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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
	RUN [7624] Add to my films A sad young woman runs every day to escape the confines of her dreary job in a newspaper kiosk. This is the day she stops.		2005 sound col
	RUTHERGLEN DAY NURSERY ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECT: That's Recycling [8016] Add to my films Made by the Glasgow Film and Video Workshop Community Projects team, this video tells of the award-winning recycling activities undertaken by staff and children at the Rutherglen Day Nursery in 1992 - 1993. The young children offer their views on the project, as well as people in the paper and can recycling businesses the nursery has been working with.	Onsite only	1993 sound col
	SAD TO SAY BUT SAMMY IS DEAD [8132] Add to my films Set in Australia, a little girl speaks about her pet called Sammy. All that is seen of the pet is the shoebox he was kept in. The girl takes him to show and tell at school. Eventually her pet dies through lack of food, and she buries him in a bucket of sand.	Onsite only	1996 sound col
	SAINT, the [7902] Add to my films Memories prove to be built on shifting sands as a young man recalls the life and death of his errant father.		2002 sound col
	SALT & VINEGAR [21376] Add to my films A young man's romantic hope becomes a possibility - and that possibility leads to unsavoury revenge in this offbeat short comedy.		2011 sound col
	SALTMARK [8237] Add to my films In a small Scottish town, a teenage girl is forced to visit her grandfather. When his infirmity turns their outing from a chore into outright humiliation, she must make a stark choice: his dignity or her own?	Onsite only	2008 sound col
	SANTA / CLAWS [7596] Add to my films A Christmas Eve encounter between an angry drunken Santa Claus and little nice boy Kevin results in a frenzied chase, where good and evil become confused and help eventually arrives from a most unexpected source.	Onsite only	1997 sound col
	SARAH [8192] Add to my films A visual narrative piece exploring the personal anguish involved in a terminated pregnancy.		2000 sound bw
	SATURDAY SPORTSCENE [8409] Add to my films A short film about a youth sports project in North Lanarkshire. Filmed and partly edited by the participants.		2008 sound col
	SAVE OUR POOL [8221] Add to my films One local community in Glasgow [Govanhill] go to extraordinary lengths to save their local pool when they began what was to become the longest occupation of a public building in British history.	Onsite only	2006 sound col
	SAVED [21357] Add to my films An 11 year old girl struggles to save herself as her world is suddenly torn apart by a deadly virus. [Source - DigiCult]		2010 sound col
	SAVED [7940] Add to my films It's Laura's first job and she is anxious to do well, but her instinctive empathy with the elderly people in her care puts her in conflict with her colleagues. Will she settle for conformity or follow her own perilous insights?	Onsite only	2001 sound col
	SCATTER [8513] Add to my films Scatter is a film by young people who have had direct experience with gangfighting and chose to use it as the basis of their film.	Onsite only	2008 sound col
	SCENE [7615] Add to my films Actor Gary has just landed his big break in a gangster movie but the director's unconventional methods might just end his career before it begins.		2006 sound col
	SCOTSCREEN 100 PRESS LAUNCH [4440] Add to my films Unedited master tapes featuring the celebration of 100 years of Scottish Cinema hosted by the Scottish Film Council at the Glasgow School of Art, 1996.		1996 sound col
	SCOTTISH SCREEN CINE ADS - MAKING IT HAPPEN [8602] Add to my films A set of four 'cine ads' made to promote the national screen agency for Scotland, Scottish Screen, when it first started up. Each one represents a different area of work, namely Archive, Production, Locations and Talent.	Onsite only	1997 sound col
	SEACHD - INACCESSIBLE PINNACLE [7266] Add to my films A young man cannot stop his boyhood quest for the truth - the truth behind the death of his parents and the truth behind his Grandfather’s ancient, incredible, fearful stories. A quest that leads him to one of Scotland’s most treacherous mountains, The Inaccessible Pinnacle. [The first Scottish Gaelic feature film]		2007 sound col
	SEALLADH = THE VISION [8064] Add to my films Set in 1847 in the Highlands of Scotland. In a remote village the people depend on their faith for survival during the potato famine. One man has different ideas.		1993 sound col
	SEAT IN SHADOW [13880] Add to my films The quiet domesticity of reclusive artist Albert is pitted against the raucous self absorption of gay youth cultures' excesses, in a hilarious exploration of analytical extremes.		2017 sound col
	SECRET OF SANDWOOD BAY, the [3465] Add to my films One of a series of ten animation films made by children in small village primary schools in Scotland, also involving the local community. The series was broadcast on Scottish Television and Grampian Television, and distributed on video through schools and libraries. (5 mins)	Onsite only	1996 sound col
	SECRET OF THE STONE, the [10026] Add to my films One of a series of ten animation films made by children in small village primary schools in Scotland, also involving the local community. The series was broadcast on Scottish Television and Grampian Television, and distributed on video through schools and libraries.	Onsite only	1997 silent col
	SEE YOU ALL ON SUNDAY [7523] Add to my films With the closing of so many theatres many artists turn to alternative ways of playing to their audiences. "See You All on Sunday" follows the legendary Alexander Brothers from the halcyon days of the Kings Theatre to Bonhill Parish Church.	Onsite only	2003 sound col
	SERIOUS FUN [8003] Add to my films Take a ride with a young joyrider - experience the same sounds, sights and conflicting emotions that he does as this film takes the viewer along for the ride.	Onsite only	1993 sound bw
	SEVEN SONGS FOR A LONG LIFE [13897] Add to my films The intimate story behind our changing relationship with death. A terminal diagnosis used to mean death within months. Modern medicine allows patients to live on for years. Seven Songs for A Long Life is a passionate and touching film about uncertainty, about the future that faces all of us, following five patients who choose to sing their way through life.		2015 sound col
	SEX & DEATH [7514] Add to my films A modern fairytale about one woman’s struggle to keep her relationships ... alive.		2000 sound col
	SHADE [7651] Add to my films The sweltering heat of an uncharacteristically hot Scottish summer is beating down on Dunscore. No one is feeling the sticky discomfort more than seven year old Sammy Gillanders.		2003 sound col
	SHADOWS OF THE BLIND [8127] Add to my films A woman blinded in a freak accident tries to come to terms with her situation.		1996 sound col
	SHARK [8049] Add to my films The moment of truth arrives for a young Glasgow man when he is forced to decide between the rules of his new job as a loan shark's collector and the honour code of his past life in boxing.		1997 sound col
	SHE TOON - CITY OF BINGO [8073] Add to my films Dundee is the Bingo capital of Britain. With the highest number of gambling establishments per capita of anywhere outside of Las Vegas, its residents truly are bingoing mad. This documentary looks at the strong tradition of bingo playing in Dundee as seen through the eyes of a small selection of bingo addicts - set against the city’s industrial past. In this city Bingo is not just a game, it’s a lifestyle.	Onsite only	2003 sound col
	SHEILA [7839] Add to my films Harry is a small time gangster in hiding. Sheila is the ultimate femme fatale and they are stuck together like rats in a trap.		1996 sound bw
	SHELL [8076] Add to my films Shell lives in a remote petrol station in the Highlands of Scotland with her father Pete. There are occasional passers-by but it's a lonely life and they both yearn for something more, something they can't provide for each other now that Shell has grown up. [Synopsis taken from production notes]		2007 sound col
	SHELL SHOCK [7241] Add to my films Take an egg and make it your star. You don't have to pay it too much. Make sure it doesn't crack under the strain. Not breaking like an egg should it refuses to be crushed. When the authorities finally put pressure on it a malevolent revenge results. (E. McConnell)	Full length available onsite	1991 sound col
	SHIP OF FOOLS [8014] Add to my films Animation based on the oil painting 'Ship of Fools' by Hieronymus Bosch. It tells a moral tale of mankind (the 'fools') drifting aimlessly on a ship on the seas of time, not achieving their potential, and focuses in on the story behind one of the characters in the painting - the jester.		1993 sound col
	SHORTCUTS [8175] Add to my films Features animated pieces of patterned cloth, sewing boxes, bobbins of thread and the content of sewing boxes - they all come together in the end to form a patchwork quilt.		1996 sound col
	SHOW PONIES [7800] Add to my films Tomboy Heidi and her beloved, grumpy, old pony Gripper take on a snooty little madam and her haughty thoroughbreds in this hilarious, stop-frame comedy from the makers of The Tree Officer.	Onsite only	2004 sound col
	SIX HOURS OF DAYLIGHT [7795] Add to my films Two men live a life of almost total solitude; shift working a logging machine in a remote forest. When one of the workers disappears without explanation, the other is left afflicted by exhaustion, acute paranoia and a strange visitation.	Onsite only	2004 sound col
	SKAGERRAK [8152] Add to my films In their late twenties, Sophie and Marie have money problems. Sophie pressures Marie into taking on a lucrative job as a surrogate mother. Months later Marie finds herself alone and heavily pregnant. She decides to flee the prospective parents and goes in search of Sophie's old boyfriend, Ken		2004 sound col
	SKELETON WOMAN: An Inuit Folktale [7639] Add to my films This award-winning and hauntingly beautiful Inuit folktale tells of a fisherman who unwittingly hooks a skeleton from the icy depths.		2004 sound col
	SKELETONS [8558] Add to my films “It’s simple, this job: stick to the rules, tell them everything, leave and never come back.” A pair of travelling salesmen wander in and out of people's lives, performing a Procedure whereby hidden secrets and lies are exposed. When they arrive at a remote family home and can't seem to get the job done, they discover that you can't always get away from your own skeletons.		2009 sound col
	SLEEPWALKING [8013] Add to my films Two young people lock themselves into a flat with a dead body, waiting for it to go to heaven. When an inquisitive neighbour intervenes, they set off on a nocturnal journey to dispose of the dead man.		1997 sound col
	SLIDE [7087] Add to my films A dark comedy about motherhood, and the difficulties of letting go.		2001 sound col
	SMALL DEPOSIT, a [7980] Add to my films A Small Deposit begins with a young boy's football playing fantasies and ends with the suspense and intrigue of an elaborate con-trick. Together with the people living in his tenement, Dan swindles a door-to-door salesman who offers exorbitant credit on the hire purchase of luxury items much sought after in the years following the Second World War .		1993 sound col
	SMALL LOVE [7887] Add to my films Spike, a 15 year-old runaway, is given a home by Esther, a young woman with mental health problems. With Spike's support, Esther gains confidence to sing in a jazz club. Although Spike appears the stronger of the two, mistreatment of a neighbour's baby brings back his own past... A story of the healing power of unconditional love.	Onsite only	2001 sound col
	SMALL MOMENTS [7922] Add to my films Everyday, small moments are captured between families, lovers, and strangers in Glasgow. They entwine and overlap in this short film, artistically directed by Jeremy Raison.		2001 sound col
	SMALL PIECE OF PARADISE, a [7690] Add to my films A sports-loving son, a domineering father and a strong resilient mother are divided by their different experiences, and only after a ten year period can the mother bring the father and son to a meaningful understanding of each other. This eventual success, and the remarkable quality of this connection despite the father's death, makes this story a clear example of love conquering all, even in the bleakest situations.		1999 sound col
	SMASHING [7647] Add to my films It's Saturday night. Downstairs are having a party and you weren't invited. Time for another smashing night in. [synopsis from BFI database at http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/598565, last accessed 4/12/2008]		1998 sound col
	SNAKEBITE [8065] Add to my films 7-year-old Sammy Gillanders mistakenly thinks he’s been bitten by a poisonous snake. For the rest of the afternoon he considers his slow and painful demise.	Onsite only	2006 sound col
	SNIPER 470 [7063] Add to my films The Gunner sits in his pod and waits, millions of miles away from Earth. This is Sniper 470. His task is to destroy convoys of ships that cross the Trojan Asteroid Belt, and, with a little luck, survive.		2002 sound col
	SOLID AIR [6394] Add to my films Compulsive gambler Robert Houston Jnr. seeks refuge with his estranged father. Discovering Robert Snr's lapsed compensation claim for asbestosis, Junior resolves to pursue the case. He encounters Nicola Blyth, a young ambitious lawyer, who demands he produce a witness to testify on his father's behalf. However, Junior's quest for justice belies an uncomfortable truth. Deep in debt to wealthy businessman, John Doran, his only hope is to get his hands on his father's settlement. With the search for a witness becoming even more urgent, Robert's suspicions turn to torment as he learns of his son's deception. In a final confrontation with the Law, the true cost of Junior's betrayal is revealed.		2003 sound col
	SOLID GEOMETRY [7860] Add to my films An edgy tale of obsession, mathematics and strange disappearances. Phil is young, successful and just married to Maisie. However, his life takes a turn when he leaves his job to edit his great-grandfather's diaries, which were left unfinished when he mysteriously disappeared. The journals soon bring Phil to the brink of a bizarre discovery, but also put his relationship under strain - until he decides to put his newfound knowledge to the ultimate test.		2002 sound col