Scottish film maker Gregor D Sinclair knows a good deal about weathering the storm, having been trapped for three days by a blizzard in Norway while shooting Hardangerfolk, the story of a real-life top-secret mission to stop Hitler from developing nuclear weapons during the Second World War.

It's a hazard of the job for documentary makers, particularly those focused on the environment and adventure sports. But for Mr Sinclair, who was raised on his family's farm in Orkney's Northern Isles, it was no "no-brainer" when he set up Scotica Film in 2019.

“I grew up on a wee island and lived a good portion of my life in rural communities so when it comes to natural landscapes and the outdoors, I thought that was really a good area for me to work in,"  he said. "For me it was about combining two of my greatest loves which is the love of film and the love of landscape and the natural environment.”

Gregor D Sinclair set up Scotica Film in 2019Gregor D Sinclair set up Scotica Film in 2019 (Image: Scotica)

The two-week shoot of Hardangerfolk was "gruelling", he says, even discounting being stranded for three days with no other people within 200 miles. The only relief from cabin fever was a daily trek up a nearby mountain where there was network coverage to text family and friends while braced against the 60mph winds.

“The times when things are physically most challenging, those are the times you remember most," he said.

At 21 minutes running time, Hardangerfolk is the story of 12 members of the Norwegian Resistance who skied more than 370 miles across Europe's highest plateau to prevent the creation of an atomic bomb. The film of the mission, known as Operation Gunnerside, has been shown at festivals around the world.

Earlier this year Mr Sinclair brought on a new partner, creative director Rachel Sarah, as the business continues to produce content in a combination of commercial and artistic projects. Clients include organisations such as outdoor wear firms Gore-Tex and Keela, and Scottish whisky brands Talisker and Commando Spirit.

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​But as is the case across the industry, budgets have been tight as grant funding for the arts and environmental organisations has been cut.

"A lot of our work is based on arts grants, and Creative Scotland’s arts grant availability for this year has been slashed by 50% or something like that, which is enormous and is affecting everyone, and is affecting us too," Mr Sinclair said.

"While we are in quite a good position – we’re not struggling as much as some other organisations are – it means that our plans to expand are being tempered slightly. It is unfortunate, but you’ve just got to weather the storm and hope that there’s some brighter days ahead."

In addition, the outdoor industry is also retrenching after a big boom in 2021 and 2022 in the wake of Covid.

“Now this financial year has been very difficult for outdoor organisations and retailers because there’s been a reflexing crunch of the entire industry," Mr Sinclair said.

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"They have enormous amounts of stock which is sitting on shelves not being sold. There are a lot of cuts having to happen across the businesses – some of our competitors based in England are having to cut staff.”

He added: “All the people who got out and enjoyed that during Covid have now bought all they are intending to buy or maybe are not as involved in outdoor pursuits as they have been over the past few years. So the first thing to be cut in industries like this is the marketing budget.”

Scotica's longest film to date runs to 35 minutes, and despite financial constraints Mr Sinclair recently committed himself to giving more time to the production of a feature-length film taking him back to his roots growing up on Sanday.

"There is a lot of animosity directed towards crofters and farmers in Scotland nowadays – I think they are perceived as backwards by many people," he said. "But ultimately the thing that unites crofters or farmers and environmentalists is a deep, deep respect of the land, of the ground beneath our feet, and they just have different ways of expressing that respect.

“On both sides of the debate there’s a lot of polarising and a lot of dehumanising and I think seeing the world through someone else’s eyes is one of the most wonderful things that documentaries can achieve. No other art form can really do it in the same way.”