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Title: ASHES

Reference number: 8086

Date: 1989

Director: d. Douglas MacKinnon

Sponsor: National Film and Television School, Scottish Film Production Fund

Producer: Kate Swan

Sound: sound

Colour: col

Fiction: fiction

Running time: 39.00 mins

Description: Drama- A young man returns to his birth place in Skye in order to bury his father. He not only has to come to terms with the death of his father but also the problems of inheriting the paternal home.
John MacDonald’s mother died giving birth to him. His father immediately took him away from their home on the Isle of Skye on the north-west coast of Scotland and brought him up in the city of Glasgow. the film opens as John (now in his twenties) takes his dead father’s remains back to Skye for burial. As well as trying to piece together his past and cope with the death of his father, John has inherited the family home on Skye and has to decide what to do with it.
[Synopsis distilled from a variety of sources: ‘Sight and Sound’, ‘Monthly Film Bulletin’, Edinburgh International Film Festival Programmes and the Scottish Screen Archive Catalogue, Scottish Screen Publicity Material]

Douglas MacKinnon's graduation film. Shown at Edinburgh International Film Festival, 1990. Best Direction Award at the Festival du Film De Fin D’Etudes.

Note the tape copy held by Scottish Screen Archive has incomplete start credits.

Credits: [...] in association with the Scottish Film Production Fund presents

John Willie Blair
The Minister Paul Young
Peter Alec Heggie
Mhairi Lloret McKenna
Kay Mairead Ross
Alastair Domhnall Ruadh
Father Jim McKee
Estate Agent Harry Gibson
Undertaker Chris Connor
Father's Voice Simon McKenzie

Thanks to BBC Glasgow, BBC Portree, Black Cat Studios, British Telecom Inverness, Caledonian MacBrayne, Celtic Film & Television Association, Central Television, Co-Op Funeral Services, GHS Motion Picture Services, The Post Office Board, Rank Film Laboratories, Scottish Film Council, Scottish Film Training Trust, Scottish Television, Tennent Caldonian Breweries, West Highland Free Press, Shane Connaughton, Blair Douglas, Andy Harris, Mamoun Hassan, Paddy Higson, John McGrath, Ken McQuarrie, Soozy Mealing, Christine Philp. Alastair Moffat, Iain Smith. Thanks to everyone else who helped us on Skye.

focus pullers Alan Stewart, Loran Will
clapper / loader Kathleen Friend
grip Paul Mellon
electricians Stephen C. A. Arthur, John Kelly, Mark Malloy
art d. Lorna J. Stewart
ass. art d. Christopher Higson, Andrew Semple
props Patrick B. Harkins
props ass. Colin Honeyman
art dept. ass. Kenneth Murray
costume design Lynn Aitken
wardrobe Francis Higson, Kate Carin
hair / make-up Brenda Stride
stills Murdo MacLeod, Stephen Birrell
sheep wrangler Murdo MacDonald
catering Janet Harper, Mandy MacDonald, Amanda Malloy
boom operators Gary Desmond, Brian Howell, Allan Young, Stuart Fyvie
ass. to the director Paul Murton
1st ass. d. Bill Clark
2nd ass. d. Douglas Finnigan
accountant Jenifer Booth
continuity Lindy Cameron
ass. ed. Gill Parry
rushes ass. David Gibson
p. co-ordinator Ginny Emery
local co-ordinator Margaret MacKinnon
location ass. and transport captain David Gilchrist
location man. Sara Barr
p. man. Andrea Calderwood
d. ph. Jan Pester
composer Elaine Streeter
sd. rec. and dubbing ed. Stuart Wilson
ed. Peter Bridgman
p. Kate Swan
d. Douglas MacKinnon

© National Film and Television School 1989