Published: 01 Dec 2016
Mike Day’s feature debut documentary, The Islands and the Whales has been awarded the top prize at America’s largest documentary film festival.
The prestigious Grand Jury Prize Winner award also secures an Oscar qualifying week's theatrical release at New York’s celebrated Independent Film Centre (IFC).
Announcing the winner from nine nominated documentaries, the DOC NYC Jurors stated: “The nine films of the Viewfinders competition presented the jury with a rewarding range of artistic and political perspectives, but one film stood out for its potent balance of artistry and message. For its intimate portrait of a global issue, the Viewfinders Competition Winner is The Islands and the Whales, directed by Mike Day.”
The Islands and the Whales looks at the lives of Faroe Islanders who have long hunted pilot whales for subsistence, but whose traditions are now threatened.
The Islands and the Whales trailer from Intrepid Cinema on Vimeo.
Commenting on the film’s DOC NYC win, Mike Day said: "Six years ago I went to the first DOC NYC before heading off to shoot The Islands and the Whales in the Faroes. So it was really great to return to New York with the finished film, and delighted and honoured to be awarded the Grand Jury Prize. We can now look forward to the film's New York release in the IFC cinema next year. The festival started right after the election, and was reminder of the contribution long form documentary can make to bridge divides and bring understanding when there is so much simplification and demonising in the world and our information streams, and with that we set off to start the next film hopefully to return in less than six years."
The film, which received National Lottery funding through Creative Scotland’s Targeted Screen Fund, received its International Premiere in April 2016 at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival where Day also won the best Emerging International Filmmaker award.
The Islands and The Whales synopsis: In their remote home in the North Atlantic the Faroe Islanders have always eaten what nature could provide, proud to put local food on the table. The land yields little, so they have always relied on harvesting their seas.
Hunting whales and seabirds kept them alive for generations, and gave them the way of life they love; a life they would pass on to their children. But today they face a grave threat to this tradition.
It is not the controversy surrounding whaling that threatens the Faroese way of life; the danger is coming from the whales themselves.
The Faroese are among the first to feel the effects of our ever more polluted oceans. They have discovered that their beloved whales are toxic, contaminated by the outside world. What once secured their survival now endangers their children and the Faroe Islanders must make a choice between health and tradition.
Mike Day is a Scottish director and cinematographer. Formerly a lawyer, his debut film The Guga Hunters of Ness screened on the BBC in 2011 and at festivals internationally.
Mike founded Intrepid Cinema in 2009 before heading out into the North Atlantic to document the last ten seabird hunters permitted to continue a traditional gannet hunt in the Scottish Outer Hebrides. This was the first time since 1959 that the hunters had allowed this once secretive tradition to be filmed. After two weeks at sea they returned home with a rare glimpse into this vanishing world.
Mike was listed as one the ’10 Filmmakers to Watch in 2012’ by Filmmaker Magazine, he was one of EDN’s 12 for the Future 2012, the first Scot on the Nordic programme, he is a Sundance Documentary Film Program Fellow, has pitched at Good Pitch 2015 and EIFF 2011, was on the EIFF 2012 Talent Lab, and is supported by the Scottish Documentary Institute’s Docscene programme.
Interview with Mike Day on the eve of the film’s UK Premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival, June 2016: https://www.creativescotland.com/explore/read/stories/film/2016/director-mike-day-on-the-islands-and-the-whales
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/112625935
DOC NYC took place from10 – 17 Nov 2016.
Founded in 2010, DOC NYC, the annual week-long documentary film festival features over 250 films and events and 300 special guests. These include film screenings, live conversations, extended panels and special events. Documentary storytelling is flourishing like never before – encompassing reportage, memoir, history, humor and more. DOC NYC celebrates this cultural phenomenon and encourages its new directions. http://www.docnyc.net/news/and-the-award-goes-to/
Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland on behalf of everyone who lives, works or visits here. We enable people and organisations to work in and experience the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland by helping others to develop great ideas and bring them to life. We distribute funding provided by the Scottish Government and the National Lottery. For further information about Creative Scotland please visit www.creativescotland.com. Follow us @creativescots and www.facebook.com/CreativeScotland
Media Contact
Eilidh Walker
Media Relations & PR Assistant
Creative Scotland
E: eilidh.walker@creativescotland.com
T: +44 (0) 131 523 0019
Switch Board: +44 (0) 330 333 2000
