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The National
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The National
Lost traditional wheat varieties feature in film shot around Oban
Now, 14 years later, the wheat grown by his sustainable charity is featuring in a new film which has been shot around Oban with support from local craftspeople and businesses. Alongside being a stunning, genre-defying visual experience, Harvest involves Scotland The Bread, a sustainable food charity which grows some of the varieties of wheat traditionally grown here. Their expert input helped bring to life the striking wheat fields featured throughout the film, rooting the visuals in Scotland's agricultural past, adding depth to themes of harvest and renewal. Based on Jim Crace's Booker Prize short-listed novel of the same name, Harvest has just opened in cinemas in the UK and Ireland before being released exclusively on streaming service MUBI on August 8. The film was shot entirely within the Argyllshire countryside, including the picturesque glen of Inverlonan, and drew extensively on local talent, with members of the community joining the film's cast as villagers and supporting crew. It's hoped the film will also help bring Scotland The Bread to the public's attention. The Fife-based sustainable food charity is a collaborative project to establish a Scottish flour and bread supply that is healthy, locally controlled and sustainable – in other words, to promote and develop a 'People's Bread'. 'Our idea is simple – grow nutritious wheat and bake it properly close to home,' the charity's co-founder Andrew Whitley, below, told the Sunday National. 'Working together, we can change the entire system for the better – fair deals for local farmers growing nourishing food for people, fewer damaging food miles, more nutrition in every slice of bread and more jobs per loaf as we skill up community bakers to bring out the best in our local grains.' The charity was founded in 2016 by Whitley and Veronica Burke who worked with scientists in leading institutions to research heritage Scottish and Nordic wheats to find nutrient-rich varieties that do well in local conditions. In November 2017, the charity launched its first three fine wholemeal flours and began selling them online and from markets. For Whitley, the charity was a natural progression from his long career as a baker. He was the first breadmaker to supply genuine sourdough bread to supermarkets – even though he thought it wouldn't sell. However, it 'flew off the shelves' because many people had begun to suffer digestive complaints from mass-produced supermarket bread. Curious about what was causing this reaction, Whitley began to investigate further and was appalled at what was being used to make supermarket bread. 'It's pretty horrifying when you actually see it laid out page after page, all the additives, emulsifiers, fats, crumb-softening enzymes and so on,' he said. He concluded that it wasn't just the additives that were the problem but also the modern varieties of wheat that were being used, which were often less nutritious than the wheat grown in Scotland in the past. Not only that but he found Scottish farmers had been hit by cheap imports so had stopped growing wheat for bread and switched to growing wheat for booze or animal feed instead. 'In the 1990s, when I started getting interested in this, it became obvious that there were significant differences between traditional and modern varieties of wheat in terms of their mineral density and their goodness for eating as food,' said Whitley. 'I wanted to make bread that nourished people, not bread that just filled a supermarket slot. We're all struggling with diet and ill health because our food system has been completely hijacked by money interests. So that's why we started a campaign. 'That's what gets me up in the morning, the feeling that we've gone too far towards a new version of the kind of oppression that began with the emerging capitalist system where people were cleared off the land to work in factories and when the only bread that starvation wages could buy was adulterated with chalk and alum to make it look whiter.' Whitely said it wasn't just human health that was suffering by eating 'rubbish' as the system was also 'trashing' the environment. 'We have to sweat the land to grow vast weights of crops, much of which are wasted at the mill end and by the supermarket system,' he said. 'They travel massive distances and their production causes massive amounts of emissions. 'We have to fight against the system because it's killing us.' Whitley said this was why the charity is working on the concept of 'the People's Bread'. 'It's a bread for everybody that meets the needs of our times,' he said. 'We can do this if we just do it together and get the corporations off our backs. 'I would also add that we should challenge those public servants, for example, in the Scottish Government and Food Standards Scotland, who have responsibilities for health and nutrition. They seem reluctant to stand up to food industry interests. 'Take the so-called 'reformulation project' – removing a little bit of sugar from Irn-Bru, replacing it with artificial sweeteners and calling this a public health gain – you don't have to be a policy guru to realise that's nonsense. 'We could do so much better. So let's start with a really good loaf of bread, ideally made with wholemeal flour and fermented with sourdough, because that keeps everything good in it, rather than substituting the good harvest with rubbish,' said Whitley.
Scroll.in
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scroll.in
Start the week with a film: Bhutan-set ‘The Monk and the Gun' is a charming comedy about modernity
Given everything that is going on in the world (Israel's carnage in Gaza, Russia's never-ending invasion of Ukraine, America's war on itself), the anti-violence message of The Monk and the Gun (2023) seems naive. But better that than cynical. Bhutanese director Pawo Choyning Dorji's film takes place against the backdrop of the Himalayan kingdom's first democratic election. A mock election is taking place to train citizens in democracy. They are instructed to choose between three fictitious parties. Blue symbolises freedom and equality. Red represents industrial development. Yellow preserves the status quo. Government officials earnestly get to work, but the people are sceptical. Look at our neighbour India – they are pulling each other's beards and throwing chairs at each other, one man observes. Meanwhile, an elderly monk asks his disciple to fetch him guns. The country is changing, the monk laments. The younger monk doesn't know even what a gun looks like. But he is bound to serve his master, and so he sets out to look for the weapons. In the third strand, an American turns up in Bhutan to buy an antique rifle. These intersecting stories provide a fascinating glimpse into a sheltered country's tentative steps towards an imported value system. The film is a charmer, folding into a cheeky satire about democracy a philosophical inquiry into the merits of Western modernity. Director Dorji, who has previously made Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, sprinkles wry humour, sly critique and Buddhist wisdom over his story. The observational drama features a mix of professional and non-professional actors. Democracy might promise equality for all, but it's flawed in several ways too. Already, the mock election is turning neighbour against neighbour. It's not right to pit candidates against one other, why are you teaching us rudeness, a granny wants to know. To be democratic is to be modern, one of the electoral officers says. But what is progress if it represents instruments of death, chewing gum and American films on television? The gentle satire is available on MUBI. The Monk and the Gun has lovely performances, a playful tone and a judicious pace that allow viewers to feast on Bhutan's unending beauty. Like Khyentse Norbu's The Cup (1999), The Monk and the Gun seeks a middle ground between East and West, the comforts of tradition with the knowledge that change cannot be put off forever. The extended climax is idealistic but convincing too. The meshing of ancient wisdom with a current understanding of how guns ruin civilisations is exactly the kind of simplistic but basic truth that the world needs at the moment. Play
Indian Express
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
What to watch on OTT: Vir Das: Fool Volume, The Monk and the Gun, Rematch and more
What to watch on OTT: Vir Das is back with a new Netflix special and the final season of The Summer I Turned Pretty, here's you watch list for this weekend. Vir Das: Fool Volume Netflix Vir Das's brand-new special, Vir Das: Fool Volume, is filmed across Mumbai, New Delhi and London. With his signature cocktail of wit, wisdom, and total nonsense, he's here to remind us: in a world that takes itself too seriously, maybe being the fool is the smartest move. Reflecting on the journey behind his most personal special yet, Vir shares, 'This is a show rewritten in silence and performed without rehearsal across the world. Turns out the voice in your head is way crazier than the one in your throat.' This marks Vir's fifth Netflix special. The Monk and the Gun Directed by Pawo Choyning Dorji, The Monk and the Gun is a playful ensemble drama that explores the clash between embracing modernity while holding on to the past. Set in 2006, as the Kingdom of Bhutan was at the brink of transition to democracy, the film premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. 'As the Kingdom of Bhutan is to become a democracy, a mock election is held as a training exercise. In the town of Ura, an old lama orders a monk to get a gun to face the imminent change in the kingdom. Meanwhile, an American collector is in search of a valuable gun that falls in the lama's hands,' reads its synopsis on MUBI. Dorji earlier directed the 2019 Academy Award-nominated Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom. Untamed Netflix This limited series is a character-driven mystery thriller that follows Kyle Turner (Eric Bana), a special agent in an elite branch of the National Parks Service who works to enforce human law in nature's vast wilderness. The investigation of a brutal death sends Turner on a collision course with the dark secrets within the park, and in his own past. Created by Mark L. Smith (American Primeval, The Revenant) and Elle Smith (The Marsh King's Daughter), the mystery thriller follows a murder on the grounds of Yosemite. 'Everyone thinks of Yosemite as this beautiful place with all the vistas and all the scenery, but we were trying to touch on the dangers that are just beyond that,' co-showrunner Mark L. Smith tells Tudum. The Summer I Turned Pretty S3 Prime Video It's the end of the junior year of college, and Belly (Lola Tung) is looking forward to another summer in Cousins with her soulmate, Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno). Her future seems set, until some core-shaking events bring her first love Conrad (Christopher Briney) back into her life. Now on the brink of adulthood, Belly finds herself at a crossroads and must decide which brother has her heart. Based on the best-selling book trilogy from Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty is a multigenerational drama centered around a love triangle involving one girl and two brothers. The series premiered with the first two episodes on July 16, followed by weekly releases every Thursday until September 17. Rematch Lionsgate Play In 1997, the unthinkable happened: a supercomputer beat the greatest chess mind alive. Rematch recreates the historic showdown between world champion Garry Kasparov and IBM's pioneering supercomputer Deep Blue, in a gripping psychological drama that explores the limits of human intellect in an age of rising machines. This six-episode miniseries is directed by Yan England and stars Christian Cooke as Kasparov.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Realm Of Satan' Trailer: Monument Releasing Sets Limited Theatrical For Mubi-Acquired Doc Exploring World Of Satanists
EXCLUSIVE: New York indie distributor Monument Releasing has set a limited U.S. theatrical release for Scott Cummings' Sundance documentary Realm of Satan and unveiled the first official trailer. The film will begin its cinema run on July 17 in Philadelphia prior to opening in New York at the Nitehawk (Prospect Park) and Metrograph cinemas, and will then be made available nationwide from September 2 on digital platforms for transactional and rental. More from Deadline Deadline's Doc Talk Podcast: Sundance Filmmaker Scott Cummings Explores The Church Of Satan, Whose Members Break Taboos But Also Do Their Laundry Sundance Unveils Key Information On Final Festival In Park City 'Sunfish (& Other Stories On Green Lake)' By Sierra Falconer Set For U.S. Theatrical Release With The Future of Film is Female MUBI has acquired the exclusive SVOD rights in the U.S. and Canada, and it will be on the service from October 3. Exploring the world of the controversial Realm of Satan church, the documentary captures Satanists in both the everyday and the extraordinary, revealing their mystical world of magic, mystery, and misanthropy. Cummings crafts each frame like a painting to allow the wild, elegant, and dynamic world of Satanists to unfold on screen. The film premiered at Sundance in 2024 and has gone on to have a strong festival run, including opening MoMA's Doc Fortnight and as well as playing at CPH:DOX, Visions du Reel, Sitges, Thessaloniki Doc, Munich, BAFICI, Rooftop Films, Overlook, and Festival du Nouveau Cinema de Montreal, among others. The film stars Peter Gilmore, Blanche Barton, and Peggy Nadramia. It was produced by Pacho Velez (Searchers, The American Sector), Caitlin Mae Burke (We Could Be King, Fourteen), Molly Gandour (Peanut Gallery, GasLand). 'I'm thrilled to be working with Monument on the theatrical release of Realm of Satan, said Cummings. 'The movie theater is a magical space, and this film demands that singular experience. Monument has stood behind and celebrated the uniqueness of this film and I am thrilled to bring audiences into our spell together. 'I have been a Mubi subscriber and cheerleader since their earliest day and found some of my favorite modern films through their impeccable curatorial vision. I couldn't think of a better and more exciting partner to work with.' Monument Releasing's sister company Visit Films acquired world sales rights to the documentary ahead of its Sundance premiere. Other titles on Monument's current slate include Hey Viktor! and Palindromes. [youtube Best of Deadline Everything We Know About 'Stranger Things' Season 5 So Far 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery 2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Lili Reinhart To Topline Rom-Com ‘The Love Hypothesis' For Amazon MGM Studios & MRC
EXCLUSIVE: After winning Series Mania's Best Actress Award for her turn opposite Cooper Raiff in MUBI's Hal & Harper, Lili Reinhart has come aboard to star in and exec produce The Love Hypothesis, an adaptation of the New York Times bestseller by Ali Hazelwood, for Amazon MGM Studios and MRC. In the romantic comedy, Olive Smith, a biology PhD candidate, and Dr. Adam Carlsen, a hotshot professor and well-known tyrant, enter into a fake relationship, seeing each of their carefully calculated theories on love get thrown into chaos. More from Deadline 'Legend Of Zelda' Movie Casts Bo Bragason As Zelda & Benjamin Evan Ainsworth As Link Robert Eggers Eyeing Reunion With Aaron-Taylor Johnson And Lily Rose-Depp On His Next Film 'Werwulf' At Focus Features Cooper Koch Joins Luca Guadagnino's 'Artificial' At Amazon MGM Studios Published in 2021, an imprint of Penguin Random House, Hazelwood's novel spent 10 months on the New York Times bestseller list, breaking out internationally in 40 countries. Originally acquired for publication by editor Sarah Blumenstock at Berkley, the book was also named the Best Romance of the Year by Amazon. Hazelwood is also known for titles like Problematic Summer Romance, Deep End, and Bride, among others. Claire Scanlon (Set It Up) is directing The Love Hypothesis from a script by Sarah Rothschild (The Sleepover). Elizabeth Cantillon (The Girl in the Spider's Web, Charlie's Angels) is producing, with Reinhart, Catherine Hagedorn, and Hazelwood executive producing. In a statement accompanying the project announcement, author Hazelwood said, 'Honestly, I still can't believe this is happening? Elizabeth Cantillon, Claire Scanlon, and Lili Reinhart have all created, produced, or starred in works that I'm absolutely feral about, and I am beyond honored that they're choosing to bring their talent to this project. Books and films are very different media, and I have complete trust in this brilliant team. I cannot wait to see the final product they'll come up with. I hope they have as much fun filming as I had while writing the book.' Soon to be seen starring opposite Raiff and Mark Ruffalo in the former's indie TV series Hal & Harper, a project she produced which was acquired by MUBI following its premiere at Sundance, Reinhart's upcoming slate also includes Uta Briesewitz's American Sweatshop, which premiered at SXSW this year. She recently wrapped on Brian Swibel's directorial debut, The Very Best People, as well as Meredith Alloway's first feature, Forbidden Fruits, which IFC Films will release in 2026. She's also attached to produce and star in Ali & Anthony Garland's Fake Wedding, which is in development at Amazon MGM under her production company, Small Victory, and is represented by Anonymous Content, UTA, and Peikoff Mahan. Reuniting with Amazon MGM here after directing The People We Hate at the Wedding, starring Allison Janney, Kristen Bell, and Ben Platt, Scanlon is also known for helming the Netflix rom-com Set It Up, starring Zoey Deutch and Glen Powell. Most recently, she directed episodes of Loot and Palm Royale for Apple TV+, Abbot Elementary for ABC, and produced and directed Season 2 of Unstable for Netflix. She is repped by UTA, 3 Arts, and Jared Levine. Rothschild wrote The Sleepover, which was sold in a bidding war to Netflix, and stars Malin Akerman, Ken Marino, and Joe Manganiello. The film was directed by Trish Sie and earned her a WGA Award. After recently turning in her draft of Splash at Disney, she is currently writing projects for Paramount and Walden Media. She is represented by Verve, Entertainment 360, and attorney Kim Stenton at Myman Greenspan. Hazelwood is repped by the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency and UTA. Best of Deadline 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Emmys, Oscars, Grammys & More Men of Steel: Every Actor Who Has Played Superman - Photo Gallery 'Michael' Cast: Who's Who In The Michael Jackson Biopic
