The north-east’s only independent cinema came to life last night as an acclaimed director and the stars of an adaptation of a beloved local novel brought it back to its spiritual homeland.
British filmmaker Terence Davies yesterday travelled to the Belmont Filmhouse in Aberdeen with stars Agyness Deyn and Kevin Guthrie for a special screening of Sunset Song.
The film is an adaptation of Arbuthnott man, Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s, novel of the same name – set in the Mearns before, during and after World War I.
Sunset Song was premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival to widespread praise and had been screened at both Edinburgh and Glasgow earlier this week before coming to the Granite City.
Not only is the film set in the local area – primarily the Mearns – but it was also filmed here in 2014 with locations including Fettercairn village and the Glenmuick, Glen Tanar, Invercauld and Ballogie estates.
Last night, the Belmont Filmhouse was buzzing as the cast and crew delighted a packed out screening room to describe how they took the story to the big screen.
Mr Davies himself is regarded as one of Britain’s greatest directors with about 40 years of work in his back catalogue.
His films – including the Terence Davies Trilogy and Distant Voices, Still Lives – often delved into his own past and his working class upbringing in Liverpool for inspiration.
The tale of Chris Guthrie – played by Deyn – in Sunset Song is one that has spoken to him since his early days as a clerk working in the city in the 1970s.
For Mr Davies, bringing the story from page to screen took 18 years.
He said: “When I was growing up, a lot of the main autobiographical features were all about women. I was brought up on that.
“The fact that here was this 14-year-old girl who at 21 has gone through an extraordinary journey – I responded to it because of that, not only because it is a great story.
“It is about the nature of forgiveness, it is about humanity and we are the only species that can forgive and love. That is what makes us incredible.”
Former supermodel, Mrs Deyn, had to master a Scots tongue for the leading role as Chris.
She said: “I read that Lewis Grassic Gibbon had a really close relationship with his mother.
“I think him having a really great affinity and respect for women really comes through.”
She added that the atmosphere of Aberdeenshire shone throughout the film.
She said: “You can feel it, you are around the people, you are on the land, you can feel it. In my experience I didn’t have to imagine anything because we were here and we were in it.
“We were in the terrain and the air and I suppose you can’t fabricate that.”
Scots actor Kevin Guthrie said he had been studying the text at drama school just as the Mr Davies’ screenplay landed on his lap.
He plays Ewan Tavendale, a local farmer who falls in love and marries Chris.
However he is called up to the trenches of World War I and – on his return – is a very changed man.
Mr Guthrie said Ewan was “one of the greatest characters ever written in our literature, in any literature”.
He added: “I had made contact with the book at high school and at drama school studying the character of Ewan maybe 18 months before I read Terence’s screenplay.
“These characters are so well rounded, so real. They are proper human beings and the environment they are put in is so extreme.
“Life is almost idyllic as it could be and against his (Ewan’s) will, against his want, he is taken away and put into an environment is not his own.”