castle lived in by descendant of Ross Clan, view inside and mans collection of Highland traditional weaponry (10.30) i/v man intercut with scenery of Scotland (12.00) view from car travelling towards bridge to Cape Breton. People step dancing to a fiddle (13.03) Aberdeen, Inverness street signs. Willie Fraser demonstrating step dancing in his kitchen and talking to camera (15.00) man dancing to fiddler on stage at Celtic Colours Festival (16.00) i/v with fiddler intercut with shots of him playing with other musicians (17.30) scenery and i/v with Gaelic speakers. Brief excerpt Gaelic Waulking Song and interviews with descendants (19.36) Alex Currie interview and playing pipes (22.00) view from car of scenery, song and interviews with more Gaelic speakers (23.55) Gaelic Waulking Song, step dancing, road signs with Scottish names, interviews (27.00) aeroplane flying overhead and camera pans back down to Scottish scenery (27.22) ecs (28.20)