Category: News

I made myself a shiny new website in October 2020 and my news posts will finally get fancy! All my old news posts are below.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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18 June 2014
Faodail on BBC Alba

Faodail will be broadcast at 19.30 on BBC Alba, Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26 June 2014.

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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.

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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.”

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11 October 2013
Faodail in a spin

Faodail will be shown in a fascinating series in Skye this month, as part of Spin Cycle.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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16 September 2008
Calum Noah in Germany

Calum Noah is to be screened at Schlingel in Germany this October.

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29 November 2007
Calum Noah on BBC Scotland

Calum Noah will be broadcast on BBC2 at 18:00 on Thursday 20 December 2007.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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22 September 2005
Superhero: New Documentary Out Soon

In her second half-hour documentary, Catrìona Black goes on the hunt for Gaeldom’s first cartoon superhero. Superhero will screen as part of the art series Ealtainn on BBC2 Scotland at 19.30 on Thursday 6 October 2005.

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3 August 2005
Pìobairean Bhòrnais on STV Arts Programme

Catrìona Black will show how she made Pìobairean Bhòrnais on STV’s new arts programme, Carlas, on Saturday 6 August at 13.25.

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19 April 2005
Catrìona and the Colourists on Television Again

Catrìona and the Colourists will be broadcast on BBC2 Scotland at 18.30 on Thursday 5 May 2005.

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12 April 2005
Calum Noah gets the Green Light

Am Bocsa’s latest project, Calum Noah, has received lottery money from Scottish Screen. With a commission from BBC Alba and funding from the Gaelic Media Service already lined up, Calum Noah can now go into production. It is hoped that the five minute film will be completed in mid 2006.

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3 February 2005
Pìobairean Bhòrnais in New Zealand

Pìobairean Bhòrnais is to be screened at a Maori festival in New Zealand this June.

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11 January 2004
Catrìona and the Colourists Selected for CFTF

Catrìona and the Colourists has been selected for the Celtic Film and Television Festival, which will take place in Cardiff in early April.

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10 January 2005
Am Bocsa is Moving

Am Bocsa is moving on 21 January 2005. Check out our new address and phone number on our contacts page.

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2 September 2004
Catrìona Black to star in Documentary

Am Bocsa Director Catrìona Black is to feature in a half-hour Gaelic documentary to be broadcast at the end of the month. Catrìona and the Colourists follows Catrìona’s efforts to locate the places where the famous Scottish painters made their landscapes, and to recreate them on the spot as animations. The programme will screen as part of the art series Ealtainn on BBC2 Scotland at 7.00pm on Thursday 30 September 2004.

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18 August 2004
Pìobairean Bhòrnais in America

Over a year after its completion, Pìobairean Bhòrnais has been selected for a spate of festivals taking place this autumn. The Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films will be showing the film in September, and it will be back in California a month later for the The National Geographic All Roads Film Festival. This new festival is especially for minority culture films and takes place in Los Angeles and Washington DC. Meanwhile, closer to home, Pìobairean Bhòrnais will be part of the Merchant City Festival in Glasgow in late September.

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9 August 2004
Pìobairean Bhòrnais in Skye Exhibition

Previously unseen artwork from the making of Pìobairean Bhòrnais is to be shown as part of the Captivate exhibition at An Tuireann in Skye. The exhibition will feature emerging animators from all over Scotland and takes place from 14 August to 25 September. Thereafter it will tour the Highlands and Islands.

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19 May 2004
Pìobairean Bhòrnais in Anima Mundi

Pìobairean Bhòrnais has been selected for Anima Mundi, which will take place in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil, this July.

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15 May 2004
Pìobairean Bhòrnais in Aragon, Spain

Pìobairean Bhòrnais has been selected for Festival de Cine de Huesca, which will take place in Spain this June.

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26 January 2004
Pìobairean Bhòrnais in the British Animation Awards

Pìobairean Bhòrnais will be shown all over Britain in February, as part of the British Animation Awards Public Choice Screenings.

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13 January 2004
Pìobairean Bhòrnais Selected for CFTF

Pìobairean Bhòrnais has been selected for the Celtic Film and Television Festival, which will take place in Dundee in early April.

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21 December 2003
Pìobairean Bhòrnais on BBC Scotland

Pìobairean Bhòrnais will be shown on BBC 2 at 18:00 on Thursday 8 January 2004.