My book, Scottish Films, is now with the printer, and should be available by April 20th (I’ll change this if this is not the case). A couple of years ago, on a holiday in Shetland, I found myself wondering what to do with the rest of my life. At the age of 58, and after teaching in academia for over 35 years, I realised I no longer loved my job. At 6:30 in the morning, sitting outside the St Magnus Bay Hotel, on a perfectly still day, I asked myself what were the things that I did love? There’s a fairly short list of things which have (almost) never disappointed me: cricket, chocolate cake, and cinema. Of these, cinema seemed to offer the greatest possibility for consuming a large part of my time if I were to quit my job as Professor of Competition Law and Policy at the University of Glasgow. Out of the blue it occurred to me to write a book about Scottish films. I spent some minutes writing out a list of all the ones I could think of, and quickly realised there were some serious problems to contend with.

First – was there already a book on Scottish films? A quick online check revealed that there was actually very little at all for the Scottish film addict and almost nothing for the general reader. I note that since I started this project back in September 2021 books have been published on Local Hero, Highlander, The Wicker Man, and the career of Bill Douglas, but nothing more general.

Second – what the hell is a Scottish film? A film is not a person and cannot tell you it’s Scottish. There’s actually only one context (outside academic literature) in which this question is addressed – the requirements for the Scottish BAFTA awards – and I don’t think these will resonate hugely with viewers. In the introduction to my book I set out my approach clearly – if you don’t agree with me, you can at least argue against, or expand or contract from, a clearly defined position.

Third – how many Scottish films are there? And man did I underestimate this at the start. I presumed the book would top out at somewhere around 100 films. I deal with 376, and there are another 50 which I believe to be Scottish within my definition, but which are more or less impossible to see without going to a specialist archive (and in some cases not even then). I am sure I will have missed some given I include films in all languages – the book includes French, German, Indian and Chinese-made films amongst others. If anyone can bring others to my attention after looking at the book I’d be grateful.

Fourth – what the hell would my wife say when I woke her up later and told her that I’d resigned my job in order to watch more films?

I’ve spent the last two-and-a-half years working on this, putting my years of academic research, and my years of cinema going, to use. I’ve looked at virtually every online list of ‘Scottish films’ – often with complete exasperation (just because a film features Scotland Yard, it does not make it Scottish! It’s in London guys…) But slowly and surely I identified, obtained, and watched every film covered in the book – at no point have I made any substantial comment about a film unless I have seen it. I’ve corrected errors which repeat again and again online (for example, Laxdale Hall is not set on an Island – as anyone who actually watched the film would immediately know). And I have watched too many films which people claim to be Scottish to determine that they are not. I do rule out films which are set in Scotland for only a small part of their total running time, and I rule out films shot in Scotland, but which are not set in Scotland. The result is a book of 150,000+ words, covering every Scottish film available to see released between 1917 and 2023. My intention is to provide updates from 2024 onwards here.

It’s been a blast, and at times exasperating, and I have seen some wonderful and weird films. I’ve also seen some absolute shite (appendixes set out my top 25 and bottom 10). All are covered. I hope you enjoy the book…

Mark