Margaret Tait Movies

A documentary about the life and works of Margaret Tait.

In 1990s Edinburgh, Barbara Thorburn reflects on memories of her poet mother, Greta, and her tragic death.

Another early experiment in portraiture from Tait. In filming her mother she asks the wider question of how much the camera can reveal of the person.

Chinese Geese in Orkney.

A film interpretation of the poem 'The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo' by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Margaret Tait speaks the poem throughout the film.

A portrait of poet Hugh MacDiarmid.

"Starting with a six-line script which just noted down a kind of event to occur, and recur, my aim was to construct a film with its own logic, its...

Drawing on a wealth of unseen archival material and unpublished notebooks, the film weaves a complex and personal portrait of Margaret’s life,...

'Titles within the film are: Numen of the Boughs, Old Boots, Speed Bonny Boat, Lapping Water, Incense, Aha, Brave New World, Things, Terra Firma. A...

A palindrome created on film. Features interaction between a couple with the recurring line 'Madam I'm Adam'.

A set of three 'film poems' composed around the theme of the garden - the central one featuring hand scratched animated drawings. Margaret Tait...

The streets of Kirkwall, Orkney come to a standstill as the "Down the Gates" and the "Up the Gates" battle it out in this traditional Norse ball...

Second of the 'Aspects of Kirkwall' films about the changing face of Kirkwall over the years. Filmed in 1974, it features the primary school, various...

"Touches on elemental images; air, water, (and snow), earth and fire (and smoke) all come into it." - MT

Part 3 of Margaret Tait's 'Aspects of Kirkwall', covering special events in the town. These include the Orkney Agricultural Society County Show, boat...

A short piece of film recording general views of Edinburgh's Royal Mile in the 1950s.

Poles, presumably to be used to carry electricity wires, are seen being carried over a wintry landscape by helicopter in Sandwick, Orkney.

Interiors of Margaret Tait's room when she stayed at 21 Via Ancona, Rome, Italy. Brief shots of her belongings (shoes, films, teacup) and then views...

General shots of Edinburgh City Centre taken by film-maker Margaret Tait, focussing on the Royal Mile, Holyrood House and Princes Street Gardens.

Margaret Tait documents her house, studio and garden in Buttquoy, Orkney as the seasons pass. She had lived there from the age of seven and often...