During Sept 2019 we were very pleased to work with Creative Carbon Scotland and the Hebridean International Film Festival to try and reach communities for conversations about the marine environment and its management. We met communities alongside film screenings in five locations: South Harris, Bernera, North Uist, South Uist and Stornoway. Unfortunately, with some bad weather on the Friday, ferries were cancelled between South Uist and Barra and so we were not able to make it to the event we had planned on Barra. Instead, we spent two days at the Carinish village hall on North Uist.
The theme for the festival, “Islands, environments and remote communities” was extremely topical for the Outer Hebrides and the issues facing communities on these islands. Working alongside films with environmental themes was a useful way to generate topics for conversation or further discussion after or between films. We found the experience useful and insightful, as the process of watching the films together may well have resulted in more open and frank conversations about communities and the marine environment in the Outer Hebrides.
