Margaret Tait: Film Poet from Glasgow Women’s Library on Vimeo.
This short film from Glasgow Women’s Library is a short and sweet introduction to Scottish filmmaker and poet Margaret Tait. After her death in 1999 at 80 years old, her name has become synonymous with experimental and innovative filmmaking.
Glasgow Film Festival-goers will be familiar with the name, if not her work, as she lends to an award that supports new filmmaking talent. The partnership between GFF, Creative Scotland and LUX is one way that the country supports and partners with new artistic talent, and this screening will open with Margaret Tait Residency Film by Sarah Forrest. Margaret Tait, Film Poet demonstrates that impact and reveals its roots.
Interviews with Tait’s family expose the passionate life of the enigmatic filmmaker and her methods. Stills from her films and shots of her homes in Edinburgh and Orkney evoke the sense of place that was so central to her work, making the seemingly obvious but important distinction between her “poems” (films) and her “poem poems”. In sum, a fantastic free, short documentary for fans and the unfamiliar alike.
Margaret Tait Residency Film and Margaret Tait, Film Poet will screen at a free, ticketed event at Glasgow Film Festival on Friday 15 February. More info here.