THE RUGGED ISLAND: A Shetland Lyric (Jenny Gilbertson)
with live score by Inge Thomson, performed by the composer and Catriona Macdonald

Pioneering Glasgow-born filmmaker Jenny Gilbertson directs this poignant “story documentary” about crofting families in Shetland.

Jenny’s husband-to-be plays Johnny: a young man torn between his duty to home and his love for Enga, with the promise of a new life in Australia. Hailed by John Grierson - father of the British documentary movement - as “one of the best descriptions of life in the country anybody has yet made”, this tender and beautiful dramatisation of Shetland life surpasses the bounds of both fiction and non-fiction filmmaking. 

Soundhouse Winter Festival is proud to present this extraordinary Scottish film, with music commissioned by HippFest for award-winning multi-instrumentalist and composer from Fair Isle: Inge Thomson, performing with Shetland-born Catriona Macdonald - considered one of the world's leading traditional fiddle players.

Dir. Jenny Gilbertson (née Brown) | UK | 1933 | N/C U | 1h approx.

With: John Gilbertson, Enga Stout

Performing live: Inge Thomson, Catriona Macdonald 

This performance was originally commissioned by HippFest: a world class Festival for silent film, cultivating an international community with an adventurous appetite for extraordinary cinema .  The commission was supported by Creative  Scotland’s National Lottery Open Fund for Organisations

Screening material courtesy of the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive

The show will be introduced by a short solo set by Amy Laurenson

 In Traverse One

Tickets: £16/£13 each

Doors open: 8pm | Music starts: 8.15pm

Tickets may also be booked via phone. Call the box office team on 0131 228 1404