Showland: Behind The Scenes At The Fair

An inside look at Scotland's fairs, which are run by the Showmen's Guild - this year celebrating its 125th anniversary. Showman and expert Mitchell Miller reveals the reality of life in the fairs, the ups and downs, the challenges and the thrills.

With archive film from every decade since 1908, including never-before-seen home movies, and following families on their summer to winter runs, this is a look behind the bright lights at a unique and threatened way of life.

View Clips on BBC website 

Director Joseph Briffa

Producer John Archer

I Belong to Glasgow

Documenting Grierson

Born the son of a headmaster in Cambusbarron, near Stirling, John Grierson directed one of the first documentaries, Drifters, set up the influential GPO Film Unit making Night Mail, and went on to be the first director of The National Film Board of Canada.

The annual awards for best documentary are made in his name. He set out to make films to change the world, and made not just films, but filmmakers.

Oscar Marzaroli- Man with a Camera

Paris had Cartier-Bresson, New York - Diane Arbus and Glasgow - Oscar Marzaroli. Man with a Camera celebrates the life and work of Glasgow's pre-eminent photographer, using some of the 50,000 shots taken over thirty years - a moving portrait of a love affair between a man and his city, and the affection in which he is held today.

Marzaroli's black-and-white photographs have become synonymous with a post-war Scotland in the throes of regeneration. They captured both the aspects of the old, such as the rag-and-bone man in the Gorbals or the cockle gatherers of Barra, and the paraphernalia of the new - cranes, towers and construction at Glasgow's Charing Cross.

As Glasgow's landscape changes once again and the high-rises that Marzaroli documented going up are gradually being razed to the ground, this film celebrates Marzaroli's remarkable photographic legacy.

View clips on the BBC website.

Director Brian Ross

Producer John Archer

What Do Artists Do All Day- Frank Quitely

BBC4 Series- What do artists do all day

Frank Quitely is the alter ego of Glaswegian comic-book artist Vincent Deighan. As one of a group of British writers and artists who have reinvented the superhero genre, Frank's depictions of iconic characters like Superman, Batman and the X-Men have provided inspiration for some of Hollywood's biggest movie franchises.

In this film, we follow Frank over the course of a day and night as he works on a single page from his latest work, the epic superhero saga Jupiter's Legacy.

Director Joseph Briffa

Producer John Archer

Scottish Country Dancing: Controlled Abandon

Celebrating 90 years of The Royal Scottish Country Dance Society. At weddings, Hogmanay, a local ceilidh, or formal dinner dances Scottish Country Dancing can be an art form with the precision and nuance of ballet, or just a great big glorious hooley. Following dancers at the International Summer School in St Andrews then back home to Munich and Tokyo this warm and heartfelt documentary looks at this global phenomenon. Includes detailed dance instruction and rare archive for newcomers and aficionados alike.

Director Joseph Briffa 

Producer John Archer

Dream Me Up Scotty

Alex Norton goes on a Scottish accent safari hunting for the good the bad and the totally bowfing of mock jock acting. For over 100 years audiences have struggled to understand our braw brogue: silent Harry Lauder films attempted an accent in the captions, and in Hollywood’s golden era , everyone wanted to paint their tonsils tartan– but as examples from Katharine Hepburn, Orson Welles and Richard Chamberlain show, they couldnae. Then Disney made Brave and proved that it disnae have to be all bad.

Director John MacLaverty

Producer John Archer

Alasdair Gray: A Life in Progress

Kevin Cameron has spent well over a decade with Glasgow’s best-known artist – and has produced a remarkable profile of him at work on some of his best-known murals in the city, as well as tracing his hugely varied career from his days studying at art school.

It is no exaggeration to say it could completely redefine how Gray is perceived as he prepares to turn 80 next year. - The Scotsman, 13 October 2013

Cameron’s film places Gray within the context of a world in which he is renowned, but also explores the reality of his life in the city that provides his greatest inspiration. - The Skinny, February 2013

For more information, have a look at A Life in Progress website.

Iboga Nights

David Graham Scott returns to the drug that saved his life- is ibogaine really a wonder drug?

Ibogaine is an extract from a plant root that hails from Africa. A burgeoning movement in the west has promoted iboga as a quick fix route to painless withdrawal for drug addicts. David successfully treated his own methadone addiction ten years ago, and now he wants to find out how effective the treatment is for others. 

In a Dutch suburb several addicts embark on the long night of psychedelic detox under the watchful eye of an experienced iboga practitioner. One client collapses and ends up on a life-support, the provider is jailed and David starts to question the safety of iboga treatment. 

David follows several addicts, gaining a personal understanding of their world and how their lives hang in the balance. Will iboga work its miracles?

Directed by David Graham Scott

Produced by John Archer

For more details see the Iboga Nights website here.