Independent Spirits - Another Whisky Film

Meet You at the Hippos

November 2021 •English

Actor Mark Bonnar is on a mission to understand more about the Scottish new towns in which he grew up, exploring the street sculpture made by artists such as his dad in the 60s, 70s and 80s. He discovers why the new towns are there and how they enticed people out of the bigger cities, and uncovers the surprising ways in which public art changed the new towns and the new towns changed public art. Mark's father, Stan, made sculptures that stand to this day on the streets of Glenrothes, East Kilbride and the Scottish new town that never was, Stonehouse. These new towns employed town artists to make artworks in the very housing precincts the new residents were moving into.

Tasmanian Devil: The Fast and Furious Life of Errol Flynn

October 2007 •English

The story of Tasmanian-born actor Errol Flynn whose short & flamboyant life, full of scandals, adventures, loves and excess was largely played out in front of the camera - either making movies or filling the newsreels and gossip magazines. Tragically he was dead from the effects of drugs and alcohol by the time he was only 50 & the myths live on. But there is another side of Flynn that is less well known - his ambitions to be a serious writer and newspaper correspondent, his documentary films and his interest in the Spanish Civil War and Castro's Cuba

The Orkney Assassin: Murder in the Isles

June 2025 •English

In 1994, a masked man shot a waiter in the only Indian restaurant in the Orkney Islands. The murder remained unsolved for years, until new evidence emerged. Delve into one of Scotland's most controversial cases, now with powerful new testimony.

The Lost Portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie: A Culture Show Special

February 2014 •English

In 2009, art detective Dr Bendor Grosvenor caused a national scandal by proving that the Scottish National Portrait Gallery's iconic portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie, the rebel Stuart who almost seized power in 1745, was not in fact him. Keen to make amends, and suspecting that a long-lost portrait of the prince by one of Scotland's greatest artists, Allan Ramsay, might still survive, Bendor decides to retrace Charles's journey in the hope of unravelling one of the greatest mysteries in British art.

Night Mail

January 1936 •English

This documentary short examines the special train on which mail is sorted, dropped and collected on the run, and delivered in Scotland on the overnight run from Euston, London to Glasgow.

Eilish McColgan: Running in the Family

November 2023 •English

Eilish McColgan is running in the footsteps of her mother, Liz. This documentary shares their extraordinary journeys as Eilish tries to break her mum's final record - the marathon.

Mary Berry's Highland Christmas

December 2023 •English

Dame Mary Berry travels to her mother’s homeland of Scotland, where she’s joined by friends Andy Murray, Iain Stirling and Emeli Sandé to cook indulgent Christmas dishes.

Fix: The Ministry Movie

July 2011 •English

Provides an insider's view of the groundbreaking, outrageous, creative juggernaut that was the band Ministry - during their world tour - as front man Al Jourgensen slips into drug addiction. Ministry made industrial rock mainstream, and along the way their music and take no prisoners lifestyle influenced the leaders of today's most important bands, many of whom are in the film.

Redemption - The James Pearson Story

November 2014 •English

Redemption: The James Pearson Story tells the controversial story of one of the World's best trad climbers, Englandʼs James Pearson. After a dramatic rise to become one of the top climbers in the UK, controversy surrounding the grading of his routes left him feeling ostracised from the climbing scene. The film tells James’ story and follows his return to the UK as he faces his demons and looks to redeem his place within the UK climbing community.

Become Successful and be the Master of the World

October 2023 •English

Filmed mostly on a Mini DV camera Gavin has thought of a quick way to become successful and be the master of the world but he has to wait for it all to fall into place… he has to wait for the postman to start production documenting the process of being master of the world.

Proof

November 2021 •English

Two years ago Guyon Espiner stopped drinking. Now, the award-winning journalist and podcast-maker has made a documentary about New Zealand's drinking culture and the alcohol industry.

Billy Connolly: Portrait of a Lifetime

June 2017 •English

Celebrating Billy Connolly's 75th birthday and 50 years in the business, three Scottish artists - John Byrne, Jack Vettriano and Rachel MacLean - each create a new portrait of the Big Yin. As he sits with each artist, Billy talks about his remarkable life and career which has taken him from musician and pioneering stand-up to Hollywood star and national treasure.

Polaris

June 2012 •English

Work. Eat. Sleep. And back to work. For a long time skippers in the North East of Scotland could not find locals to work on their fishing vessels. That was until Filipino fishermen started coming to town for work. Both nationalities strive to shorten the distance between two very different worlds.

Big Gold Dream: Scottish Post-Punk and Infiltrating the Mainstream

June 2015 •English

Documentary on the independent Edinburgh record label Fast Product and Postcard Records and associated bands like Fire Engines, Scars and Josef K

A Wee Bit of Scotland

December 1949 •English

In this Traveltalk series short visit to Scotland, we visit several places with familiar names, including Inverness, capital of the ancient Pictish Kingdom; Loch Ness, home of the famous elusive monster; and Saint Andrews, the birthplace of golf.

Il delitto Varani

March 2018 •Italian

A docu-film about the events related to the murder of a Roman boy of Macedonian origins, Luca Varani, 23, which took place on the morning of 4 March 2016. Manuel Foffo, a 29-year-old university student, from a wealthy family, confesses to his father Valter the atrocious crime committed during a sex and drug-based party that lasted three days and three nights and which involved another boy named Marco Prato, thirty years old, homosexual and well known in the Roman environment of organized parties. Manuel and Marco, totally addicted to alcohol and cocaine, allegedly lured Luca Varani into Manuel's apartment on a pretext to then drug him, torture him and finally kill him cruelly with hammers and stabs. Manuel Foffo will plead guilty and will be sentenced to thirty years in prison with the abbreviated procedure, while Marco Prato, who will claim to be innocent and only subjected (for love) to Manuel's will, will commit suicide the day before the start of the trial.

Boire

September 2025 •French

Michelle McManus: Talent Show Winners

December 2023 •English

Twenty years on from winning Pop Idol, Scottish singer Michelle McManus reflects on her roller coaster life and career, and revisits iconic TV talent show moments.

The Shepherds of Berneray

October 1981 •Scottish Gaelic

In 1980, Jack Shae and Allen Moore, two ethnographic filmmakers from Harvard University, moved their families to the island of Berneray in the Outer Hebrides. Over the course of 18 months they documented the everyday lives and struggles of the crofters they lived among, whom were even then a vanishing breed. The film is in English and Gaelic. This carefully observed documentary by filmmakers Jack Shae and Allen Moore is a poetic ethnographic film in the style of their mentor, Robert Gardner (“Dead Birds”). It follows the rhythm of life on a wind-swept island in the Outer Hebrides through the four seasons and in the filmmakers’ observation of the day-to-day struggles of a vanishing society we see the deep-time legacy of their kind. The film is in English and Gaelic.

Janis

October 1974 •English

Released just a few years after her death, this forms a picture of who Janis was through interviews and performance clips.