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The Shepherds of Berneray

Oct 28, 1981 · 55m
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Documentary

PLOT

In 1980, Jack Shae and Allen Moore, two ethnographic filmmakers from Harvard University, moved their families to the island of Berneray in the Outer Hebrides. Over the course of 18 months they documented the everyday lives and struggles of the crofters they lived among, whom were even then a vanishing breed. The film is in English and Gaelic. This carefully observed documentary by filmmakers Jack Shae and Allen Moore is a poetic ethnographic film in the style of their mentor, Robert Gardner (“Dead Birds”). It follows the rhythm of life on a wind-swept island in the Outer Hebrides through the four seasons and in the filmmakers’ observation of the day-to-day struggles of a vanishing society we see the deep-time legacy of their kind. The film is in English and Gaelic.

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DETAILS

Status
Released
Original language
GD
Budget
—
Revenue
—
Production
The Scottish Arts Council, The Highlands and Islands, Development Board of Scotland, The Film Study Center, Harvard University
Country
GB

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