Lauren Dark, Amy Jackson, Morven Christie

Source: Patch Studio / Joseph Sinclair

Lauren Dark, Amy Jackson, Morven Christie

EXCLUSIVE: UK actor, writer and director Morven Christie is making her feature directorial debut with Witch Light, a drama set in Scotland in 1692 against the backdrop of the massacre of Glencoe.

Lauren Dark and Amy Jackson of UK production company Unified are producing the historical fiction feature, having acquired the rights to Susan Fletcher’s 2011 novel of the same name.

Screen Scotland is backing the project. 

Set in 1692, Witch Light follows Corrag, a girl from the Scottish mountains, who has been imprisoned as a witch. She awaits her fate of death in a cold cell until she is visited by a man eager to question her. Corrag knows more than first appears, as she was a witness to the bloody, brutal Massacre of Glencoe.

As an actor, Glasgow-based Christie recently starred in the ITV drama Payback opposite Peter Mullan. As a filmmaker, her short film Stray starring Aftersun actress Frankie Corio launched at Edinburgh International Film Festival last summer, and is embarking on further UK screenings this month, ending in Glasgow where the film was shot.

“Stray was an opportunity to explore nature and threat and an internal experience,” said Christie. “The time and place are different, but it’s absolutely an introduction to the world of the feature, and I’m looking forward to deepening into that perspective in the landscape of Glencoe, with the beautiful character of Corrag, alongside our partners at Creative Scotland.”

“Corrag’s story is one of bravery, passion, intuition and the power of kindness - all with the Scottish landscape at its heart. I know that it’s in the perfect hands,” said Fletcher. “I feel tremendously lucky and honoured that Unified has picked up the rights to Witch Light - and I am delighted that it will be adapted and directed by someone as accomplished as Morven Christie.”

Unified’s upcoming slate includes Chork, Shane Meadows’ first fiction feature film in 17 years, which wrapped last summer, written by Jack Thorne and Meadows, and Sarah-Violet Bliss’s erotic thriller Scorn, starring Adria Arjona and Kingsley Ben-Adir, now in pre-production. The company was named as Ones to watch in Screen’s Brit50 feature of the top UK independent production companies last year.

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