Gaelic film nomination for Dundee-based student from Spain

Published On Mon 23 Feb 2015 by Grant Hill

An animation student from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD) has been shortlisted for an award in a national film competition aiming to promote the Gaelic language.

Fiona McAndrew, a second-year student at DJCAD, has been nominated in the Best Student Film category of the FilmG competition. Her animation, ‘Romansa Sèimh’, tells the story of someone who doesn't want to let her fear of a relationship coming to an end stop her from making the most out of love. It accompanies a love song that Fiona wrote and performed and, although it is sung in English, the bilingual music video is accompanied by Gaelic written words that complement the story.

Unusually the 33-year-old is not a native Gaelic speaker and actually grew up in the Spanish city of Zaragoza. Her Edinburgh-born father David ensured she always enjoyed a close connection to his home country, however, and she moved to Scotland in 2009 and lived in Edinburgh, Ullapool, North Uist and Benbecula, where she studied music at Lews Castle College, part of the University of the Highlands and Islands.

It was while living in Uist that Fiona’s interest in Gaelic grew and she made connections with FilmG as part of her course.

She said, “During my two years in the Hebrides I made some good friends there and got to experience the culture and the friendliness of the locals. I treasure Gaelic language and its culture of music, crofting and community and think it's important to let young people know that it's not necessarily cooler to speak the mainstream language, as mainstream society often makes them think.

“Every single language that is still spoken is an important part of the human heritage and perspectives of the world that should not be lost. I would love to learn this beautiful language and I strongly believe in the importance of preserving and promoting minority languages and cultures.”

FilmG is MG ALBA’s Gaelic short film competition which is delivered by Cànan, the multi-media company based on the Isle of Skye.  FilmG was launched in 2008 in order to develop new talent for the Gaelic channel BBC ALBA which was launched in the same year. Over this time it has received more than 400 Gaelic short films entries and seen many young people begin their careers in Gaelic television broadcasting.

The FilmG competition theme this year was around the word Gealladh, which means Promise. More information is available from http://filmg.co.uk/en/films/filmg2015/winners-shortlists/open#en, where viewers can show their support for Fiona’s entry.

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