Environment takes centre stage at Montrose's first film festival

Including live Q&As, the event at the Montrose Playhouse will begin with a 10th anniversary screening of the multi-award-winning documentary ‘You’ve Been Trumped’ on Friday (March 18).

Residents from Balmedie in Aberdeenshire, who stood up to Donald Trump’s bullying over his luxury golf resort plans, and who featured in the film, will join director and Montrose Playhouse patron Anthony Baxter for audience questions after the screening.

Also at the #CostingtheEarth screening will be Aberdeenshire Councillor Martin Ford - the politician whose casting vote derailed Mr Trump’s golf resort first time around - and artist David McCue whose paintings of key characters caught up in the drama won praise from around the world.

The £10 ticket price includes a drink with the director and other guests in the cinema’s new community room – from 6.45pm, with the film starting at 7.30pm.

The following day, the event, which is part of Scotland’s climate festival, continues with a special screening of BAFTA winning Bill Forsyth’s iconic ‘Local Hero’.

The film, which stars the legendary actor Burt Lancaster, is about an American oil company representative sent to the fictional village of Ferness on the west coast of Scotland to purchase the town and surrounding property for his company. A Q&A will also include special guests.

Finally, on Sunday, March 20 at 3.30pm, ‘A Dangerous Game’ will screen – the 2014 follow-up to ‘You’ve Been Trumped’. Residents from Aberdeenshire will again join for a Q&A following the screening, with the £10 ticket price also including tea and cake.

Matt Buchanan, Montrose Playhouse manager, said: “All three films are brilliant in their own right but showing them together and bringing in the fantastic guests to talk about them brings a new dimension to issues that are just as pressing today as when ‘Local Hero’ was released in 1981.”

Tickets can be booked at https://montroseplayhouse.co.uk/2022/03/09/a-short-film-festival-costing-the-earth/​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​.

Mr Baxter added: “It’s wonderful for Montrose to be hosting our first ever film festival. And it’s an honour to be welcoming residents of the Menie Estate who stood up to Trump to our town – 10 years after the release of You’ve Been Trumped. All of these films, in their own way, highlight the cost to the planet, if we allow money and power to override environmental concerns.”