Film Wednesdays are an opportunity to see some of the best in independent and world cinema, and this intense psychological thriller, directed by Guillem Morales, stars Belen Rueda as the eponymous heroine, a woman suffering from progressive sight loss worsened by emotional trauma.

Compelled to uncover the truth behind the alleged suicide of a similarly afflicted sister, Julia retraces her twin’s footsteps to discover the faceless spectre of a mysterious man lurking always at the periphery of her vision. As she does so, she finds herself in terrible danger.

According to critic Mark Kermode, who greatly admires the film: “As the darkness of her condition closes in, Julia’s mental state starts to collapse. Morales does an effective job of letting us see the world through Julia’s eyes, the camera lens occluding as her vision fails, but it is Rueda who convinces us that such dramatic devices are real….her pitch-perfect performance simply never misses a beat.”

Julia’s Eyes has a 15 certificate and is subtitled. Tickets are available from Shetland Box Office at Islesburgh Community Centre, 01595 745555, or online here.

DF Concerts & Events is one of Europe’s leading arts and concert promotion companies, bringing the best live music and events to audiences in Scotland. It works with a huge number and a diverse range of artists, from cutting edge unsigned talent to the music industry’s biggest acts, across club, arena, stadium and green field shows. The company also owns the legendary King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow and organises one of the world’s most successful music festivals, T in the Park.

DF Concerts & Events’ partnership with Mareel will see a number of high profile gig dates in Shetland and give Mareel access to early discussions with artist agents who are planning to tour acts in the UK. The agreement will also place Shetland in line for acts keen to start their UK/European tour in Scotland and who are looking for exclusive warm up dates in a quality purpose built venue in front of one of the world’s most appreciative musical audiences.

Gwilym Gibbons, Director of Shetland Arts said: “I believe that our partnership between DF Concerts & Events and Mareel is a hugely exciting development in the life of this ambitious project. DF Concerts & Events will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the success of Mareel and I believe Mareel will provide DF Concerts with a base in the UK’s most northerly music venue, in an extraordinary inspiring location that I hope in time will feel like a second home to their prestigious Glasgow based venue King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut.”

Geoff Ellis, CEO of DF Concerts & Events

Geoff Ellis, CEO of DF Concerts & Events said: “We are delighted to be working with Shetland Arts on what will be a really exciting project. Mareel is a beautiful venue set in a stunning location and will offer touring artists a unique live experience.  We look forward to announcing a great bill of acts over the coming months”.

Davie Gardner has been involved with the Shetland music scene for many years organising and promoting a number of highly successful concerts and festivals in the Isles.

Atlantic Edge Music Services was set up by Davie in November 2006. The business offers management and agency services to established musicians and helps to introduce new and exciting musicians and musical acts. The company not only represents artists from Shetland and Orkney, but also musicians from Scotland, Canada and Scandinavia.

He said: “I’m delighted to have been asked by Shetland Arts to programme a series of events into the exciting and challenging project that is Mareel, as part of their overall monthly events programme. I also look forward to doing this in effective conjunction with others, both in and outwith Shetland, to ensure we deliver a dynamic, varied and popular programme that comfortably sits alongside other events in the venue and within the local community in general.”

Lisa Ward, Marketing Officer at Shetland Arts said: “We are very pleased to get to work with Davie Gardner and Atlantic Edge Music Services forming a strong locally-based partnership providing some of the programming for Mareel. I’m sure it will be a very fruitful partnership, providing a varied programme of events for the public’s enjoyment.”

The closing date for entries is Saturday 30 June.

Your entry must be in notation; no recordings will be accepted. We will accept multiple entries.

To enter, submit a manuscript and your name, address, telephone number and email address. Do not put your name and/or contact details on the manuscript, please provide these separately.

Then email this to: fiddlefrenzy@shetlandarts.org

OR

Post to:

Shetland Arts Development Agency
Toll Clock Shopping Centre
26 North Road
Lerwick
Shetland
ZE1 0DE

Good luck!

Calling All Knitters! A Knitting Challenge for Shetland

For Dementia Awareness Week in June 2012, Shetland Arts is collaborating with Alzheimer Scotland in attempting to create a knitted blanket measuring 710 square metres, made up of 71,000 squares. It represents the number of people in Scotland who had dementia in 2010. The record attempt will be held at a Fun Day at Inverary Castle on 23rd June, then the blanket will be separated into 1m x 1m rugs and donated to charity.

The giant blanket is an attempt to raise awareness of Dementia by breaking the current world record for the largest handknitted blanket (non crochet), currently 557.34 square metres.

We would really appreciate you helping us by knitting squares in any yarn, or any pattern, measuring 10cms by 10cms (4” square).

When you have knitted some squares please bring them along to Shetland Arts at the Toll Clock Centre in Lerwick, by 30th May. Ideally the squares should be sewn into strips of 10, or into blankets 1m x 1m.

We look forward to seeing you, the office is open 9-5, Monday to Friday.

We hope the record attempt will also encourage people from all over Scotland and Shetland to pass on the skill of knitting to someone they know. Please pass on this invitation to anyone who would like to join us in this record-breaking attempt for Dementia awareness raising.

Thank You for supporting Dementia Awareness Week 18-24 June 2012

For more information call:
Ann Williamson – 01595 745257 Dementia Advisor, Viewforth House. Lerwick, Shetland
Hazel Hughson –01595 74 3843 Shetland Arts, Toll Clock Centre Lerwick, Shetland.

Shetland is one of five areas of the country selected to take part in Roofless, Scotland’s biggest, most ambitious outdoor arts programme, run by Scottish events company UZ Arts and co-produced by Shetland Arts, which launches today. In its first year, Roofless aims to involve tens of thousands of Scots in free public arts events, setting up collaborations between professional artists and local communities to create a series of large-scale, spectacular experiences in places where you might not expect them…

In Shetland, Roofless is working with Shetland Arts on a project called Engine Tuning. Artist Sumit Sarkar in collaboration with Duncan Turner of Carbon Lighting Ltd, will create a giant robotic ‘condor’ constructed from the parts of one LandRover.

The huge interactive musical bird (called Buzzbeak and inspired in part by the film and toy series Transformers!) will travel to three country venues in Shetland during August 2012 where it will receive gifts of music from the communities it visits. The people of Shetland will be encouraged to bring favourite pieces of music on vinyl, CD or mp3, or even to perform live to the condor, and the bird will remix the gift back to the giver. All of the condor’s recordings will be turned into a specially created piece of music by a local musician, which will be performed at the final event in Lerwick, and the sounds of Shetland will then be played to the rest of Scotland as the condor visits Roofless events across the country.

Clair Aldington, Visual Arts Development Officer for Shetland Arts, said: “Shetland Arts is very excited to be involved as a partner and co-producer in Roofless and we’re looking forward to appointing two Shetland based artists and a local technician to work with us in producing a unique and spectacular arts event in the summer of 2012.”

Sumit Sarkar said: “The idea for Buzzbeak was inspired by Transformers lore, most notably the characters Soundwave and Buzzsaw, who transformed from a tape player and cassette to a robot and condor, and incidentally my first ever Transformer toys way back in 1984.  For Engine Tuning I have reinvented the Transformers mythology to a positive, musical and cosmic rhetoric, and am very excited about premiering the robot in Shetland. Buzzing!”

The idea behind Roofless is to create unique, large-scale arts events in unusual outdoor venues across Scotland; specifically in rural areas and places where you might not expect to see a piece of theatre, sculpture, art or music. All of these events will be brought about by the community working with Roofless artists in some way, andShetland artists will benefit from the interconnected artist network Roofless will establish across the country. The other participating areas are Aberdeenshire, Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway, and Falkirk.

Andrew Dixon, Head of Creative Scotland, said: “The Year of Creative Scotland will raise the roof with this visionary programme of outdoor events across Scotland. UZ Events has an international reputation for iconic street arts projects that engage with local participants and reach new audiences.”

Anyone can participate in the Roofless project in Shetland by bringing along their favourite pieces of music to the venues – keep an eye on the local media and Shetland Arts’ website (www.shetlandarts.org) for details of venues during August 2012.

The fiddle tutors this year will include sisters Jenna and Bethany Reid, alongside Angela Fraser, Pauleen Wiseman, Lois Nicol, Cathy Geldard, Helen Whitham and Ross Couper. This year’s guitar tutor is John Hutchison. Jenny Bradley will be teaching knitting and Amy Fisher will once again be tutoring eager students in drawing and painting.

Fiddle Frenzy is a celebration of the music and the musicians that have made Shetland one of the world’s most highly acclaimed fiddle playing regions. A must for all fans of traditional music; each year students come from around the world to experience this event.

A marathon seven-day and night event, Fiddle Frenzy offers students the opportunity to learn and immerse themselves in Shetland-style fiddle music with some of our best tutors and musicians. There are courses suited to musicians just beginning to learn by ear, through to more experienced players, as well as tutoring in other skills such as guitar-playing, knitting, drawing and painting.

Photo by Richard Wemyss

Lisa Ward, Marketing Officer, said: “Fiddle Frenzy is an event unlike your average fiddle school. Not only do we deliver exceptional fiddle and guitar tutoring from local musicians, we also offer our students the best in a truly unique Shetland cultural experience. We pride ourselves in offering the flexibility of tailor made workshop packages so students can fully immerse themselves in all strands of a traditional Shetland experience, above and beyond their expectations.”

Fiddle Frenzy 2012 will run from Sunday 5 to Sunday 12 August. To register, you must pay a non-refundable deposit of £25 (£12.50 for >18s only). You can book for the full week or for part of the week – prices depend on the number of days or workshops you are attending (minimum charge £25 / £12.50). You can book now via Shetland Box Office at Islesburgh, online at www.shetlandboxoffice.org or by calling 01595 745 555.

The cost for the week is £400 (£200 for >18s). This covers the cost of workshops, trips and concerts, transport around the Isles and some meals. It doesn’t include accommodation or travel to Shetland. Prices for individual days/part weeks are available on application.

Please check Shetland Arts website, www.shetlandarts.org/fiddle-frenzy regularly for confirmation of acts, workshops, storytelling and trips as well as the full programme.

Funded by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and by Creative Scotland, A Hansel of Film – Shetland to Southampton and Back is a relay of screenings of short films made by the public from all across the UK. It is part of the London 2012 Festival, a spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration from 21 June and running until 9 September 2012 bringing together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK. Members of the public can get involved by submitting a film, volunteering to transport the films between venues, and/or attending an event. The films are relayed between participating venues by ‘runners’; that is, creative and energetic individuals who will employ whatever means of transport they can devise to get the right films to the right venue on time; individuals like Donnie.

Donnie in his 1972 MG Midget 1500. Photo by Billy Fox.

Donnie has had two liver transplants, one in 2002 and one in 2011, and volunteered to take part in Hansel of Film as a way of publicly acknowledging those involved in his medical care.

He said: “I want to do this run as a kind of ‘thank you’ to all the medical staff involved in Scalloway, Lerwick, Aberdeen and Edinburgh, as well as the blood donors and, of course, my two liver donors. I enjoy a challenge and a bit of fun, and this sounds like both!”

Shetland Arts’ Hansel of Film Project Manager, Kathy Hubbard said: “Donnie is exactly the sort of person we were looking for to launch the Hansel of Film Relay. He’s enthusiastic, resilient and determined, he clearly can rise to a challenge and has a tremendous sense of fun. We couldn’t hope for a better start to the relay than that.”

You can get involved with Hansel of Film by submitting a film, volunteering to become a runner and/or attending an event. Tickets for the events are free but booking is strongly recommended. The closing date for submitting films and volunteering to be a runner is May 18^th. To get involved or for more information, please visit the website http://hansel2012.org

Hansel definition: ‘a gift to commemorate an inaugural occasion, the launching of a new boat, the birth of a child, a new home, new enterprise.’  John J Graham – The Shetland Dictionary.

The powerful murder-mystery is set against the stunning backdrop of our Islands and centres on Detective Jimmy Perez played by Henshall (The Kidnap Diaries, The Silence), a native Shetlander who has returned home after a long spell away.

Recently widowed Perez possesses a bone dry sense of humour and an idealistic desire to protect Shetland from inevitable change, making him a fascinating detective to watch at work.

When a young archaeologist discovers a set of human remains, the Shetland community is intrigued to know if it’s an ancient find or a contemporary mystery. And when an elderly woman is shot on her land in a tragic accident, Perez and his team find themselves at the centre of two feuding families whose envy, greed and bitterness has divided the surrounding community.

Written by David Kane (The Field of Blood, Taggart, Rebus), produced by Sue De Beauvoir (Merlin, Waterloo Road), and directed by Peter Hoare (Vera, Silk, Five Days), Shetland starts filming on location this year and will transmit later in 2012. The two-part drama is Executive Produced by Elaine Collins (Vera) for ITV Studios and Christopher Aird for BBC Scotland (Call The Midwife, Prisoners’ Wives). Further casting will be announced in the coming weeks.

Gwilym Gibbons, Director of Shetland Arts, said: “Shetland Arts is delighted to see the highly popular Ann Cleeves Shetland novels dramatised for prime time TV. We have always believed that Ann Cleeves’ characters, borne out of her deep understanding of our seascapes and landscapes, have the potential for the creation of a high quality TV drama set in Shetland. Shetland also has new facilities like Mareel and local talent and expertise that makes the Isles a very attractive place to set a new TV drama. We are very excited to be working with the Shetland production team.”

Douglas Henshall said: “I am very much looking forward to working with David Kane, filming in Scotland and being back on BBC One.”

Elaine Collins, Executive Producer, ITV Studios, added: “We are delighted to be working with the BBC on this commission. Shetland combines eccentric yet warm characters and a classic murder mystery story with the beautiful landscape and rich history of the Shetland Islands and we believe it will be hugely popular with viewers.”

Christopher Aird, Head of Drama, Scotland and Executive Producer, BBC, said: “Shetland has a fantastic combintation of writing, acting, directing and producing talent. It is a hugely exciting story and part of a project to bring the very best drama to BBC Scotland in the coming years.”

Shetland was commissioned by Ben Stephenson, Controller, BBC Drama Commissioning and Danny Cohen, Controller, BBC One.

Ann Cleeves’ books have been translated into sixteen languages. A bestselling author in Scandinavia and Germany, her novels also sell widely and to critical acclaim in the United States. In 2006 Ann was the first winner of the prestigious Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award (the world’s largest award for crime fiction) for Raven Black, the first volume of her Shetland quartet.

Many film makers have updated Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’, but none quite like Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, who set the tale of the star-crossed lovers in the New York City of the late 1950’s. Two gangs – the Jets, led by Riff (Russ Tamblyn), and their Puerto-Rican opposition, The Sharks, led by Bernardo (George Chakiris) – battle for dominance in the neighbourhood streets. Trying to broker peace between the two groups, the authorities hold a dance in a local gym, but even this turns fiercely and dangerously competitive. To make matters more complex, Riff’s best friend Tony (Richard Beymer) sees Bernardo’s sister Maria (Natalie Wood) across the dance floor and the two instantly fall in love, thus setting the stage for tragedy.

What makes this version of the Bard’s tragic tale so special is the hugely exciting Bernstein score and some of the best and most energising choreography ever filmed. The result is an electrifying, often exuberant and totally unforgettable cinematic experience.

West Side Story has a PG certificate, and tickets are available from Shetland Box Office at Islesburgh Community Centre, 01595 745555, or online by clicking here.

For further information, including refund details, please contact Shetland Box Office on 01595 745 555.