This story begins in September 2004. After the death of my mother-in-law, Erica Thomas (pictured left), it fell to her sons – my husband Owen and his brother Daniel – to clear her Edinburgh house. ...more
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-- Passion --
Years ago at a meeting with a London film executive we got to talking about passion projects, those worthy and obscure ideas that obsess their creators but are rarely realised. If I’ve learned nothing else ...more
-- The Tells --
Since 1971 I’ve kept a diary. What began as the staving-off of boredom has over the decades mutated from a ballpoint pen on scraps of paper and notebooks to typewritten sheets and computer files: millions ...more
-- Patina --
In 1988, while moonlighting from my day job at the BBC, I produced a film for the BFI. On the list of dressing props was a set of old family photographs, so in the haphazard ...more
-- Verité --
All films are constructs, even the most verité. Among the more interesting items found while clearing Erica’s house were several reels of 8mm film dating from the 1960s. Knowing they might form part of the ...more
-- Home Service --
It’s not often the planets align. Recently my neighbour, Edna – ‘the other Mrs. Thomas’ – as she never fails to remind me, kindly allowed me to film in the home she’s occupied since the ...more
-- Silence --
In pursuit of the seventh art, I have always paid close attention to the craft of sound. During my recent shoot I was struck by the range of noises heard in an otherwise empty house: ...more
-- A minor key --
Lying in bed with flu, as I listen to the January storms ripping limbs from the ancient lime outside my window, I think of Erica’s journal in which she compares the ‘tossing of the trees, ...more
-- Outside the box --
Last week I attended the launch of this year’s Glasgow Film Festival. Although uninvited, as a filmmaker working in my native city I took my chance. Two years ago, thanks to the GFF’s co-artistic director, ...more
-- Darlings --
In making a film based on a true story I’m conscious of giving precedence to certain facts over others. Here I’m reminded of the producer, Robert Evans’ quote – ‘there’s three sides to every story, ...more
-- Kaboodle --
Last week at a film summit at the Glasgow School of Art I was invited to contribute towards their proposal for a film course. This prompted the thought – can ‘film’ really be taught? And ...more
-- Morningside --
“This is the strangest thing I’ve seen today,” says the man passing me on Cluny Gardens as I point my camera at the opposite side of the street. In my sights is a red pillar ...more