From Scotland with Love

Virginia Heath’s hypnotic archive film, From Scotland with Love, with transcendent musical score by Scottish indie composer King Creosote, offers a cinematic reflection on 20th century human experience. A journey into our collective past, the film explores universal themes of love, loss, resistance, migration, work and play. As the teeming cities intertwine with the raw beauty of the Scottish landscape, it is the grace found in everyday human life that is brought to the fore. Ordinary women and men, their names and identities largely forgotten, appear shimmering from the depth of the vaults to take a starring role. Brilliantly woven together, these silent individuals become composite characters, who emerge to tell us their stories, given voice by King Creosote’s poetic music and lyrics. The film creates a cinematic narrative which allows the audience space to reflect on the past and its meaning for today. We can recognise ourselves in the people in the dreamlike grainy footage - what they are feeling, what they are up against, their struggles, hopes and dreams.