A film about one of Scotland's enduring mysteries has received backing from the national arts funding body Creative Scotland.
Keepers, starring Gerard Butler, Peter Mullan and Connor Swindells, currently filming in Galloway, is inspired by the Flannan Isles mystery.
The movie casts a dramatic new spin on the 1900 mystery, when keepers Thomas Marshall, James Ducat and Donald MacArthur vanished from a lighthouse in parlous weather.
No sign of struggle was found in the lighthouse on Eilean Mor: only an overturned chair and one set of unused oilskins was found, suggesting one of the keepers had left without them - but the beds were unmade, the clocks stropped, the lamps clean and refilled, with the island itself severely damaged by storms.
The mystery, in which the bodies of the men were never found, has inspired many artistic productions, including a Doctor Who episode, Horror of Fang Rock, a Genesis song, Wilfrid Wilson Gibson's ballad Flannan Isle and The Lighthouse, an opera by the late Sir Peter Maxwell Davies.
Now the new movie has received £125,000 from the Creative Scotland’s Production Growth Fund.
Keepers is, directed by Kristoffer Nyholm and it is produced by Andy Evans, Ade Shannon and Sean Marley for Mad as Birds Films, along with Jason Seagraves, Maurice Fadida, Gerard Butler and Alan Siegel.
In a statement, the producers of Keepers said: "It’s been an absolute pleasure shooting in one of the most dramatic and picturesque parts of Scotland – we searched long and hard for the right landscape in which to set our story and found it here in Dumfries and Galloway.
"With the warm Scottish welcome we received on day one and the great local talent we’ve engaged both in front of and behind the camera - it’s made for a genuinely thrilling experience and a film we’re all very proud of."
Including the funding to Keepers, eight film and high end TV productions have received support through Creative Scotland’s Production Growth Fund totaling £1.875m.
Natalie Usher, director of screen at Creative Scotland said: "Creative Scotland is delighted to be supporting the production of Keepers.
"The support from the Production Growth Fund has helped secure another high-profile film production for Scotland, further enhancing our reputation as a key filming destination."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here