Twenty years ago I attended FilmAlba in Bonn to screen Pìobairean Bhòrnais to an amazing Gaelic-speaking German audience. Now I’m heading back again with Tha thu air Aigeann m’Inntinn, Faodail and Pìobairean Bhòrnais, all screening on 28 November 2023. I can’t wait!
Scottish BAFTA winner!
Eye of the Storm is a Scottish BAFTA winner! Director Anthony Baxter and I picked up the trophy at a dazzling awards ceremony in Glasgow at the weekend. In my speech I thanked him for giving me a project that most animators could never dream of, working in James Morrison’s beautiful style, and I thanked BBC ALBA and MG ALBA for the lifelong support they have given me.
I still can’t believe it!

Up for Scottish BAFTA!
Eye of the Storm is nominated for a Scottish BAFTA! It’s on the shortlist for Specialist Factual and the ceremony will be filmed live at the BBC in Glasgow on 20 November 2021.
An audience in China
On 19 September 2021 I took part in a livestream organised by the British Council of China, to talk about my animation for Anthony Baxter’s Eye of the Storm. I loved watching the amazing Chinese translator in action, and got a chance to tell the audience all about Scottish Gaelic. Afterwards I was stunned to hear that our audience had numbered 83,000!
More on the BBC
What a lovely film by BBC News about my animation for Eye of the Storm!
Reporting Scotland reveals Eye of the Storm animation
Eye of the Storm, Anthony Baxter’s feature-length documentary about Scottish painter James Morrison, is to be premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival in February 2021. And BBC Reporting Scotland let the world have its first look at the animation I made for it!
Past news
11 October 2019 London International Animation Festival My film about the Iolaire disaster, Tha thu air Aigeann m’ Inntinn, has been selected for competition at the London International Animation Festival! It will feature in a programme of animated documentaries at the Barbican. ***** 21 August 2019 Selected for Cannes Short Film Festival My film about the Iolaire disaster, Tha thu air Aigeann m’ Inntinn, has been selected for the Cannes Short Film Festival! Read about it in The Herald. ***** 6 May 2019 Nominated for RTS Scotland Animation Award My film about the Iolaire disaster, Tha thu air Aigeann m’ Inntinn, has been shortlisted for the Royal Television Society Scotland animation award! ***** 14 December 2018 Tha thu air Aigeann m’ Inntinn: Première and broadcast My film about the Iolaire disaster, Tha thu air Aigeann m’ Inntinn, will be premiered in An Lanntair, Stornoway, on 17 December, shown alongside my other films, and broadcast on BBC ALBA on 31 December (20:20 & 22:05), 1 January (17:25 & 19:10), 2 January (20:25) and 6 January (19:40). ***** 11 July 2018 BBC ALBA commissions Iolaire animation I’m delighted to announce that I’m making a short animation for BBC ALBA, funded by MG ALBA, about the Iolaire disaster and its lasting effect on Lewis and Harris. It will be broadcast at New Year 2018/19. ***** 05 February 2018 Am Bocsa International Although Catrìona has been living in the Netherlands for several years, her involvement in the Gaelic arts has only deepened. Today she registered Am Bocsa as a business in the Netherlands, for the production of “tekenfilms”. Am Bocsa is now truly international. ***** 05 December 2017 Sly Cooking Up and Running 2017 was a busy year for Catrìona: her book, Sly Cooking: 42 Irresistible Gaelic Words, was published by Acair, the original artwork was exhibited at An Lanntair, MacTV made a programme for BBC Alba about the project, there were events at An Lanntair and Ceòlas, and there’s a special new website about all the words in the book, www.slycooking.com. ***** 18 June 2014 Faodail on BBC Alba Faodail will be broadcast at 19.30 on BBC Alba, Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26 June 2014. ***** 6 March 2014 The Royal Celtic Society backs Sly Cooking (and other essential Gaelic concepts) When Catrìona first dreamed up the idea of an illustrated pocket book based on Fr Allan’s dictionary, she planned to illustrate it digitally. Since then she has turned to traditional printmaking under the name Black Prints, and is making her name in the Netherlands as an artist. Sly Cooking (and other essential Gaelic concepts) will now be illustrated with linocut prints, and has attracted a new grant from The Royal Celtic Society. ***** 5 February 2014 BBC Alba to broadcast Faodail Following in the footsteps of Am Bocsa’s previous short films, Faodail has won the support of BBC Alba with a five-year license to broadcast on television and online. “I’m so delighted,” says Catrìona Black. “This film means a lot to me – I really tried to let the voices of the past speak for themselves, and I want them to be heard.” ***** 11 October 2013 Faodail in a spin Faodail will be shown in a fascinating series in Skye this month, as part of Spin Cycle. ***** 24 May 2013 Sly Cooking (and other essential Gaelic concepts) Catrìona has been awarded a grant from the Gaelic Books Council to work on her latest idea, an illustrated pocket book for adults. Sly Cooking (and other essential Gaelic concepts) plunders the weird, wonderful and beautifully subtle Gaelic vocabulary collected by Fr Allan McDonald, over a century ago, in South Uist and Eriskay. ***** 18 March 2013 Faodail Selected for Athens International Film & Video Festival, Ohio Faodail has been selected for screening at the Athens International Film & Video Festival, taking place in Ohio this April. ***** 23 January 2013 Faodail is Finished! After a long gestation, our latest film, Faodail, is finally complete. Originally conceived as an animation, it has taken on new life as an art film, and Catrìona Black plans to show it in galleries and film festivals around the world. Drawing from the School of Scottish Studies Archives, it dips in and out of Gaelic and Scots stories, songs, recollections and invocations, mixing them together in a powerful patchwork of fragmented memories. ***** 21 October 2011 Prize at the Mòd for An Tractar agus an Liobht An Tractar agus an Liobht has won first prize in the children’s book competition at the Mòd this week. Catrìona is very proud, and working hard on her next book for Acair, Cairistìona Camaillean. ***** 11 November 2010 New Animation scores American Grant National Geographic’s All Roads Film Fund has awarded a seed grant to our next film, Faodail. The money will allow Catrìona Black to return to the School of Scottish Studies Archives, to create a patchwork of sound as the basis for an exciting new animation. ***** 30 September 2010 An Tractar agus an Liobht in the Shops An Tractar agus an Liobht is now out! Buy Catrìona Black’s first book here. ***** 31 August 2010 New Book Catrìona has recently completed her first children’s book, An Tractar agus an Liobht, to be published by Acair this September. The lead character bears more than a passing resemblance to her son, Calum, who has an inexplicable love for lifts. ***** 19 October 2009 Fourteen Minutes of Fame STV has made a one-minute programme about Piobairean Bhornais, which will be broadcast 14 times this week. And if you’re wondering why the news page has been quiet for a couple of years, it’s because Catriona has had two children – Calum, now two years old, and Anna, four months. But that’s not stopping her – watch this space for an exciting new project to be announced soon. ***** 16 September 2008 Calum Noah in Germany Calum Noah is to be screened at Schlingel in Germany this October. ***** 29 November 2007 Calum Noah on BBC Scotland Calum Noah will be broadcast on BBC2 at 18:00 on Thursday 20 December 2007. ***** 25 June 2007 Calum Noah to Premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival The English version of Calum Noah is to premiere at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival. It has been selected for screening as part of the Family Animation programme on Saturday 25 August. Production is nearing completion and Catrìona Black is looking forward to finishing in good time both for the festival, and for the birth of her first child in September! ***** 04 December 2006 Pìobairean Bhòrnais: Big in America Pìobairean Bhòrnais is blazing a trail for Gaelic film across the USA and Canada this Christmas, as part of a DVD box set. As one of 18 films by indigenous and minority-culture filmmakers, the South Uist tale is being distributed by entertainments giant, Warner Home Video, across North America. Pìobairean Bhòrnais featured in National Geographic’s first ever All Roads Film Festival, which took place in Los Angeles and Washington DC in 2004. The festival’s advisory board includes big names such as Spike Lee and Kiefer Sutherland, alongside minority culture experts such as N. Bird Runningwater of the Sundance Film Festival. Eighteen of the annual festival’s best films, both short and feature-length, were picked for the All Roads Film Festival Collection, from minority cultures in the USA, New Zealand, Australia, Russia, Zimbabwe, Kazakhstan, South Africa and of course, Scotland. Pìobairean Bhòrnais is the only western European film to be included in the set, which is due for release on 15 December. ***** 02 March 2006 Calum Noah: Fantastic Voices in the Can We’re delighted to announce that three fantastic Gaelic actors have lent their voices to our current production, Calum Noah. Recording last week in Edinburgh were John Carmichael, Màiri Morrison and Anne Sinclair, who romped their way through the adventure with great hilarity.