One of a number of EIFF titles with backing from the BFI Film Fund, Scheme Birds has a local interest element for Scottish attendees of the festival.Set in Motherwell, the hybrid documentary presents a compassionate portrait of teenage 'scheme bird' Gemma, a young mother who has little desire to ever leave the North Lanarkshire town where she hangs out with her jailbird boyfriend. Tough love is the only kind Gemma has ever known, and shed be lucky to get even that from Pat, who sinks shortly after the babys birth into a self-oriented spiral of partying and alcoholism. The movie follows her through three critical years of her life, which she narrates in her own energetic and unaffected words. Specialist documentary distributors will likely eye this film with interest daunting as the subject matter is at times from a marketing perspective, this is the kind of distinctive and timely picture which is both award and arthouse audience-friendly. But this extraordinary documentary weighs the bleak details and they are, at times, almost unbearably grim against moments of lyrical beauty and even humour. Not poverty porn, but respectfully made. By Gemma's childhood, a teenage troublemaker, turns into motherhood in Motherwell, a rusty Scottish steel town, a place where people either get knocked up or locked up, where innocent games can easily turn into serious crime. Film data from TMDb. Her grandfather is a pigeon fancier and runs a boxing gym where Gemma also trains, he treats her like a boy and she is very much a tomboy, footage shows her in gang fights and drinking with the boys her own age. Love the cinematography and directing. 2019. Soon, they have a baby together and a flat. Gemma's childhood, a teenage troublemaker, turns into motherhood in Motherwell, a rusty Scottish steel town, a place where people either get knocked up or locked up, where innocent games can easily turn into serious crime. Gemma is a darling and captivates the screen easily. But the film is made to both tell an intimate story but also to respect Gemma and the other characters integrity. I dont doubt the authenticity of the facts that the film puts forth, I grew up in a very similar situation to that depicted in the movie, just around forty miles east of where the movie takes place, but a lot of the shots and indeed some of the scenes do seem setup beforehand. Let the free birds fly, reads Gemmas tattoo. Motherwell, Scotland, is a former steel producer for the Empire. Join now. rather than any real concern for highly vulnerable people forgotten about by society. Seul Sur Mars, Me at the start of Scheme Birds: "Subtitles? Variety is a part of Penske Media Corporation. The title comes from Gemmas neighborhood being known as a scheme. In Scotland, that refers to an area with lots of social housing towers and estates, where predominantly working-class families struggle to stay afloat. If you stay here, you either get locked up or knocked up, she observes drolly, and not even that dejectedly; she accepts the latter fate as a welcome inevitability. I dont run away from nothing, I run to it, says Gemma, the quietly resilient teenager at the center of Scheme Birds. Few would blame her for doing the reverse, having been abandoned in infanthood by her parents in the harsh projects of Motherwell, a deprived, lusterless Scottish town a few miles outside Glasgow. Screen International is the essential resource for the international film industry. Empathetically concerned but never condescending, this chronicle of life in fast-forward consistently meets its heroine on her own evolving terms. She more, em va molar molt ai. This site uses cookies. By Guy Lodge . streaming Scheme Birds? Scheme Birds Gemma's childhood, a teenage troublemaker, turns into motherhood in Motherwell, a rusty Scottish steel town, a place where people either get knocked up or locked up, where innocent games can easily turn into serious crime. ', Jeremy Clarksons Who Wants to Be a Millionaire to End With Next Season, No Future Commitments for More Work, Says ITV, Will Smith Accepts Special Honor at AAFCA Ceremony, First In-Person Awards Speech Since 2022 Oscars, HBO's Leading Man: Casey Bloys on Perfecting 'The Last of Us,' HBO Max Streaming Merger and Axing Shows, A24 Sweeps Film Categories at the 2023 SAG Awards as 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' Breaks Record for Most Wins, Jean Smart 'Doing Well, Recovering' Following Heart Procedure, Says Hacks Co-Star Hannah Einbinder, Ke Huy Quan Becomes First Asian Male Film Winner at SAG Awards for 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'. Scheme Birds From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Scheme Birds is a 2019 documentary film directed by Ellen Fiske and Ellinor Hallin featuring a teenage girl in Jevirston. That may be ancient history to Gemma who was born in 1997, the year the factories were finally demolished but shes inherited the jaded resignation of her elders, notably her grandfather-turned-guardian Joseph. Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Scheme Birds bursts with the frustration of a generation of Scots let down by society's promises. The only difference is "Scheme Birds" being a disturbing documentary about a young girl and her friends at the backyards of Scottish society. But in a place where "you either get knocked up or locked up," innocent games can easily turn into serious crime. But her grandfather, who raised her from infancy, won't accept that. "A scheme's a non-snobby place to stay," says Gemma, a teenage 'scheme bird' living in a run-down housing estate in Motherwell. 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Letterboxd is an independent service created by a small team, and we rely mostly on the support of our members to maintain our site and apps. Shot with an eye and ear for poetry in the pavement cracks, Scheme Birds recalls in its best passages the outsider affinity and sensory, symbol-heavy aesthetic of Andrea Arnolds narrative cinema; as a feature-length debut for Swedish duo Ellen Fiske and Ellinor Hallin, its a work of major promise. It's beautiful, so it is (Reprise) 6. Directors Ellen Fiske Ellinor Hallin Writers The film premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, where it won the Best Feature Documentary award and the Best New Documentary Director award. They train them, race them and every Friday they decide which one is the most beautiful. Gemma has a quite unusual life story but she goes through things that we all can relate to. But some fly off and do their own thing. And as this intimate and wrenchingly affecting film draws to a close, Gemma begins to realise that her best chance for the future depends on her taking a cue from those few errant birds that break free of the lure of home and start anew. It's beautiful, so it is 2. According to some opinions, maybe we could have pushed even harder to get even more out of the story. The steel capital of the world died at the hands of Thatcher in the 1980s, and Gemma recounts how the skies turned grey with dust when the factories were demolished. Movie review: Scheme birds - misery that gives added flavor 2020-04-24T04:07:47.672Z We follow the tough teen Gemma in her hard life in a Scottish mill with the beautiful name Motherwell: Formerly a thriving countryside but since the steel mill was closed down - by Margaret Thatcher, so it was a while ago - a miserable, poor suburb of Glasgow. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Posted on March 25, 2021 by . Gemma's childhood, a teenage troublemaker . We Are Moving Storiesembraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. This hybrid documentary closely follows the young protagonist as she navigates motherhood, the tower of flats (or 'scheme') that she calls home, as well as relationships with . Their scheme is Jerviston, a place where you either get knocked up or locked up, where theres been nothing to do since Margaret Thatcher closed the local steelworks in the 1980s. Gemma believes his claim that the baby represents a fresh, clean start for him; Joseph, a seen-it-all boxing gym manager and pigeon fancier, is understandably less convinced, though he cuts his granddaughter loose to make her own mistakes. scheme birds where are they now. What an amazing surprise. Viewers may feel rather less sanguine on her behalf when the independent-minded teen duly falls pregnant by Pat, a scrawny, unruly kid who has racked up a precocious amount of jail time at his early age. You maybe hear a lot about violent areas, but dont get the full image of everyone involved. Gemma informs us that since people dont have much to occupy their time, violence and abuse abounds. Also if you want to know what happens to Gemma. Moreover, the youth living in these areas might be looked down upon by outsiders. Subs are probably needed. Its easy to take the cameras attentive but non-invasive presence for granted in situations ranging from a makeshift kitchen tattoo session to a young yobs heedless, boastful account of past stabbings, but the degree of evident trust between the directors and their human subjects is still striking. Scrappy Scottish teenager Gemma has never backed down from a fight. Join now. Rather, their documentary lets Gemma speak for herselfand in doing so, illuminates not just her life, but the complicated lives that intersect hers, too. Beautifully and thoughtfully directed by Ellen Fiske and Ellinor Hallin, Scheme Birds never feels invasive. A veracious, fiercely sympathetic look at a tight-knit community, Scheme Birds takes A victim of Margaret Thatchers harsh economic policies, the local steelworks finally closed in the 1990s, plunging the area into poverty and unemployment. GEMMA: We get called Scheme Birds. By the end of this film the viewer will feel a bit attached to Gemma, and wonder whether she and her son Liam are in a better place now. JustWatch. We think Gemmas voice could add a new dimension to a story already told and we hope the audience can relate to her. This is an assured work which, with its strong storytelling and savage dramatic arc, has as much in common with the pictures of Andrea Arnold and early Lynne Ramsay as it does with other non-fiction filmmaking. But as circumstances become tragic, Gemma's face becomes worn, anxious and unhappy,. What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com? We are very happy that the film turned out the way it did though. As Gemma enters young motherhood, she reckons with how to reconcile her own aggressions with the protective tenderness she feels toward her newborn. Gemma, a young heroine of "Scheme Birds", seems to be taken from Andrea Arnold's movie. In Motherwell, you either get locked up or knocked up, or so says Gemma, a teenager on the cusp of adulthood growing up in an old Scottish steel town. Rated R. The Inspection. Gemma is a bright-eyed teenager from Motherwell, Scotland, a former steel town in desperate decay, where violence is so frequent, kids are able to identify murders by the number of emergency vehicles that arrive. On an English language film? Tribeca Film Festival/New York - April 26th, 27th & May 1st and 3rd; Hotdocs film festival/Toronto - April 28th and 29th. What type of feedback have you received so far? Scheme Birds, written and directed by Ellen Fiske and Ellinor Hallin, is a hybrid of reality TV, coming-of-age tale, and documentary blending observations, interviews, and narrations about its protagonist, Gemma; following her as she leaves her childhood to enter the adult world. Gemma runs among a tight-knit group of friends, at the center of which is ordinary mischief, routine, and roughhousing. Scrappy Scottish teenager Gemma has never backed down from a fight. In fact, prior to watching this I thought it was a. So extremely bleak.The fantastic production makes it feel like a narrative feature. I know people that had kids, or went to jail, or were grossly attacked and their lives turned round. Box Office: $0.00M. Home; Uncategorized; scheme birds where are they now In a place where you "either get knocked up or locked up," Gemma carves out brief moments of tenderness amidst the violence of her local scheme. Its a story that plays out time and time again at the end I was just angry at the whole situation and everyone involved. Scheme Birds falls somewhere between the cracks of a working class society stripped of its agency and what that means in a town that's now scarred. Now Streaming Watch Now. The budgie has now been taken to specialist RSPCA facilities for ongoing care, with the charity hoping to locate an owner. That was the way of life in the small-town, low-income housing scheme where she grew up, southeast of Glasgow. Life unfolds as innocent games turn into serious crime. 138 cm. As Gemma use to say, scheme birds either get locked up or knocked up, so perhaps her path is set. She even proclaims that girls like her eventually either get knocked up or locked up Like a premonition, Gemmas words at the beginning of. Why did you make your film? Her work on feature film In i Dimman earned her a Guldbagge nomination for Best Cinematography 2019. A culture of violence will always end in tragedy. Pumfrey has spearheaded the charitys focus on mental health support. Scheme Birds employs a vrit approach, observing as life passes by, and the directors favor visual stillness over the shakier kineticism of hand-held camerawork. LUCAS - International Festival for Young Film Lovers Shetland Arts Development Agency Bergen International Film Festival Red de trabajadores/as audiovisualistas comunitarios RUT Denver Film Society n-r bora Cork Film Festival Jerusalem Film Festival Riverfest Saginaw Film Festival Zawya Cinema & Distribution LA TROPA PRODUCE SLL (Cineuropa) DocPoint Helsinki Documentary Film FestivalHainan Island International Film Festival Devolution Films Festival Internacional de Cine de Tulum Human Rights Human Wrongs AS Filmklubben ChaplinVera Film Festival, Tribeca Winner of Best Documentary FeatureTribeca Winner of Albert Maysles New Documentary Director, Konstnrsnamden / Swedish Arts Grants Committee, The Malik Bendjelloul Memorial Foundation, Region Uppsala, Kulturenheten, Louise Bown, Unit Socit et Culture Fabrice Puchault, STHLM DEBUT, a collaboration between Film Stockholm/ Filmbasen, Film, Capital Stockholm and Stockholm International Film Festival, LUCAS - International Festival for Young Film Lovers, Red de trabajadores/as audiovisualistas comunitarios RUT, DocPoint Helsinki Documentary Film Festival, Hainan Island International Film Festival, Tribeca Winner of Best Documentary Feature, Tribeca Winner of Albert Maysles New Documentary Director. 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