North American Premiere at SXSW Festival for Scottish documentary set in Strathcarron Hospice.
For Release.
Seven Songs for a Long Life, a feature documentary by Dr Amy Hardie is to receive its North American premiere at the prestigious South by South West Festival, Austin, Texas in March.
Iain Milne, patient, and Mandy Malcolmson, nurse, at Stathcarron Hospice in a still from the film
Filmed over three years at Strathcarron Hospice, the documentary is an intimate story exploring our changing relationship with death, featuring a moving and surprising use of song. With a score by Mark Orton, the passionate and touching film, follows the journey of six hospice patients who, encouraged by one music loving nurse, choose to sing through tender, vulnerable and funny moments of their lives.
It premiered in Scotland in October 2015 and has since gone on to play at cinemas and hospices across the UK and recently premiered in Helsinki. Following its UK release the film received critical acclaim and overwhelmingly positive praise from health professionals for the sensitive and thoughtful way in which it presented questions about how we approach
death and opened up a wider conversation about palliative care. The Herald called it: “remarkable and hugely dignified.”
Director Amy Hardie, who has directed and produced six films with the Centre for Regenerative Medicine, spent a year as filmmaker in residence in Strathcarron Hospice before developing the feature. She says, “the final film is an extraordinary hybrid of observational documentary, which allows intimate and very moving way access into people’s lives, and the songs they chose to sing.”
Produced by SDI Productions (Scottish Documentary Institute) in co-‐production with prolific New York-‐based Hard Working Movies LLC, Seven Songs for a Long Life was commissioned by BBC Scotland, and part-‐funded by Creative Scotland, Bertha Foundation and YLE Finland. Leslie Finlay, Screen Officer at Creative Scotland says, “we are delighted to have supported Amy Hardie as Seven Songs For A Long Life receives its North American premiere at the prestigious South by South West Festival in March. Hardie is an exceptional filmmaker whose work contributes to a great tradition of documentary films from Scotland, making an impact in the UK and international documentary world.”
South by South West Festival, which takes place March 11-‐20, Austin, Texas is one of the world’s most prestigious film festivals to debut new, independent films. Over nine days it celebrates innovation and emerging talent in film. Past notable world premieres include Furious 7, Neighbors, Chef, 21 Jump Street, The Cabin in the Woods, Bridesmaids and Insidious, and the TV series Girls, Silicon Valley and Penny Dreadful.
For further information please contact SDI:
Sonja Henrici: 0131 651 5871 sonja@scottishdocinstitute.com
Scottish Documentary Institute
78 West Port | Edinburgh | EH1 2LE | Scotland UK
T: +44 (0) 131 651 5871
info@scottishdocinstitute.com | www.scottishdocinstitute.com
Notes to Editors:
About Strathcarron Hospice
Strathcarron Hospice’s vision is to provide specialist palliative care services for the people of Forth Valley and Lanarkshire to promote the delivery of palliative care across this area. Their aim is to sustain, develop and deliver a full range of quality services -‐ in-‐patient, day hospice, community, bereavement, pastoral care, lymphoedema, reasearch and education. In order to achieve this, they need to carry out activities in four clearly defined but inter-‐ linked areas. The focus of all their activity will be the patient, families and carers.
For further details please visit: www.strathcarronhospice.net
About Seven Songs for a Long Life
Full press kit and stills are available here
DVD purchases available for UK only.
About SDI
Scottish Documentary Institute (SDI) is an internationally recognised documentary centre based at Edinburgh College of Art/University of Edinburgh specialising in documentary training, production and distribution. SDI Productions Ltd is the production platform for the institute. For further details please visit: www.scottishdocinstitute.com
About Hard Working Films
Lori Cheatle founded Hard Working Movies, an independent production company in Brooklyn, New York, founded by Lori Cheatle. They produce director-‐driven feature films that tell great stories and appeal to wide audiences. Subjects range from personal documentaries to pop culture to social issues.
For further details please visit: www.hardworkingmovies.com
About Creative Scotland
Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland on behalf of everyone who lives, works or visits here. We enable people and organisations to work in and experience the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland by helping others to develop great ideas and bring them to life. We distribute funding provided by the Scottish Government and the National Lottery. For further information about Creative Scotland please visit www.creativescotland.com. Follow us @creativescots and www.facebook.com/CreativeScotland