News / Apolitics on election night
A SHORT film made in Shetland that promises to be a “satirical slap in the chops for modern politics” will be shown in Lerwick on Thursday night.
To coincide with the UK general election, local filmmaker Tirval Scott will host a screening of his new flick Apolitics Now in Mareel when the polling stations close at 10pm.
The 15-minute short – which features narration from Nigel Buckland from 90s Channel 4 show Vids – follows the “antics of an all-star cast of deconstructed demagogues” and is billed as the “post-vote napalm antidote to election fever”.
It revolves around cleverly spliced clips of well-known politicians that are interwoven with short cut scenes.
Scott said that the “docu-farce” film, which was supported by a Shetland Arts Visual Art and Craft Award, is a sideways look at what goes on behind the scenes in mainstream politics.
“After filming lots of footage south for what was originally going to be ‘a very abstract film sort of about politics’ with equally abstract music, it quickly became clear that it really needed something more coherent if it was going to be recognisably about anything at all,” he told Shetland News about the 15-minute movie’s origins.
“It had some nice imagery and all that, but there was no real tangible thread, so I wrote a spiel just to see if it would work. I could imagine it being pretty funny and was thinking of who I’d like to narrate it. After a few chin-scratching days I remembered some wonderful rants from late night 90s film review show Vids by Nigel Buckland, so I messaged him on Twitter and he kindly agreed to narrate it.
“Most of the hard work was in the video edits, with multiple politicians getting the cut-up treatment, and some elaborate green screen action. The end result is a 15-minute political docu-farce revealing what goes on behind the scenes. It’s at least 126% facts, though it should be noted that these facts have been outsourced and are currently being supplied by Serco and G4S, and vetted by Atos, so some may dispute these figures.”
The filmmaker added that a second part to the film is set to be released post-election.
Apolitics Now meanwhile is suitable for those aged 15 and over and it features cameos from locals Stephen Ferguson, Struan Thomson, Patrick Mainland and Declan Turner.
- Tickets for ‘Apolitics Now’ are available now from Shetland Box Office priced at £3.
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