A “BUDGET Braveheart” is being made by a band of brothers with ambitions to have it screened worldwide.
Shooting has already begun on the low-budget historical action film which has been described as Lord of the Rings and Narnia meet Braveheart.
The movie, Dalriata’s King, focuses on a little documented period of Scottish history when Picts still roamed the land. Five brothers from two Scottish families have joined forces to make the film and have built a medieval village in Airth where filming is currently taking place.
The film-makers – brothers Phil, Nathan and Matthew Todd and their cousins, brothers Tom and John Walkinshaw – formed Fellowship Film, a social enterprise company, in the summer and have already had a short film screened at the recent Fargo Film Festival, one of the top festivals in the US.
“We really wanted to make a historical fantasy about a period of Scottish history when the Picts and the Scots united to become Scotland,” said Phil, an award-winning filmmaker who believes Scotland can become an international centre for high quality film production.
Having already won awards for his Gaelic music videos, Phil decided to set in motion a long-held desire by all the brothers to make a film.
“We decided if we were going to make it now was the time and it had to be big and ambitious.”
For practice they made a short film, the Fable of Forsaken, also set in medieval Scotland, then started the first block of filming on the feature movie, self-funding it by £6,000.
A crowdfunding campaign raised £8,000 for the second block of filming and it is hoped that funding of around £10,000 can be raised through grants to complete the film next year.
A crew and cast of around 100 people are currently working for expenses only.
“For me one of the most amazing things has been that people have been so enthusiastic about it,” said Phil. “It’s been humbling to see their passion.”
It’s a story that’s set in the dark ages of 800AD and focuses on the tale of Scots warrior king Alpin MacEchdach, who hunts his young brother’s kidnappers through a dark forest where an ancient evil is said to hide.
“It’s a period of Scottish history that you don’t see a lot about yet in a way it is the birth of Scotland as we know it. It is just before Kenneth McAlpin when Scotland was split into these four big kingdoms and we thought that would be a good context for the story.
“We do know that Kenneth McAlpin was the son of a Pictish princess and Alpin MacEchdach, but there is not a lot about the Picts as they disappeared as a race as they merged with the Scots and Gaels.”
Archaeologist Lindsey Stirling, who specialises in this era, has advised the brothers on how to make the scenes authentic but as there is not much known about the era they have been able to use a fair bit of creative licence.
The brothers have high hopes that the story of good versus evil will strike a chord with audiences and be accepted for film festivals around the world.
“This is a serious project and the film trailer shows the excellence of the acting, the amazing sets and, of course, spectacular views of Scotland for battle scenes.
“It is a fantastic Scottish project in every way.”
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