Company News
Editors: For more information about any of these stories, or pictures to accompany them, contact our press office.
Special Screening Event at DeCoste Centre, Pictou
Simple Films and Skye Larke Productions held a special screening of their recent co-production “The Bridge Rising” at The DeCoste Centre in Pictou.
The film – a feature length documentary – was shown to crew, investors and members of the press as part of a celebration of Simple Films’ past work and future projects.
‘The Bridge Rising’ tells the story of the protests and campaign of non-payment of tolls on the Skye Bridge that now links mainland Scotland with the Isle of Skye. It contains an original musical score by Scott Macmillan of Nova Scotia which will be released on CD early in 2014 by Celtic music label Watercolour Music.
Simple Films are rightly proud of the film, which showcases Nova Scotia talent and generated work and income for the Province.
The picture, courtesy of Jackie Jardine, shows, L-R: Scott Macmillan (Composer), Stuart Cresswell (Producer) Josephine Cresswell (Production Manager) and Scott Ferguson (Music Recording Engineer)
The Bridge Rising for BBC
A film and TV company based on the rural north shore of Nova Scotia has just completed filming its first international co-production for mainstream television.
A film and TV company based on the rural north shore of Nova Scotia has just completed filming its first international co-production for mainstream television.
Simple Films – and Skye Larke Productions, the company established to produce the 90-minute feature length documentary, has been working hard for most of 2012 to meet very tight deadlines on a co-production with Mediaco-op in Glasgow, Scotland.
The film, ‘The Bridge Rising’, will be shown on the BBC in January 2013. It tells the story of the protests and campaign of non-payment of tolls on the Skye Bridge that now links mainland Scotland with the Isle of Skye.
“The bridge toll at the time made it the most expensive toll road in Europe,” said Josephine Cresswell of River John, in a recent news release.
Stuart Cresswell has worked on the project from the start in March 2012.
“It was an experiment in private financing of public works that failed dismally,” she said. “They thought they could get away with it but the protests caught the government and the Bank of America on the hop.”
Simple Films has not only been able to raise finance for this project, but ensured the project meets UK/Canadian co-production treaty regulations. They have had a film crew working on Skye throughout September and will also be responsible for much of the post-production work and have brought in composer Scott MacMillan to create a unique musical score.
Producer Stuart Cresswell, also of River John, was excited by the project from the start.
“We knew that part of Scotland so well, crossing the Skye Bridge ourselves many times, it’s a great place,” he said. “So it felt right personally to do this. But we also felt the story had strong universal themes: a small community taking on industry, big business, the government and the Bank of America – and winning. “It’s a real David and Goliath story. I also think there’s a warning in there for Canadians as our government is toying with similar private finance initiatives for public works.”
The film will premiere on the BBC in January before being sold internationally and screened in theatres across Canada.
Simple Films, which recently moved into its new offices in the center of River John, already have a second co-production lined up and a feature film project for production along the north shore. Simple Films was formed in 2008 and has produced a number of film and TV projects in that time, creating work for local people and a boost for the local economy.
“It`s very important for us to be working within a rural economy,” said Cresswell. “In fact our ethics and commitment to the rural economy was one of the reasons we were chosen by Mediaco-op – out of all the companies in Canada – to be their co-production partners.”