Ken Smith, Lizzie MacKenzie

Source: Amy Muir

Ken Smith, Lizzie MacKenzie, ‘The Hermit Of Treig’

UK director Lizzie MacKenzie won the audience award at Glasgow Film Festival (GFF) for her documentary The Hermit Of Treig, as unveiled as part of the festival’s closing night (March 13).

The film made its world premiere at GFF, which ran from March 2-13 as a hybrid offering, with both in-person and select online screenings and industry events taking place.

Gala premieres were also screened in certain cinemas across the UK, for the first time in the festival’s 18-year history.

Five out of seven of the films nominated for the audience award were directed by women, while 40% of new films screening at the festival were directed by women,

The Hermit Of Treig is MacKenzie’s debut, and follows Ken Smith, a hermit who has spent 40 years living in isolation in a cabin in Lochaber, where he lives without electricity or running water, using Loch Treig as his water source. MacKenzie spent two years filming the documentary, having come across Smith while working in a Highlands café. Smith made a surprise appearance at the premiere of the festival, which was his first trip to Glasgow in 40 years. The film is produced by Aruna Productions and will be released in cinemas on March 25.

“It was delightful to have people in cinemas”

This year’s hybrid event welcomed 565 industry delegates online and in-person. Filmmakers and on-screen talent in attendance included Alan Cumming, Jack Lowden, Don Letts, Armando Iannucci, Icíar Bollaín, Ruth Paxton and Martin Compston.

The official opening or closing night parties of pre-pandemic tradition did not take place, and no industry meeting/working space was set aside at the DoubleTree Hilton, the festival’s central hub. There were opportunities for some mingling and jubliation, however – industry networking drinks allowed for face-to-face meet-ups, and a traditional Scottish band and choir lined the streets of Glasgow in the build-up to the preview screening of the opening episode of season six of Starz series Outlander, which reportedly saw audience members queuing for up to six hours to secure tickets.

Allison Gardner, co-director of GFF, said: “GFF 2022 was a huge success and we are enormously grateful to our audiences for their continuing support. It was a pleasure to bring back our free events and also to have been joined for great in person Q&As with fabulous guests. It was a smaller programme than previous years, but the carefully curated films had something for all. It was delightful to have people in the cinemas. Roll on 2023.”

The festival’s next edition will take place from March 1-12 2023.