Testimonials

Cromarty is a beautiful place to visit in the Black Isle, Highlands of Scotland, so happy we managed to attend this year…well done to all involved!

So impressed with what you managed to accomplish! Incredible. I’d love to help somehow next year. It was a lovely weekend. Load of nice comments from other creatives on the Instagram.

Two big feature films [Alien + Rye Lane], both exuberant and confident in their embrace of diverse communities – one a modern classic, one set to become one – bookended a delightful festival which was full of variety and texture. The programme of dance films celebrating the late Scottish choreographer, Simon Fildes was like delicate falling leaves when set against the exuberance of Bunny, a short dance film shown on the first day. Some of the creative team were present, their testimonies bringing a moving dimension to the story of how films are put together.

The festival was full of such contrasts: lots of very short films allowed the festival to explore a multitude of worlds while looking across the features, there really was something for everyone: the iconic genre-transcending Alien appeared very comfortably alongside new animations and drama.

This was the first time the organising team had been made up entirely of women. It was to their considerable credit, I felt, that this was evident not only in the style of the programme but in the care and attention which had been given to making sure that no-one would feel left out or ignored; that there was something for everyone to enjoy.

What a great effort & a wonderful weekend, thank you so much. You could see how many people enjoyed the fruits of the team’s hard work over the weekend.

Peigi’s voice* is beautiful, I was just listening to it with the girls just now. Savannah managed to make it along to ‘Brave’ so we all went to a couple of things over the Film Weekend and we enjoyed the delicious food trucks as well.

Our children have had experience of learning about different film genres with different themes as well as meeting real-life people who work in the industry and can share their skills and expertise. The children very much enjoyed the experience of the Screen Machine. Maxie in P6 said, ‘I think it was a good idea to have the Screen Machine and the choice of film (Japanese anime) was suitable for all ages and made everyone laugh!’

Well done mastering the invention of a really fantastic film festival. You have done amazingly well with venues workshops, talks, events, a really great programme of inspiration and celebration of both Cromarty creativity and film craft.

Great vibe at the lighthouse! Loved the music!

The Film Festival was brilliant, well done. We had friends up from London who loved it and were so surprised that a small place like Cromarty could produce such a big vibe!

The festival was great. People from all over loved it and made some want to move here!

My mum spent every lockdown alone. As for many older people, this took a toll on her physical and mental health and she hasn’t been away from her house for the past year. The return of the Film Festival gave us something positive to plan for and encouraged her to spend the whole weekend in Cromarty. It gave the family a reason to come together and brought us back some much-needed joy, confidence and wider horizons. I’m sure there are hundreds of stories like it. A huge thank you again to all the team.

To me, Cromarty Film Festival is all the things a film festival should be. The programme, pricing and complementary events attracted a broad range of people and brought them together. The programme introduced many of us to something new whilst offering the comfort of the familiar. I appreciated that this year’s festival was led by women – that may have accounted for the efficiency and human nature of the event. Whatever, it worked. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have been banging on to others about how good it was.

Thanks to all concerned for a thoroughly enjoyable weekend – it all went very smoothly and was a fab event: probably due to the enormous amount of thought and work that went into making it all happen.

I loved it [Bodybuilders Unfiltered] and managed a chat with Katrina [Inkster] after the screening. You all did such a brilliant job.

Thank you so much for having me and giving me the opportunity to speak and teach with people. It was actually such a great experience and I hope that everyone enjoyed taking part as much as I did. Wanted to be as upfront with people as much as possible to try to give a better understanding of graffiti from my perspective.

We really enjoyed the festival and I thought the programme was just great and your wonderful cinema, the Screen Machine and the Lighthouse were such perfect venues.
You might be interested to know our economic impact - we ate and drank our way around Cromarty, enjoying meals and drinks in The Royal, Sutor Creek, Cromarty Cafe, The Fishertown Inn and Black Pearl. We loved buying gifts in several of the great shops. I think we probably spent at least £350 locally not including our screening tickets. Festivals are so great for the local economy and I personally will be back for Christmas shopping!

I went to The Cat Returns with the school to the Screen Machine, the Dragon Princess at the Cinema then again to the Screen Machine for Turning Red, I loved it all!

We both had such a wonderful time at the festival. Brilliant mixed programme, and I wish I’d be able to see & do it all… Please, please run it again in future years!

I met with Alasdair Nicolson last evening (I sing in his choir) and he was really interested in the festival. He is a composer & musical director for Orkney’s St Magnus festival and puts on all sorts of things, not just music. He was born on Skye, but moved to the Black Isle and went to school in Fortrose. How small is our world!

Bringing back the festival is a great thing for the whole town. Be proud…