Corrie Film Club’s Day in the Dark

Corrie Film Club is delighted to announce its free mini-film festival, Day in the Dark, in Corrie and Sannox Village Hall on Sunday 5th February.

Come and spend a luscious day watching films and being fed coffee, lunch, tea and supper – and all free. It starts at 11.00am and finishes at 10.00pm but you can come and go as you please. We hope that as many people as possible will come and support Scotland and film. This year the theme is Scotland (with one Icelandic film – well sort of same part of the world!).

First up with coffee at 11.00am will be an award-winning documentary called The Bayview. This quietly arresting film is “a portrait of a Northeast Scottish hotel run by American mother Susie and her son Matt, who is of Tongan heritage. Together, they welcome international fishermen hailing from the Philippines to Sri Lanka. Though the Bayview’s residents are temporary, the documentary charts how the friendships forged within its walls have transformed it into a beacon of multicultural solidarity in perpetually unkind times. Ghanaian fishermen tell Susie her cooking reminds them of home; faced by the precariousness of their immigration status in the UK (only exacerbated by the pandemic), the Bayview is an invaluable source of comfort on foreign shores.” Well worth seeing.

There will also be a chance to see a new short film by Carina Haouchine called Ululation. Carina’s grandmother lives on Arran. We are delighted to be able to show a film by a young Scottish film maker.

Next, at 11.45, is a chance to see an eye-opening piece that beautifully combines the past with the present – The Happy Lands,(Cert.12) a film by Robert Rae set during the General Strike. This epic portrait of a definitive moment in social justice charts the lives of three Scottish mining families as they deal with questions of loyalty, honour, love and trust in the midst of the Strike. This moving story is ultimately a celebration of the indomitable human spirit.

Lunch follows at 13.30pm (soup and bread and cheese) and then the next screening at 14.00 will be Woman at War, (cert.12) a touching and funny Icelandic film about a woman who leads a double life, on the one hand planning to adopt a child and on the other waging a one woman war on the local aluminium industry. Funny and absolutely unique, follow Halla as she juggles the adoption of a beautiful little girl with her final act of industrial sabotage.

At 15.30 there will be a break for tea and cake followed at 16.00 by Limbo, a five star, wry, funny and poignant cross-cultural satire set on a (fictional) remote Scottish island which subtly sews together the hardship and hope of the refugee experience. It follows a group of new arrivals as they await the results of their asylum claims. Amongst them is Omar, a young Syrian musician who is struggling with the guilt, regret and grief of leaving his former life behind. A must see about an important aspect of modern Scotland.

The finale of the day begins with a convivial supper at 18.00 ( feel free to bring something small to share, sweet or savoury – there will be baked potatoes and chilli – veggie and meat ) followed at 7.30 by Gregory Burke’s stunning Black Watch (Cert 12 – strong language and references to violence).

Hurtling from a pool room in Fife to an armoured wagon in Iraq, Black Watch is based on interviews conducted by Gregory Burke with former soldiers who served in Iraq. Viewed through the eyes of those on the ground, Black Watch reveals what it means to be part of the legendary Scottish regiment, what it means to be part of the war on terror and what it means to make the journey home again. John Tiffany’s production makes powerful and inventive use of movement, music and song to create a visceral, complex and urgent piece. This is a show that brings together Scotland s military history and its proud tradition of popular, political theatre to address one of the thorniest issues of our time.

It’s going to be a good day – hope you can be there for some, if not all of it!