History / New Shetland Bus films to be screened in Scalloway
TWO NEW locally-produced films about the Shetland Bus will soon launch to coincide with Norway’s 17th May Constitution Day celebrations.
The first film, Hearts Across the Sea, is a 30-minute documentary featuring three Shetland people with living memories of World War II – Lexie Watt, Tommy Isbister and Douglas Smith.
The film tells the story of Shetland Bus operations during WW2 and includes footage of last year’s local events marking eighty years since the war’s end.
The second piece, Hands Across the Hills, is a four-minute music film documenting Jan Baalsrud’s 1943 escape from occupied Norway when a WW2 Shetland Bus mission goes badly wrong.
The film was shot in and around Tromsø last month by Jonathon Bulter to accompany a song which Claire White wrote in 2015.
White’s fiddle and vocals are accompanied by Robbie Leask of Lerwick on guitar.
Production of Hearts Across the Sea was funded by Scalloway Museum and Salmon Scotland while Hands Across the Hills was backed by Zetland Educational Trust and private donations.
Both films will premiere publicly at Shetland UHI’s Scalloway campus on Wednesday 20 May from 7pm.
It is hoped that both films will help today’s audiences and future generations understand and appreciate this important chapter in Shetland’s past.
Free entry details will be shared by Scalloway Museum ahead of the event and attendees will hear directly from film-makers about production processes involved in addition to viewing both pieces on the big screen.
After this launch event both films will be available to view online and circulated on social media.
White said: “Jonathon Bulter and I feel privileged to have produced these two films over the past 12 months.
“We hope they do justice to the astonishing bravery of all those involved in the Shetland Bus.”
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