Living Proof: An Archive Tour for Scotland

Living Proof invites viewers to revisit the promises of the past and consider how they relate to our future on this planet.

Living Proof is a partnership archive film project of Film Hub Scotland and the National Library of Scotland’s Moving Image Archive. It toured the country through Autumn-Winter 2021, and was available to the public to stream online for free until January 2021.

About the film:

Directed by Emily Munro, Living Proof explores the Scotland’s complex relationship to the global climate crisis through film and music. Curated archive footage from Scotland’s Moving Image Archive tells the interlinked stories of industrialisation, consumerism, energy, and the environment, framing our country’s history through the lens of the current debate.

With a soundtrack featuring music by contemporary Scottish artists Louise Connell, Brownbear and Post Coal Prom Queen, this feature-length documentary brings Scotland’s evocative screen heritage to cinema audiences across the country.

Is climate change rooted in our history? Can we break free from a boom and bust mentality? What can we do differently to ensure a healthy and sustainable future for generations to come?

Watch the Living Proof trailer here.

UK tour and streaming:

A 35-venue UK tour kicked off with two premiere screenings at Take One Action Film Festival—one at Edinburgh Filmhouse, another at Glasgow Film Theatre—in the midst of the international climate change summit, COP26. On the road, the film became a cornerstone of climate conversations across the country.

After the tour Living Proof was made available to stream online for free and in accessible formats. It was hosted by INDY Online and Stream Screen Argyll, and later added to The International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF)’s closed members’ platform. Reaching broad in-person and online audiences, Living Proof demonstrated the power of archive film to over 1,500 people—as an artform, and a means of connecting with Scotland’s complex social history.

List of tour venues:

Girvan Library
Sea Change Film Festival, Isle of Tiree (& Stream Screen Argyll Online)
Ionad Chaluim Chille Ìle – The Columba Centre, Islay (hosted by Screen Argyll)
Wigtown Church Hall (hosted by Driftwood Cinema)
An Lanntair Arts Centre, Isle of Lewis
The Fraser Centre, Tranent
Scottish Seabird Centre, North Berwick
Dunoon Film Festival
Dundee Contemporary Arts
Screen Machine: Port Ellen Isle of Islay
Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre, Dumfries
The Kino, Leven
Screen Machine: Lochgilphead
The Birks Cinema, Aberfeldy
Alchemy Film & Arts, Heart of Hawick
Lionacleit Community Library, Isle of Benbecula
Comrie Cinema Club at WRI Hall
Filmhouse, Edinburgh
Glasgow Film Theatre
Comrie Cinema Club
Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling
Belmont Filmhouse, Aberdeen
Eden Court Theatre, Inverness
Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life, Coatbridge
The Phoenix Cinema, Orkney
Hippodrome, Bo’ness
Byre Theatre, University of St. Andrews
Screen Machine: Brodick, Isle of Arran
John Gray Centre, Haddington
Saltspace Co-operative, Glasgow
Gilmorehill, University of Glasgow
Eastgate Theatre, Peebles
Glasgow School of Art
Picturehouse Cambridge
Partickhill Bowling and Community Club, Glasgow
Scotland’s Climate Festival, Glasgow
The Barn, Banchory

You can read more about Living Proof’s production and tour here, including a map of locations featured in the film.

Film Hub Scotland is proud to work with multiple organisations and archivists to support archive film in Scotland. Living Proof continues our ongoing relationship with The National Library of Scotland’s Moving Image Archive.

You may also like to read about our support of LAUNCH! On the Sea , an archive film celebration of RNLI communities. LAUNCH! was directed by Shona Thomson of A Kind of Seeing in co-production with Screen Argyll and with project development and tour support from Film Hub Scotland.