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National Library of Scotland

Biography of 'Scottish Screen Collection'

Publicly funded film collection

In April 1997, the Scottish Film Council, Scottish Screen Locations, Scottish Broadcast and Film Training and the Scottish Film Production Fund merged to form the non-departmental government body Scottish Screen. Creating a ‘one stop shop’ for the screen industries was important and built on the momentum of success stories such as Braveheart (1995), Rob Roy (1995) and Trainspotting (1996). Scottish Screen had an ambitious remit - concerned with cultural and educational access to screen heritage as well as the business and resourcing of film-making in Scotland.

As the parent body of the Scottish Screen Archive, Scottish Screen had an obligation to preserve films funded from the public purse, particularly relevant now distribution of Lottery funds was its responsibility. Although funding arrangements existed between its predecessor bodies and other organisations (eg. broadcasters), Scottish Screen also introduced a clause in production agreements that provided for a copy of the finished work to be deposited for archival preservation.

In 2007, the Scottish Screen Archive transferred to the National Library of Scotland, and with it, the responsibility to continue collecting film, video and born digital work. Scottish Screen transferred their former distribution collection and back catalogue to the Archive, much of which was earlier work not covered by the new arrangements. This diverse collection of modern Scottish film production now promises to grow in partnership with Creative Scotland from 2010 and far into Scotland’s digital future.

The collection contains creative and factual documentary, experimental artists film, video dance, animation, comedy, horror, drama …. They include films made by people of all ages, some featuring Scottish actors ‘before they were famous’, and there are plenty of lesser-known titles to explore, eg. THE EVANESCENT HERB GARDEN OF DEATH (1993)

Dating from the early 1980s onwards, such works have generally been made through a variety of funding and training initiatives. Scottish Screen and its predecessor bodies ran such schemes in collaboration with partners, ensuring vital broadcast and theatrical exposure for new filmmaking talent.

First Reels (1991 - 1999), in collaboration with Scottish Television, offered small financial incentives (£50 - £2000) but more importantly, hands-on experience and exposure. The scheme proved a springboard to greater things for talent such as Peter Mullan, David Tennant and Hannah Robinson, yet supported community groups (Pilton Video, Castlemilk Elderly Forum), individual animators, dancers, students and video artists. Prime Cuts (1996 - 1998) followed, encouraging innovative films on 16mm between 5 – 7 min, from documentary to experimental. Graduates of this scheme include acclaimed video dance artist, Katrina McPherson and directors Morag MacKinnon, Justin Molotnikov and Elly M. Taylor. Tartan Shorts (1993 - 1996), Tartan Smalls (2002 - 2005) and the Gaelic language Geur Ghearr (1996 - 1998) - schemes working with with BBC Scotland and Comataidh Craolaidh Gaidhlig - led to short films shown on family television sets across the country, and those same titles distributed to festivals across the world. Amongst this collection is the Oscar-winning FRANZ KAFKA'S IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1993), This Scotland (2002 - 2005) and New Found Land (2000 - 2004) are examples of schemes co-funded by STV and Grampian that produced a variety of productions with longer running times of up to 25 min and a strong emphasis on quality documentary.

Around 2002, a slight shift away from shorts to predominantly Scottish-funded features as well as international co-productions is evident. These range from the hard-hitting 16 YEARS OF ALCOHOL (2003), to the lighthearted STONE OF DESTINY (2008). SEACHD - INACCESSIBLE PINNACLE (2007) is the first feature film in the language of Scottish Gaelic to achieve mainstream cinematic distribution. (The archive holds deposit copies on 35mm as well as HD). International co-productions include SKAGERRAK (2004) and animated THE THREE MUSKETEERS (DE TRE MUSKATERER) (2006).

Aside from the funded schemes, there is much to enjoy. Music video 4 Minute Wonders (2001 - 2003) feature Scottish bands and record labels (Soma, Chemikal Underground). Bridging the Gap (since 2004) remains an intelligent, creative force in Scottish film-making. Scottish Students on Screen (started c. 1999) material ranges from GUID MAN OF BALLENGEICH (2001), made by schoolchildren in Stirlingshire, to COLD TAPE (2000), shown at Tate Britain. Interviews, stills, scripts, and other supporting documentation relating to the films are all kept.

There are just under 700 titles recorded to date. As well as basic content information, much of which has been taken from secondary sources (title, release date, synopsis, director, producer, production company, sponsor), full cast and credits are transcribed directly from viewing the source material. For the first time, the full scope, range and amount of Scottish publicly funded film in the last three decades has been brought together in one searchable set of data – with open public access worldwide.

Due to rights and conditions of deposit, viewings are only offered on National Library of Scotland premises. Requests for a loan, to screen, duplicate or otherwise distribute material in the collection should be directed to Creative Scotland. Permission for such uses will only be given in consultation with rights holders.

This is a work in progress - a constantly evolving collection. The growth of the collection reflects the creativity and talent of those working the screen industries in Scotland. The collection continues to flourish, with new work produced under Creative Scotland and Screen Scotland.

Missing, believed lost?
Gaps in the collection have been identified, and it would be invaluable to find this material and preserve it in the national collection. Representation of earlier work, such as First Reels, is patchy (eg. an interview with the director of a film exists on Betacam SP tape, but the 16mm completed film is nowhere to be seen!) Some films are incomplete or in poor condition and there may still be surviving material somewhere.

Researcher: Ann Cameron

Films associated with 'COCOZZA, Enrico'

Title Release date Film reference Sound Colour Date film record added Date video added Asc Desc
	JUST COZ [8228] Add to my films Music video featuring young people preparing to go on a night out. Features animation, songs and dressing up.		2002 sound col
	KARMIC MOTHERS [7509] Add to my films A black comedy about two women who have tried to commit suicide and are recovering in hospital close to a maternity wing. Seeing and reflecting on the mother-child bond affects them in different ways and when one is sent home for Christmas, the other tries to take her life again...		1997 sound col
	KERRY'S STORY [7636] Add to my films Kerry is a young woman with learning and physical disabilities but lives life as fully as her identical twin. A young mother with a rich social life, she's determined to help others with disabilities achieve their dreams.	Onsite only	2005 sound col
	KICK ABOUT [8044] Add to my films Teenager Chris McMillan desperately tries to stop his older brother joining a Glasgow gang, only to end up becoming a part of his violent initiation.	Onsite only	2007 sound col
	KING OF GLORY [8018] Add to my films Video Art. Story of a sick man's need for forgiveness. He is weak and misguided. He gets into all kinds of trouble, but in the end reaches a better place.		1993 sound col
	KINGS OF THE WILD FRONTIER [5968] Add to my films Jerry and Gordy are white trash hoodlums surfing into adulthood as their factory town school closes for the summer. But their teenage daydreams turn sour when the test of friendship and the ties that bind transform an innocent quest for freedom into a baptism of fire.	Onsite only	2000 sound col
	KISSING, TICKLING AND BEING BORED [7089] Add to my films Maddy is 15, and everything in her life feels totally dead. She wants to feel something, anything, just as long as it's real.		2006 sound col
	KNIT YOUR OWN KARMA [7689] Add to my films A knitted tank top takes on special time travelling powers and changes one man's dreary existence forever in this science fiction comedy short.		2001 sound col
	LADDY AND THE LADY [7688] Add to my films Laddy and the Lady follows an out-of-control golden retriever, owned by a lady, on a pheasant shoot. Scenes of the shoot are intercut with flashbacks to Laddy's troubled past as a puppy, wrenched from his mother's side.	Onsite only	2006 sound col
	LAST GREAT WILDERNESS, the [7088] Add to my films In an unlikely pairing, two desperate men, one escaping and one seeking revenge, set out on a journey north to play out their parallel fates. Charlie is driven to avenge the musician who has stolen his wife and Vincente is escaping a contract castration ordered by a man who caught him in bed with his wife. When their car breaks down on an isolated road, they take refuge in a gothic retreat run by a strange community. When the emotions, fears and horrors of this group come pouring out, the result is terrifying mayhem. [synopsis from Scottish Screen Feature Films 2005 brochure]		2002 sound col
	LAST IN THE LINE, the [8217] Add to my films A moving portrait of ballad singer Sheila Stewart, the last in the line of a long lineage of travellers and storytellers. Her final quest is to ensure that her culture does not die with her.	Onsite only	2006 sound col
	LAST LEGS [7846] Add to my films Black comedy about legs and why we need them.	Onsite only	2001 sound col
	LAST ORDER [21375] Add to my films Words and emotions blur in Last Order, an offbeat love story. It's Sam's last day at work but will Laila reveal her true feelings? [Source - Glasgow Short Film Festival]		2011 sound col
	LAST REGAL KINGSIZE, the [8119] Add to my films On the day of a militant religious gathering, Stewy, a disturbed Protestant boy seizes his chance to join a gang of local delinquents. For the prize of a packet cigarettes he entices a young boy out from the safety of his home. The result is devastating. While their fathers march through the decaying streets of Glasgow their sons take a sinister journey into the dark heart of modern Britain.	Onsite only	2007 sound col
	LAST SUNDAY [21362] Add to my films Sunday on the Isle of Lewis, 50 miles off the coast of Scotland: Jutta and Rille, originally from Berlin, are going for a swim. The Macleod family take a stroll together. Alasdair and Chrissie go to church. Does the traditional Sabbath still exist? [Source - Scottish Documentary Institute]		2013 sound col
	LAST TRAIN TO BEECHWOOD [7687] Add to my films The model railway that Nicholas built as a child is threatened with destruction. An eccentric and obsessive enthusiast, he organises a reunion for his childhood friends and restores it for one last nostalgic journey.	Onsite only	2004 sound col
	LATIN FOR A DARK ROOM [7548] Add to my films Set in late 19th Century Edinburgh. Maria McKillop, who already works as an optician, opens the first Camera Obscura on Calton Hill. Her husband, much older than she, thinks it is a folly, but it is certainly an attraction.	Onsite only	1994 sound col
	LATIN STROLL [7824] Add to my films Music video produced for '4 Minute Wonders' scheme, featuring the track 'Latin Stroll' by Universal Principles. Join this young man on his carefree jog around a sunkissed Balearic paradise.... is he taking his training as seriously as he should?	Onsite only	2001 sound col
	LAW, the [8503] Add to my films Send someone a good telling off. Lay down the law on your mobile phone! Two from The Law, a selection of 15 second clips featuring authority figures admonishing the receiver. (Clips featured here: Schoolteacher and Balkan Militiaman).		2006 sound col
	LAZARUS [8141] Add to my films What would happen if love could bring back the dead? An unusual love story set in World War One France.		2002 sound bwcol
	LEANING INTO THE WIND [13883] Add to my films Documentary about the British sculptor and environmentalist Andy Goldsworthy. The film documents Goldsworthy at work on site-specific artworks in France, Brazil and the USA.		2018 sound col
	LEARNING TO CARE [8017] Add to my films Social documentary offering an insight into homelessness and the work of the Glasgow Simon Community. Various homeless people are interviewed regarding how, when, and why, they got into their current situation. It also demonstrates how the Simon Community offers practical and much-needed help.		1993 sound col
	LEG IT [8511] Add to my films A young man has his MP3 player stolen and a comedy chase ensues.	Onsite only	2008 sound col
	LEGEND OF BARNEY THOMSON [13899] Add to my films Barney Thomson - awkward, diffident, Glasgow barber - lives a life of desperate mediocrity and his uninteresting life is about to go from 0 to 60 in five seconds, as he enters the grotesque and comically absurd world of the serial killer. [Synopsis taken from BBC website, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000c8fb, last accessed 26/10/2021]		2015 sound col
	LEILA [7847] Add to my films Leila, a ten-year-old Iranian girl seeking asylum travels to Britain in the back of a lorry with her mother, grandmother and baby brother. How will Leila and her family survive in this new world?	Onsite only	2002 sound col
	LEONARD [7815] Add to my films Leonard is the victim of obsessive compulsive behaviour; meticulous and insular, his world is at home. When his long-lost son, Callum, turns up on the doorstep, seeming to be the epitome of Leonard's worst paranoias, their differences appear irreconcilable.	Onsite only	2001 sound col
	LET US PREY [13894] Add to my films Rachel, a rookie cop, is about to begin her first nightshift in a neglected police station in a Scottish, backwater town. The kind of place where the tide has gone out and stranded a motley bunch of the aimless, the forgotten, the bitter-and-twisted who all think that, really, they deserve to be somewhere else. They all think they’re there by accident and that, with a little luck, life is going to get better. Wrong, on both counts. Six is about to arrive – and All Hell Will Break Loose!		2015 sound col
	LETTER, the [8124] Add to my films A man receives a letter which sends him running out the door.  Will he make it to his girlfriend on time?		1996 sound col
	LIFE OF STUFF, the [7816] Add to my films Social drama around a group of gangsters set in Glasgow's clubbing scene. [synopsis from BFI database at http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/567787, last accessed 19/8/2009]		1997 sound col
	LISTEN TO BRIDGETON [13918] Add to my films Documentary which explores the last corporation bus garage in Glasgow and examines how our lost industrial past is providing hope for the future. Within the vast impressive space of Bridgeton bus garage the care taken to restore old vehicles is emblematic of the personal journey some of the individuals working here are on, rebuilding their lives after a troubled past. A layered soundscape evokes the unique atmosphere of this building, highlighting how each vehicle has its own individual acoustics and voice, just like the people working there.		2017 sound col
	LITTLE BIG HEAD [7657] Add to my films A short film about a big head.	Onsite only	2003 sound col
	LITTLE CRIMINALS [8118] Add to my films Documentary which follows the lives of a group of heroin addicts in and around Glasgow as they live out their day to day existence, finding ways to finance their addiction. For many, shoplifting is their main source of income.		1999 sound col
	LITTLE SISTERS [7534] Add to my films The limits of growing up in a dead-end town, teenage boredom and long hot summers with nothing to do.... A teenage spaghetti western cracked on cheap wine and hand-me down sportswear.		1997 sound col
	LITTLE THRILL SEEKERS [7680] Add to my films Profiles of children addicted to extreme sports, focusing on three youngsters as their fathers take them in search of the ultimate adrenaline rush.	Onsite only	2002 sound col
	LOCH NESS KELPIE, the [7502] Add to my films Ewan is a young boy in the Highlands who decides to vanquish the Kelpie, a legendary beast from Scottish Mythology that, in the guise of a horse, drags unwary people to their death in the Loch.		2003 sound col
	LOCH NESS MONSTER MOVIE, the [2701] Add to my films Comedy about the "escape" of the Loch Ness Monster into the Firth of Forth and subsequent terrorisation of the city of Edinburgh.	Onsite only	1984 sound col
	LONELY WIDOW, the [7840] Add to my films The "Lonely Widow" is a dark gothic poem that tells the story of a lonely black widow spider and her need to find suitors. [synopsis from http://www.netribution.co.uk/, last accessed 24/2/2009]		2000 sound col
	LONG HAUL [5967] Add to my films A lorry driver feeling isolated from his family and a woman with a troubling secret help each other to find out some answers on a journey to Land’s End.		2000 sound col
	LOOKING FOR KARMA KEEP THE PROMISE [7849] Add to my films Cameraman Jak Milroy returns to a Tibetan refugee camp in Nepal to fulfill his promise of helping young refugees to create their dream of forming a Tibetan national football team. He takes with him football equipment and two scottish football coaches to reinact the 1971 Scottish League Cup Final between Celtic and Partick Thistle.	Onsite only	2002 sound col
	LOOKING FOR MR ROGERS [7871] Add to my films Using family photographs, films, newspaper articles, news footage and interviews - Looking for Mr. Rogers, a three screen documentary charts the history of Castlemilk. [taken from official press release]		1996 sound col
	LORD OF THE FLEAS [7503] Add to my films When your bonfire is stolen by a rival gang, there is only one thing to do. Head through no-man's and and steal it back.	Onsite only	2003 sound col
	LORE [13920] Add to my films In Germany at the end of World War Two, teenager Lore and her four younger siblings are left to fend for themselves when their Nazi parents are taken into Allied custody. The children set out on a gruelling journey across Germany to join their grandmother in Hamburg. Indoctrinated in the extreme beliefs of her parents, Lore only grows stronger in her convictions when circumstances force her and her siblings to travel with Thomas, a young Jewish survivor. Based on the second story in Rachel Seiffert’s novel, ‘The Dark Room’.		2013 sound col
	LOST [7945] Add to my films A sudden tragic loss forces an apparently close-knit family to re-evaluate what is precious about their lives.		2001 sound col
	LOST IN FRANCE [13933] Add to my films Lost in France is an exhilarating documentary exploring the rise of this Glaswegian music scene, revisiting a defining, chaotic trip to France in the musicians’ early careers. Featuring a stunning mix of live performances and frequently hilarious interviews, the film reunites key label personnel in an intimate exploration of friendship, memory and making music.		2017 sound col
	LOUDER THAN BOMBS! [7850] Add to my films Doug Aubrey goes to Sarajevo where a cockney football coach [Scotty Lee] tries to repair the grass roots of football.	Onsite only	1999 sound col
	LOVE IS A FOUR LETTER WORD [7851] Add to my films If your job is to break up other people's relationships, what do you do if you fall in love with one of your victims?	Onsite only	2002 sound col
	LOVELY DAY OUT, a [8129] Add to my films Surreal - a clown-like couple sit by a polluted, rubbish strewn river for their lovely day out. A fish causes some confusion!		1996 sound col
	LOVERS, the [7817] Add to my films A motorway, a woman, a telephone, a man, a car, another man. A short film about love in the city.		2000 sound col
	LUCKY SUIT, the [7643] Add to my films In the fading light of a city, two homeless men are pulled into the bitter world of ageing comedian, Tommy Yorke. As Tommy tries to end his unfulfilling life, the two wanderers meet a woman lost in a fantasy life devoted to Tommy. "Who's kidding who, here? We've been given the chance to meet a man, who, like you and me, just ain't wearing it anymore". One night in the lives of four disparate people, whose paths cross when fate introduces them to The Lucky Suit.	Onsite only	1996 sound col
	LUNAR JIG [7512] Add to my films At twilight in a twisty old wood, a magical event takes place. By the gnarled roots of an old tree and lit by the glow of a flickering light, a romance blossoms between an unexpected couple, a Daddy Longlegs and a Red Carnation. As they and the other creatures create this surreal midnight ceilidh and dance the evening away, a malevolent spider threatens to fatally end the dance and the blossoming romance. However he only brings them closer together as the community unites to repel the danger.		2001 sound col