Over a thousand people attended events at Kingussie’s four day Food on Film festival over the weekend, making it the best ever in its five year history. With most film screenings full to capacity and a bustling Indoor Food Hall on Saturday, organisers are delighted and said it exceeded their expectations.

A surprise visit by local MP Danny Alexander delighted local food producers and filmmakers alike, as many of them had the opportunity to talk to him about their work or offer him samples of their products.

TV presenter Cameron McNeish showed celebrity chef Colin Bussey a film clip of his outdoor cooking techniques and had a benter with him about their different styles, and dozens of delighted festival goers enjoyed master classes in whisky tasting  – especially the one with chocolate! Free chocolate was distributed at the Children’s matinee screening of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and a chocolate making demonstration on stage at the Food Hall gave yet another excuse to indulge.

With a Food Art Exhibition, a young people’s red carpet film award night, documentaries, short films, foreign language films, two Scottish premieres and even a silent Charlie Chaplin movie – all with food to go with the films – the festival was a real feast.

“The atmosphere was so friendly and the sense of a community working together was very strong – we all had a really wonderful time.” said Julie Gordon from Invergordon.

“This festival just keeps getting better and better” said community councillor Ailsa Schofield, “we’re looking forward to next year already!”

    

Shriya Saran in “Cooking With Stella”                                  The “Bollywood Babes”

Forget the traditional vanilla, strawberry and chocolate ice creams that we all know and love, and imagine instead some exotic flavour combinations that have been created especially to celebrate Food on Film’s Bollywood in Badenoch Film Night on Saturday 4^th February. Steven Anderson, chef at Andersons restaurant in Boat of Garten, has come up with some unique ice creams for the Scottish Premiere of a Canadian/Indian film made in Delhi called “Cooking With Stella”.

The evening begins with Indian food cooked by the chef of Cairngorm Mountain, served by the Bollywood Babes in their saris, who will then dance their famous Slumdog Millionaire dance for filmgoers. In the interval Steven will wheel in his Ice Cream Bike, dressed Delhi style, and serve his delicious creations. He said “The Chocolate Coconut Curry flavour is a bit of fun, the Whisky Chai ice cream was certainly a challenge as you can lose some flavour when you burn the alcohol off, but I think we got there.”   Sweet Pistachio and Saffron ice cream and frozen Spiced Mango yoghurt are also on the menu.

For more wonderful taste experiences festival goers will need to book their places at Dalwhinnie Whisky’s Flavour Map Masterclass and Whisky and Chocolate Masterclass which will be held at the Highland Food Hall in the Badenoch Centre on Saturday 4th. They are also selling specially made Food on Film 2012 whisky glasses with free nips to go with them – expect queues!

The festival opens on Thursday 2^nd with a Food Art Exhibition at the Iona Gallery organised by the SBSA, and the screening of a documentary called “The Garden”. On Friday the 3rd the red carpet will be rolled out again at the High School for another Oscar Night, showcasing short films about food made by students across the Highlands. Awards will be presented by a film industry panel of judges including the prolific tv and film director and producer Marcus DF White, himself a former student at Kingussie High School.

Saturday also sees the Scottish cinematic premiere of the film “Toast” – the ultimate nostalgia trip through everything edible in 1960s Britain – which will be accompanied by a Vintage Tea Party at Talla Nan Ros. Starring Helena Bonham Carter and Ken Stott this film tells the story of celebrity chef Nigel Slater’s early years and how he became passionate about food and cooking. Sunday’s Carvery Lunch at the Duke of Gordon will be followed by a Chaplin film, and in the evening there will be Chinese food and a Chinese film at the Ruthven Road Picturehouse to complete the festivities.

Programmes with details of all the films and events on this four day food and film extravaganza are available at the Box Office in Kingussie High Street where you can also buy tickets, T-shirts and bags. The Box Office will close on Thursday afternoon, and tickets will then be for sale on the door at the events. You can also download a programme on the website.

FOOD ON FILM BOX OFFICE LAUNCH ON JANUARY 14TH 2012

There are only three weeks to go until the Food on Film festival brings four days of fabulous films food and fun to venues across Kingussie  for the fifth year running. This year festival goers will be able to buy tickets in advance and get hold of a programme at the new Box Office situated in Caberfeidh Horizons Bookshop, Kingussie High Street.

 The Food on Film Box Office is opening this Saturday, January 14th, when free programmes outlining the exciting festival line up will be available. Festival bags and T-shirts will also go on sale and the Food on Film team will be there to answer any questions and inspire people about all the great ingredients they’ve cooked up again for this unique and popular event.

Regional Screen Scotland supports cinema going facilities and organisations – from independent cinemas to film clubs and film festivals – throughout non-metropolitan Scotland and manages grant aid schemes devolved by Creative Scotland.

Ron Inglis is one of the UK’s most experienced and respected authorities on cinema exhibition – both their development and operation – and on wider strategic development. He commented “Cinema-going is hugely popular in Scotland but there are many parts of the country where it is difficult to share the pleasure of watching films with an audience. The creation of Regional Screen Scotland is a wonderful opportunity to work with local and national partners to develop more and better cinema going outside the city areas.

“I’m particularly interested in the ways that new digital cinema technologies are changing how smaller town and rural cinemas, including the Screen Machine, can operate. I hope that we can provide the practical support and specialist advice to cinemas, arts centres, film societies and festivals which will enable them to inspire audiences with great cinema-going.”

Scottish Masterchef winner and UK finalist Fi Bird is heading north this winter to a unique Highland festival to bring her experience, passion and boundless enthusiasm to inspire the children of Kingussie about healthy eating and wild food.  She will be rolling out her road show in the local Primary school and giving pupils a hands on experience that she hopes will get them excited about cooking and trying new kinds of food. “Children love being involved with food and it has great potential for fun and learning.” says Fi, a self-taught cook, with an approach to food based on knowledge of tight budgets and limited time. Campaigning for healthier diets and for cookery teaching at Primary schools, she writes articles and recipes for newspapers and magazines and travels extensively delivering exciting interactive cooking workshops in schools and communities across the UK.  She has also appeared on STV’s “The Hour” and BBC Radio 4′s Woman’s Hour.

Fi will have a chance to inspire both children and their families when she goes to Food on Film next February. The four day festival in Kingussie will also be featuring her as their Celebrity Chef at the Cairngorms Food Hall. Previous chefs who have cooked there have been Lady Claire Macdonald, Nell Nelson and Jacqueline O’Donell. “We are delighted that Fi has agreed to come and join us,” said festival co-ordinator Helen Graham, who went on to say “her fresh approach and inspiring energy will enthuse people of all generations to try cooking with readily available local produce that doesn’t often appear on our weekly menus.” Fi will be inspiring people to cook with wild food such as duck, pheasant and venison, linking her demonstration in with Food on Film’s 2012 food theme “From the Hills to the Plate”. Her attendance at the festival is sponsored by Scottish Natural Heritage, and game from local estates and local venison from Creag Meagaidh National Nature Reserve will be used in the demonstrations. SNH’s Wildlife Resource Project Officer, Pete Moore, said  ‘Fi  has a great way of sharing her enthusiasm for wild food and healthy eating and we’re really pleased to be able to support her involvement in this festival.”

Cairngorms Food on Film Project

Kingussie Primary School student Skye MacDonald rolled up her sleeves and went to join chef Lydie Bocquillon in her restaurant kitchen at The Auld Alliance, Kingussie, to learn about artisan breadmaking recently. The day was arranged by Kingussie Food on Film as part of their short film project ‘Cairngorms Food on Film’ which involves Primary School children being filmed when visiting food producers in the Cairngorms National Park to learn all about how their food is produced.

A series of four films are being made by local filmmaker and festival co-ordinator Helen Graham.  These films are being taken round Primary Schools in the Park by Jillian Robertson of Wild Thinking and Food on Film treasurer as part of a Five Senses Workshop which is aimed at connecting children with the sources of their food.  The children and primary schools have loved the experience of the first two workshops which includes first seeing the films and hearing the stories and then handling some of the equipment involved in the process and actually smelling and tasting the food as well. “I’m delighted to be working on this project,” commented Jillian, “it’s so rewarding seeing how excited and engaged the children get, and to see understanding dawning on their faces – we’ve even had some brave pupils trying fish or honey for the first time, and loving it!”

The new film about bread will be premiered at Food on Film 2012 in The Cairngorms Food Hall at the Badenoch Centre on Saturday 4^th February. It will then be screened at six schools in the Park as part of the Bread workshop throughout the Spring term. Helen is hoping to shoot the fourth and final film of the ‘Cairngorms Food on Film’ project, about cheese-making, in Spring 2012.  This innovative project is being part funded by Crofting Connections and part-financed by the Scottish Government and the European Community [Cairngorms Local Action Group] LEADER 2007-2013 Programme and the Cairngorms National Park Authority.

The Iona Gallery will launch the event with the opening of a Food Art Exhibition that will be open throughout the festival. Local artists will be getting their inspiration from a documentary film that will be screened that night – “The Garden” – which follows the controversial development of a community garden in down town Los Angeles.

Once again there will be a glamorous Oscar Night at the High School on the Friday night. It will feature the premiere of a film project called “Come Dine With Me Through Time” which has been filmed by High School students across the Highlands with the Phoenix Film Academy. The Kingussie group has been working closely with the Highland Folk Museum to recreate historically accurate food. There will also be a short film competition with a Film Industry panel of judges and fabulous prizes.  At the Primary School on the Saturday afternoon there will be a childrens’ matinee screening of the original 1971 “Willie Wonka and The Chocolate Factory” .

New to the festival is Kingussie’s recently established Ruthven Road Picturehouse at  The Silverfjord Hotel which will show international foodie films on the Friday and Sunday nights with the option of a meal to match beforehand.  Also new to Food on Film is the Sunday Carvery Cinema at The Duke of Gordon where filmgoers can fill up with a delicious roast dinner and then watch a classic Charlie Chaplin film “The Gold Rush” where Charlie has to improvise a meal from nothing but an old boot!

The Community Centre, Talla Nan Ros, will host two fabulous feature films for their Scottish Premieres on Saturday afternoon and evening, both events will have themed food and music to go with the films – more details will be announced soon.

The centrepiece of the festival – The Cairngorms Food Hall  – will be expanding into the large Sprts Hall at The Badenoch Centre where it will be bigger and better than ever before! Organiser Lydie Bocquillon said  “The only criticism we had from festival goers last year was that the Food Hall was too crowded – which we saw as a good problem to have. This time there will be plenty of room both for more customers and more stalls. There are already several new food producers who are excited about joining us, and there will be more cooking demonstrations, as well as whisky tasting and the results of our Cooking Challenge. I’m really looking forward to it, it’s going to be great!”

Tickets will be on sale from mid January from the new Box Office on the High Street hosted by Caberfeidh Horizons. For more information and news about films, VIP guests and more, visit the website and Facebook pages which will be regularly updated, or follow developments on Twitter.

What you saw was all part of the launching of a weekly film night called the Ruthven Road Picturehouse in the nearby Silverfjord Hotel on Ruthven Road. The film chosen for the launch was “Slumdog Millionnaire”, for the obvious reason that Ruthven Road, Kingussie is mentioned in the call centre scene, and the local community hadn’t yet found an appropriate moment to celebrate their mention on the world stage.

And celebrate they certainly did ! Recreating the station dancing scene at the end of the film the dance troupe greeted a very important guest arriving from Edinburgh on the 7.15 train – the actress Janet De Vigne – who spoke those immortal lines in the film.

Janet was delighted to join a packed audience in the newly kitted out screening room and stood up to repeat her famous lines while the film was paused – and was rewarded with party poppers and cheers. Both BBC Scotland and STV filmed the rehearsal night and broadcast reports on Friday prior to the event.

All these carefully laid plans almost had to be cancelled at the last minute due to a lack of staff at the station in the evening to supervise health and safety aspects for dancers, TV crews and the crowd who turned up to watch.

Which is where Scotrail employee Scott MacKenzie who works at Kingussie station gamely stepped into the breach and spent two evenings there on his own time to facilitate a rehearsal as well as the real thing.

One of the organisers of the event, Iona Malcom, quipped, “Scott has really become “The Station Agent” who turned into a “Local Hero” ‘ – cannily slipping the names of the next two films in the autumn programme into her comments.

Born out of Kingussie’s annual Food on Film festival which held a survey in February to gauge interest, The Ruthven Road Picturehouse now has a voluntary programming team working with Joe Storm and Claire Kay at the Silverfjord.

To ensure seats at the screenings you can reserve them online on the website, then you are advised to turn up at 7.30 for an 8pm start, allowing time to buy a £3 drink voucher which will get you free entry to the film as well as your drink. Late comers may find their seats have been reallocated after 7.45 to anyone who turns up on the night without booking.

For more information on forthcoming films and how to reserve seats visit the website: www.ruthvenroadpicturehouse.com

Bollywood will come to Badenoch on Friday 2 September when Kingussie’s new weekly film night is launched at the Silverfjord Hotel. The Ruthven Road Picturehouse will open its autumn and winter season of films with a showing of “Slumdog Millionaire.”  The film night is named for the town’s famous mention in the Oscar-winning film and will show films every Friday at 8pm.

The Ruthven Road Picturehouse is lucky enough to have Janet de Vigne, the actress who spoke the immortal line “number 4 Ruthven Road, Kingussie”, in the Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning movie, coming to officially open the season on Friday 2 September.

When Janet arrives by train at 7.15 on Friday evening she will be greeted by a troupe of Bollywood dancers (all from exotic Badenoch). The local women and girls have been training with Newtonmore dance instructor Jo McCullough to perform a Bollywood-style routine to welcome this special guest.

Since the Badenoch Bollywood Babes don’t have a PA system, the music will be provided by the car of one of the dancers, Kimi Joynson, which has a high-quality stereo. Letters have been distributed to neighbouring residents warning them not to be alarmed, and inviting them to join in the revelry at the dress rehearsal on Thursday and at the real thing on Friday!

Half way through the film, when Janet speaks the line in question, the film will be stopped for her to say it again, in person. Party poppers and cheers will follow before the film starts again.

The Ruthven Road film enthusiasts have already become victim to their own success; almost all of the 40 seats already taken for “Slumdog Millionaire”. If you don’t have any luck booking on the website, there is a small chance that some seats may become available on the night; if places are not claimed by 7.30pm they will be re-allocated. Film fans can go along to the Silverfjord on that Friday to try for a last-minute seat . Delicious Indian food will be available from 6pm.

In future seats can be booked at the website www.ruthvenroadpicturehouse.com. After booking ahead online one should arrive at the Silverfjord front entrance before 7.30pm on a Friday to make sure of having time to buy £3 vouchers and getting drinks or a snack with them and complimentary tickets before the film starts at 8pm. Only cash payment can be accepted at the door. One of the organisers, Iona Malcolm, told The Strathy “We didn’t expect to be so busy, or that we would have to be so bossy about punctuality! We hope that this will prove to be a good and fair system for everyone though. The enthusiasm for the film night, not to mention the Bollywood dancing, has been amazing.”

Iona added “our second feature is The Station Agent, which won three prizes at Sundance; it’s a gem. Check the www.ruthvenroadpicturehouse.com for information on the film and to book tickets.”

Young people from four locations around the Highland Region will join together to work on a film and website called “Come Dine With Me Through Time” after the Channel 4 TV programme which inspired the project.  The award will allow the young people to film their own unique version of “Come Dine With Me” and create a website to showcase the final piece along with some of the other  learning and information they have gleaned through the process.

Each group has chosen to work within an area of heritage which interests them: the group from Kingussie, who had the original idea for the project, are working on the Jacobites and are being supported by The Highland Folk Park in Newtonmore, the group from Dingwall are working on the Vikings and are being supported by Battlescar Entertainments and local history experts, the group from Alness are working on WWII and are being supported by The Alness Heritage Centre and the group from Grantown are working on building the website and interpreting the information and are being supported by NTS Culloden and Cairngorm National Parks.

The premise of the film is to discover what happens when characters from three key points in Highland history are given the gift of time travel to visit each time period and share a meal.  Just like in the Channel 4 programme, we will see how each time period representative prepares for their visitors,  including how they source food and prepare it.

Research and development has been taking place during May and June at various out of school workshops with the groups being supported through the process by local arts facilitators: Kirree Seddon and Cathey Reece as well as the youth work teams in Alness, Dingwall and Grantown.  Filming, with Highland film producers Phoenix VP, is taking place on location over the summer holidays.  The Alness group will be filming first, in the Alness Heritage Centre Gardens  and at the Highland Folk Park and their shoot will include the final prize giving at the end of the film where the winning contestant will be awarded a goat!  The Kingussie group will utilise the fantastic setting in the 1 8th century township at the Highland Folk Park for their shoot, including a scene with the expert period weaver employed there.  The Dingwall group will film at Ferry Point in Dingwall, the site where the first Vikings landed in the area, and they hope to have access to a reconstructed Viking boat as well as a period trader’s tent  to dress their location.

Commenting on the project Helen Graham from Food on Film said, “We were delighted to be awarded the funding for this excellent project which embodies so many of the values of Food on Film- supporting young people in taking a pride in their food heritage and bringing it all to the big screen!”  Eilidh MacDonald from Alness said, “I have really enjoyed learning about WWII- wearing the actual period clothes was great fun and I’m delighted we managed to get a real goat for the last scene!”.  Christopher Donnelly from Kingussie said, “This project has been loads of fun, we are so pleased that our ideas secured this funding and I am loving learning more about Jacobite life.  I’m going to do a bit of fish gutting in one scene as well as operating the camera for most of the shoot- it’s just a great way to spend your free time!”

Over the course of the project many of the young people  involved are working towards their Youth Achievement Awards at various levels, as well as looking forward to a unique certificate award at the end of the overall project which will detail all of their individual achievements and will be endorsed by all of the youth and heritage partners involved.

The project will run through to mid October and the young people expect to be able to screen their film at various locations across the Highlands in the October holidays as they launch the completed website.  The completed “Come Dine With Me Through Time” film will also have a showcase screening at the February 2012 Kingussie Food on Film Youth Night.

For more information, please contact Cathey Reece on 07835 777803 or filmacademy@phoenixvp.co.uk, or visit www.kingussiefoodonfilm.co.uk