Gaelic Film First – A boy, his grandfather and the power of a story

Principal Photography starts next week on the Isle of Skye for Young Films’ latest feature film, 'Seachd – The Inaccessible Pinnacle'.
Seachd will be the first ever contemporary Gaelic-language feature film for worldwide theatrical release and is produced by Scottish producer Chris Young. His last production 'Festival' this year garnered two UK BAFTA nominations (including Best British Film) as well as winning Best Film at the UK Comedy Awards. Other films from Young Films include Bill Forsyth’s 'Gregory’s Two Girls' and the Peter O’Toole black comedy 'The Final Curtain' written by John 'Trainspotting' Hodge. The company’s first two productions 'Venus Peter' and 'Prague' were both shown as part of the Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival, and Chris Young will be in Cannes again next week giving distributors a foretaste of his new production.
'Seachd – The Inaccessible Pinnacle' tells the moving story of a young boy growing up in the shadow of the great Cuillin mountain range on Skye. When his parents tragically lose their lives on The Inaccessible Pinnacle trying to save another climber, Aonghas and his brother and sister go to live with their grandparents. Grandfather is a storyteller, claiming to be 800 years old. Gradually he casts his spell over the children with his extraordinary stories, and Aonghas finds himself magnetically drawn into an exciting and magical world.
It will be the first feature film for director Simon Miller (graduate of the London Film School) from a story by himself and partner Jo Cockwell, written by both of them with award-winning Gaelic writer Iain Finlay MacLeod, Ishbel T MacDonald and well-known Gaelic poet Aonghas MacNeicail.
The film is high on ambition but will be shot on a very modest budget - £655,000. Financed by BBC Alba, Serbheis Nam Meadhannan Gaidhlig (GMS), Scottish Screen and the Glasgow Film Office with vital support from Gaelic College Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and Highlands and Islands Film Commission. Young Films is handling International Sales. The film will be shooting in Skye until July and will be ready for release in UK cinemas in 2007. (CD/CL)