Edinburgh International Film Festival has announced that it will screen the World Premiere of Prince of Muck – set on the tiny inhabited island of Muck, off Scotland’s west coast, Cindy Jansen’s cinematic and haunting documentary explores how difficult it is to change the habits of a lifetime.
On Thursday 19 August the World Premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival will simultaneously see the film screened in around 12 locations across Scotland from Edinburgh to Lerwick, Tiree to Tobermory and Inverness to Glasgow.
Synopsis
Lawrence MacEwen, who turns 80 years old this weekend, has farmed the Isle of Muck since the late 1960s. With his family he has created a rural retreat, perhaps out of time with the rapid transformations of the world around it. Revered for his eco-conscious stewardship in the 1970s, Lawrence now finds himself stubbornly battling to preserve his vision of the island for the next generation. Dutch filmmaker Cindy Jansen captures a uniquely cinematic portrait of a place and a person haunted by the past and struggling to maintain their relevance for the future.
Prince of Muck is one of three films which will screen simultaneously at locations across Scotland as part of EIFF’s vision to play an active role in bringing cinema audiences back together across the country.
Partnering with independent cinemas and working in partnership with Film Hub Scotland, INDY Cinema Group and Regional Screen Scotland, fantastic films secured as part of EIFF will be shown in local cinemas including the Opening Film, the European Premiere of Pig starring Nicolas Cage at his melancholy best, and the Festival’s Closing Film, the UK Premiere of Here Today, directed and starring the disarmingly charming Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish.
Full details of screening locations will be released with the programme on 28 July but include Mareel Shetland, Tiree Isle of Tiree, Screen Machine Tobermory and Fort Augustus, Glasgow Film Theatre, Oban Phoenix, Macrobert Arts Centre Stirling, Eden Court Inverness, DCA Dundee, Heart of Hawick, Belmont Filmhouse Aberdeen, Birks Cinema Aberfeldy, and the home of EIFF, Filmhouse in Edinburgh.
Prince of Muck and the Scotland wide screenings of these three EIFF films is supported by the Scottish Government’s Festival’s EXPO Fund.
Filmmaker Cindy Jansen said:
“I first went to the Isle of Muck with an open curiosity, but quickly
became fascinated by the complex nature of the way in which everyone on the
island is interdependent. It made me think deeply about my own society,
here in Holland, but I knew that in Muck, I had the opportunity to study
the fragile balance between tradition and modernity in an entire ‘micro
society’. In Lawrence MacEwen, I found an engaging character, who is not
only deeply embedded in the community, but who transcends the history of
the island, as he struggles to accept that intergenerational change is
profoundly challenging, but inevitable. It is wonderful that the film will
premiere at EIFF in Scotland, close to its home ground. I feel it is a
great compliment to the people in the film and the team who made it happen,
in Scotland and here in The Netherlands."
The 74th edition of EIFF runs from 18 – 25 August 2021. The full programme will be announced on 28 July 2021.