A MAJOR new movie about Robert the Bruce, directed by David Mackenzie, is to be the opening film of the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival.
Outlaw King, which is backed by Netflix and stars Chris Pine, will be premiered at the annual festival in Canada on September 6.
Creative Scotland, which gave £1m to the film, said it is the biggest feature film to be made in Scotland to date.
A description of the film, produced by Gillian Berrie, supplied to the press says it tells the "untold, true story of Robert the Bruce who transforms from defeated nobleman to outlaw hero during the oppressive occupation of medieval Scotland by Edward I of England."
It adds: "Despite grave consequences, Robert seizes the Scottish crown and rallies an impassioned group of men to fight back against the mighty army of the tyrannical King and his volatile son, the Prince of Wales."
The film will launch on Netflix on 9 November this year.
Three other films with links to Scotland will also play in Toronto: Tell It To the Bees, Wild Rose and Freedom Fields.
Anna Pacquin and Holliday Grainger star in Tell It to the Bees, an adaptation of Fiona Shaw’s 1950s set novel of the same title. Directed by Annabel Jankle, it was shot in Stirlingshire.
Wild Rose, starring Jessie Buckley and Julie Walters, tells the story of Rose-Lynn Harlan, a Glasgow singer and single mother who dreams of becoming a country and western star.
Scottish writer Nicole Taylor wrote the film, and it is directed by Tom Harper.
Freedom Fields is a documentary by Nazilha Arebi, produced by the Scottish Documentary Institute, and is set in post-revolution Libya.
Robbie Allen, the senior Screen Executive at Creative Scotland: “We are enormously excited and proud to see the epic Outlaw King receive its premiere at one of the world most important film festivals.
"It’s an incredible achievement for David, Gillian and all involved.
“To then be followed by the World Premieres of yet more exciting films from Scotland is a testament to the current strength of our filmmaking nation."
He added: "This is an exceptionally positive time for our sector."
Also screening at TIFF 2018 is Mark Cousins’ Women Make Film: A New Road Movie through Cinema.
Produced by Hopscotch films, the documentary celebrates female directors from around the world.
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel