Enlighten Up!

Do you exist? If you do, do you know who you are? If so, can you be sure you really know anything?! Robert Florence and Iain Connell have some burning questions for you that will change the way you see the world.  Through their unique brand of absurd comedy, Florence and Connell teach viewers just what it takes to think philosophically. This 30-minute special unlocks the big questions through mind-bending sketches and animations, using real world examples and contemporary culture.

For the answers we look 300 years ago to a group of upstart Scots. They came up with some crazy ideas- and changed the way we think about everything from happiness to what makes you, you! Florence and Connell tackle a big philosophical question in each sketch using the theories of the Scottish Enlightenment. 

Broadcast on BBC1 Scotland, and BBC Learning.

Clips online at here.

Enquirer

Blending fact, anecdote and passionate opinion, Enquirer is a rapid response to the unfolding events in the newspaper industry. It is based on interviews with over forty journalists and was first performed in June as a site-specific piece of theatre performed in an empty media office block in Glasgow. 

This specially produced radio adaptation is a co-production between the National Theatre of Scotland, the London Review of Books and Hopscotch Films.

Edited and directed by Vicky Featherstone and John Tiffany, co-edited by Andrew O'Hagan. The Enquirer cast includes: Maureen Beattie, John Bett, Billy Boyd, James Anthony Pearson, Gabriel Quigley and Billy Riddoch.

Produced for Hopscotch Films by Clara Glynn and Carolynne Sinclair Kidd

1911: Review of the Year

Hopscotch Films were commissioned by BBC Learning to create a unique window into what life was like one hundred years ago. With a mix of archive, animation and specially shot footage, we tell the story of six amazing events from the perspective of the witnesses. These are the stories you would be reading about in the newspapers one hundred years ago:

Bombing Raids in Libya:  Italian forces attack Libya in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire.  They drop bombs from small planes in the world’s first air raid.

Industrial Unrest in Glasgow: Women protest against a cut in wages and ten thousand workers strike at the Singer factory.

Armed Gang in shootout with the Police: Home Secretary Winston Churchill watches as police and army battle a gang of jewel thieves.

Art Theft in Paris: the Mona Lisa  is stolen from the Louvre.  It’s so famous it’s unsellable, the police suspect it’s a prank by the modernists.

The Conquest of the South Pole: Admunsun triumphs over Scott in a tale of adversity and heroism.

Street Protests for Democracy : Suffragettes storm parliament and smash windows demanding the vote.

Produced by; John Archer, Carolynne Sinclair Kidd

Directed by: Clara Glynn, Dhivya Chetty, Ewan Morrison, Joseph Briffa, Aileen Ritchie

Asylum (2011)

A co-production with the Bureau and Imagine Pictures, Asylum was made with the support of Creative Scotland and Film 4. It is currently beginning it’s festival life and has been selected for Hamburg, Grimstad and Edinburgh film festivals.

Asylum from Hopscotch Films on Vimeo.

Writer/Director: Joern Utkilen  

Producer: Carolynne Sinclair Kidd & Matthieu de Braconier

For news and updates on Asylum click news

Ruby (2011)

A comedy about a pharmacist who dreams of being an entrepreneur, RUBY was a 4 part series for Radio Scotland, broadcast in Spring 2011, and starring Mina Anwar and Julia Deakin.

Written by Sanjeev Kohli and Donald Mcleary

Produced by Carolynne Sinclair Kidd

Little Red Hoodie (2009)

Could be the EIFF’s most controversial film The Herald

Little Red Hoodie from Hopscotch Films on Vimeo.

A co-production with Imagine Pictures, Joern Utkilen’s thought- provoking take on an old fairy tale was made for Film 4 and the UKFC under the Cinema Extreme banner. It played at over 20 festivals worldwide including Palm Springs and Rotterdam, and received a Special Mention at Cork and Regensburger, and a best screenplay award at Grimstad in Norway. It was also nominated for a Scottish Bafta in the best short film category, and was sold to Arte in Germany and Canal + in France.

Writer/Director: Joern Utkilen

Producer: Carolynne Sinclair Kidd

Unscrew (2003)

Blackly comedic, a macabre twist on an Ian McEwan’esque fantasy. The Independent

A short drama for the BBC and Scottish Screen starring Douglas Henshall and Emma Fielding. It was selected for the following film festivals: Edinburgh, London, New York, Palm Springs, Manchester, Hull, Grenada, Barcelona and Berlin. It won Clara Glynn, its writer/director, a prize at the Grenada Film Festival and was a runner-up for the Jim Poole Award for best Scottish short film and short-listed for a BAFTA short film award and a Scottish BAFTA

Director/Writer Clara Glynn

Producer Carolynne Sinclair Kidd

The Practicality of Magnolia (2002)

Original, inventive and visually inspired... this is a bright, sweet film with a dark streak running through it. Sumptuously shot and boasting excellent performances all round. The Scotsman

A half hour drama for STV starring Sheila Hancock, Steven Duffy and Brian Cox. It premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival and won Best TV Drama and Best Score awards at the Scottish Baftas.

Director Clara Glynn

Writer Raymond Soltysek

Producer Carolynne Sinclair Kidd