Accessible Programme Guide 2026

Montrose LandxSea Film Festival 2026

Scotland’s Environmental Film Festival at Montrose Playhouse

Friday 11 to Sunday 13 September 2026

Contents

Welcome to the 4th Annual Montrose LandxSea Film Fest!

This year, we hold fast: to the places we love, the communities that sustain us and the belief that change is still possible.

Our most ambitious programme yet brings 22 bold films to Montrose from Scotland and around the world. Highlights include the funny and moving Opening Night film Derek vs Derek; Jeanie Finlay’s powerful coastal story All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea; the urgent lithium documentary Materia Prima; and a very special live-score performance of the 1929 silent masterpiece Finis Terrae. We’ll also return to the wild with the 4K restoration of Watership Down, swim against sewage pollution with Jo in the Water, and travel deep into forests, landscapes and ideas.

Selected from more than 260 submissions, this year’s programme explores resilience, resistance and what we choose to protect. Across Scottish premieres, international guests, filmmaker conversations, workshops and family events, these films remind us that holding fast does not mean standing still. It means staying connected, speaking up and finding the courage to act.

LandxSea is never only about watching. Join the conversation. Meet the people behind the films. Make something. Challenge an idea. Come for a beach dook. Bring your curiosity, and perhaps a towel.

This year’s festival reaches beyond the cinema too, with our Festival Preview Week at the PoP Shop on Montrose High Street, a growing schools programme and new international collaborations. It reflects how far LandxSea has come: from a grassroots weekend to an increasingly ambitious home for environmental film, creativity and action on Scotland’s northeast coast.

Heartfelt thanks to our brilliant team, volunteers, filmmakers, guests, partners, audiences and supporters. We are especially grateful to Screen Scotland and Film Hub Scotland, whose support helps us keep growing, and to the British Council and Independent Cinema Office for supporting this year’s international exchange.

Welcome to LandxSea. We can’t wait to share it with you.

Warmly,

Rachel Caplan, Co-Founder and Festival Director

Tag us on social media: @landxseafest

Festival schedule

Thursday 10 September

  • 6:30pm: Dram of Science in the Playhouse Bar

Friday 11 September

  • 10:00am: Free Schools Programme: North Sea, Nature Untamed
  • 7:30pm: Opening Night: Derek vs Derek
  • Until late: Opening Night Drinks

Saturday 12 September

  • 9:30am: Singing Workshop: Songs of the Land and Sea, in the Activity Room
  • 10:00am: Hold Fast! Short Films from Land and Sea
  • 12:15pm: Materia Prima, with short film You Told Us to Talk About the Weather
  • 2:55pm: Expressing the Earth, with short film Paradise
  • 3:30pm: After the Credits: From Story to Action, in the Activity Room
  • 5:25pm: Jo in the Water, with short film Will the People Possess the Wind
  • 8:30pm: Finis Terrae with a new score performed live

Sunday 13 September

  • 9:30am: Montrose Beach Dook
  • 11:30am: Watership Down
  • 1:35pm: All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea, with short film Ain’t No Fish
  • 4:30pm: Hope Is a Word, with short film Sikoqqinngisaannassooq and a Q&A
  • 7:30pm: Closing Night: Whispers in the Woods, with short film The Herring Queen and the North Light Award presentation
  • Until late: Closing Night Drinks in the Playhouse Bar

More workshops, activities and special events in the Activity Room are still to be announced. Please check the LandxSea website, follow @landxseafest or look out for updates at the venue during the festival.

View the online festival schedule for the latest information, including Q&As and premiere status.

Box office

In person:
Montrose Playhouse
The Mall
Montrose
Angus
DD10 8NN

Online: Book LandxSea tickets online

Phone: 07395 071 636

Email: [email protected]

Tickets and passes

All seating is reserved. Advance booking is recommended.

  • Supporter: £18.00
  • Standard: £12.00
  • Senior: £9.50
  • Student: £9.00
  • Free: Ages 18 and under, carers and essential companions, and Community Tickets

6-Ticket Bundle

£60. Book six different screenings and pay for five.

Weekend Pass: all 10 screenings

  • Supporter: £144.00
  • Standard: £96.00
  • Senior: £76.00

Community Tickets

Cinema should be for everyone. Free Community Tickets are available if cost is a barrier, with no explanation needed. Book online, by phone or at the box office.

More ticket information

  • Prices include a £1.50 administration fee per ticket, supporting Montrose Playhouse Project SCIO.
  • Supporter Tickets and Passes include an additional donation helping LandxSea provide free tickets to young people and anyone facing financial barriers.
  • Tickets can be shown on your phone, printed at home or collected from the box office. The box office opens 30 minutes before the first screening each day.
  • Screenings start promptly, with no trailers or adverts.
  • Most screenings include Q&As. Guest appearances are subject to change.
  • LandxSea is not included with Montrose Playhouse memberships.
  • All sales are final. Unused paid tickets or passes are treated as donations supporting year-round programming.

Access

  • Montrose Playhouse has step-free entry, a lift, accessible toilets on every level and a Changing Places facility.
  • Each screen has wheelchair spaces.
  • Four disabled parking bays are available.
  • Carers and essential companions attend free.
  • International-language films have English subtitles, with additional subtitling provided wherever possible, as noted in online listings.
  • All introductions and post-film Q&As are live captioned using Communication Access Realtime Translation, known as CART.
  • Hearing loops and quiet spaces are available.

For specific access needs, please ask at the box office or contact us in advance. Visit the LandxSea Access and Inclusion page for more information and accessible programme formats.

Opening and Closing Nights

Opening Night: Derek vs Derek

Scottish Premiere
Friday 11 September at 7:30pm

Director: James Dawson
Country: UK
Film length: 88 minutes
Rating: 15

On a country road in Devon, two farmers — both called Derek — are locked in a dispute over the future of their land. One runs an intensive dairy farm; the other is turning his fields over to beavers, wild boar and native wildlife. This is environmental storytelling at its most human: messy, affectionate, argumentative and full of life.

Q&A with director James Dawson.

Opening Night Drinks

After the screening, join us in the Playhouse Bar to meet festival filmmakers and special guests, and help us kick off the weekend in style.

Closing Night: Whispers in the Woods

Scottish Premiere
Sunday 13 September at 7:30pm

Director: Vincent Munier
Country: France
Film length: 93 minutes
Rating: U

Deep in France’s Vosges forests, celebrated photographer Vincent Munier journeys with his naturalist father and 12-year-old son in search of lynx, deer, owls and the elusive capercaillie. More than a nature film, this is a hushed family portrait: a meditation on patience, inheritance and learning to listen.

With short film The Herring Queen and the North Light Award presentation.

Closing Night Drinks

It’s a wrap! After the screening, gather with filmmakers, guests and fellow festivalgoers in the Playhouse Bar for a celebratory nightcap to close the 2026 Festival.

Feature films

Materia Prima

UK Premiere
Saturday 12 September at 12:15pm
Director: Jens Schanze
Country: Germany
Film length: 89 minutes
Languages: English, Spanish, Aymara and Quechua, with English subtitles
Rating: 12A

The Bolivian Andes hold vast lithium reserves that Europe wants. As diplomats and entrepreneurs pursue the “new gold”, Indigenous and rural communities, led by women, resist this familiar, colonial pattern of extraction.

Q&A with impact producers Marcela Lizcano and Tatiana Vila from South America, and Ben Kempas from Europe.

With short film You Told Us to Talk About the Weather.

Expressing the Earth

Saturday 12 September at 2:55pm
Director: Glenda Rome
Country: UK
Film length: 78 minutes
Rating: 12A

Through Scotland’s coastlines, forests and rock, Expressing the Earth explores geopoetics: Kenneth White’s vision of language in conversation with landscape. Marking the 300th anniversary of James Hutton’s birth, this debut feature explores his ideas of deep time and how geology shapes us.

Q&A with director Glenda Rome.

With short film Paradise.

Jo in the Water

Scottish Premiere
Saturday 12 September at 5:25pm
Director: Pip Piper
Country: UK
Film length: 87 minutes
Rating: 12A

Sea swimmer Jo Bateman never planned to be an activist. But when sewage pollution threatens the waters she loves, she is drawn into a fight for the right to swim safely, against one of the UK’s biggest water companies. Urgent and uplifting.

Q&A with director Pip Piper and swimmer and campaigner Jo Bateman.

With short film Will the People Possess the Wind.

Finis Terrae with a New Live Score

Film Classic
Saturday 12 September at 8:30pm
Director: Jean Epstein
Country: France
Film length: 80 minutes
Rating: U

Jean Epstein’s 1929 silent classic, dazzlingly restored in 4K. Accompanied by a bold new score by a Scottish-French composer duo. A quarrel between seaweed farmers turns to tragedy on a remote Breton island.

The new score will be performed live by Dan Abrahams and Philippe Boudot. Presented by Cinetopia.

With seaweed-tasting nibbles from Rae’s Montrose.

Watership Down

Film Classic
Sunday 13 September at 11:30am
Director: Martin Rosen
Country: UK
Film length: 92 minutes
Rating: PG

When their warren is threatened with destruction, a band of rabbits goes in search of a new home. This landmark 1978 adaptation of Richard Adams’ beloved novel is one of British animation’s most enduring achievements: beautiful, brutal and mythic, now in stunning 4K.

All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea

Scottish Premiere
Sunday 13 September at 1:35pm
Director: Jeanie Finlay
Countries: UK and Germany
Film length: 99 minutes
Rating: 12A

Stan Rennie’s family has fished this coastline for generations. Then, overnight, thousands of crabs wash up dead: an alarm bell. As officials dodge questions and his health falters, Stan begins a fight for answers.

With short film Ain’t No Fish.

Hope Is a Word

Scottish Premiere
Sunday 13 September at 4:30pm
Director: Maria Galliani Dyrvik
Countries: Norway, Italy and Nigeria
Film length: 82 minutes
Languages: English, Pidgin, Khana and Tae, with English subtitles
Rating: 15

Decades of oil extraction have poisoned Nigeria’s Niger Delta. Poet-activist Nnimmo Bassey has spent a lifetime speaking out. Now he invites younger voices to come together and explore poetry as healing, testimony and resistance, to pass hope on.

Q&A with director Maria Galliani Dyrvik and producer Anita Vedå.

With short film Sikoqqinngisaannassooq.

Short films screening with features

You Told Us to Talk About the Weather

Saturday 12 September at 12:15pm, before Materia Prima
Director: Harry Tomlin
Country: UK
Film length: 5 minutes
Rating: PG

On a rewilded farm, a child’s climate anxiety is voiced by a new generation of farmers, reflecting on the future. Narrated by Michael Sheen.

Q&A with director Harry Tomlin.

Paradise

Scottish Premiere
Saturday 12 September at 2:55pm, before Expressing the Earth
Director: Iso Attrill
Country: UK
Film length: 5 minutes
Rating: PG

A poetic portrait of trans and non-binary artist and gardener Mol Benge and their relationship with the natural world; a space for growth, identity and becoming.

Q&A with director Iso Attrill.

Will the People Possess the Wind

Scottish Premiere
Saturday 12 September at 5:25pm, before Jo in the Water
Directors: Nell Houguez, James Marriott and Lauriem Mompelat
Country: UK
Film length: 17 minutes
Rating: PG

A lyrical sail through the Thames Estuary asks who owns the wind, and whether renewable energy can become a force for public good.

Q&A with directors Nell Houguez, James Marriott and Lauriem Mompelat.

Ain’t No Fish

Film Classic
Sunday 13 September at 1:35pm, before All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea
Directors: Miki Cash and Tom Gasek
Country: USA
Film length: 4 minutes
Rating: U

A classic stop-motion short with bite! As hungry Arctic seals croon happy vintage songs, the sea beneath them reveals a much darker world.

Q&A with directors Miki Cash and Tom Gasek.

Sikoqqinngisaannassooq

UK Premiere
Sunday 13 September at 4:30pm, before Hope Is a Word
Director: Adam Sébire
Country: Norway
Film length: 16 minutes
Language: Kalaallisut, with English subtitles
Rating: PG

In North-West Greenland, Indigenous children create new words and carve them into glaciers, to name what is being lost; imagining a future without ice.

Q&A with director Adam Sébire.

The Herring Queen

Sunday 13 September at 7:30pm, before Whispers in the Woods
Director: Eilidh Munro
Country: UK
Film length: 12 minutes
Rating: PG

In the face of an uncertain future, a Scottish fishing community continues its cherished tradition of crowning its Herring Queen.

Q&A with director Eilidh Munro.

Hold Fast! Short Films from Land and Sea

Saturday 12 September at 10:00am

Across threatened landscapes and changing communities, six inventive short films explore what we hold fast to, what we risk losing and how we adapt when familiar worlds shift.

Arubara

European Premiere
Director: Manuel Alberto Maia
Country: Indonesia
Film length: 12 minutes
Language: Bahasa, with English subtitles
Rating: PG

When damaged coral reefs threaten an Indonesian fishing community’s future, the village takes a difficult gamble to protect the sea it depends on.

Asparagus Bear

Scottish Premiere
Director: Ivan Grgur
Country: Croatia
Film length: 18 minutes
Language: Croatian, with English subtitles
Rating: PG

A sleepy Croatian coastal town is thrown into rumour and suspicion when a bear is reportedly spotted in the middle of wild asparagus season.

Beneath Which Rivers Flow

Scottish Premiere
Director: Ali Yahya
Country: Iraq
Film length: 16 minutes
Language: Without dialogue
Rating: 12A

In the marshlands of southern Iraq, a quiet young man finds solace in his bond with a buffalo as ecological collapse threatens the world they share.

Bone a Cod

Director: Marie-Chantal Hamrock
Country: UK
Film length: 16 minutes
Rating: PG

A formally inventive documentary dives into Aberdeen’s fishing history, where oral memory, labour and extraction meet.

Q&A with director Marie-Chantal Hamrock.

Children & Animals

Scottish Premiere
Director: Walker Kalan
Country: USA
Film length: 12 minutes
Rating: 12A

A 12-year-old farmer brings his favourite goat to compete at a country fair in Maine, where a conversation about death changes everything.

Community Theatre

Director: Lewis Baillie
Country: UK
Film length: 13 minutes
Rating: 12A

In Buckhaven, a local community theatre brings three generations of working-class stories to life on stage.

Schools Programme and free tickets for young people

Young people attend free

Everyone aged 18 and under can attend LandxSea screenings free across the Festival, with tickets available online or from the Montrose Playhouse box office. Subject to film age ratings and availability.

North Sea, Nature Untamed

Friday 11 September at 10:00am
Director: Mark Verkerk
Country: Netherlands
Film length: 88 minutes
Language: English-language version
Rating: U

Dive beneath the waves with underwater cameraman Peter van Rodijnen in a thrilling big-screen journey through the wild North Sea. Presented in a new English-language version created for schools, the film will be followed by a live discussion and Q&A.

Suitable for ages 7 and over, including schools, colleges, youth groups and home-educating families. To bring a class or group, email [email protected] or visit the LandxSea Youth and Schools page.

Other events

More to discover throughout the weekend

Beyond the cinema, enjoy workshops, conversations and community activities throughout the festival. Meet James Hutton Institute experts at our Dram of Science event, join a land-and-sea-themed singing workshop, browse Ink & Quill’s pop-up bookshop, connect with our local Take Action partners and discover community art.

PoP Shop Festival Preview Week

Sunday 16 to Saturday 22 August
Location: 54 High Street, Montrose

Get an early taste of LandxSea with a week of creative workshops, talks, family activities and community events inspired by this year’s festival films and themes. Drop into the PoP Shop to meet the LandxSea team, explore the programme and help create artworks and decorations that will appear at Montrose Playhouse during the festival.

Visit the PoP Shop Festival Preview Week page for the full programme and booking information.

Dram of Science

Thursday 10 September at 6:30pm
Location: Playhouse Bar, Montrose Playhouse

Meet experts from the James Hutton Institute for informal science conversation in the Playhouse Bar.

Singing Workshop: Songs of the Land and Sea

Saturday 12 September at 9:30am
Location: Activity Room, Montrose Playhouse

Join a land-and-sea-themed singing workshop as part of the festival weekend.

After the Credits: From Story to Action

Saturday 12 September at 3:30pm
Location: Activity Room, Montrose Playhouse

What happens after the credits roll? Join the impact team behind Materia Prima for a hands-on session exploring how films can turn awareness into action.

Session with impact producers Marcela Lizcano and Tatiana Vila from South America, and Ben Kempas from Europe.

Montrose Beach Dook

Sunday 13 September at 9:30am
Location: Montrose Beach

Our beloved Beach Dook returns! Join fellow festivalgoers for a bracing dip in the North Sea and a joyful celebration on Montrose Beach — whether you are taking the plunge or cheering from the dunes.

Lights! Camera! Take Action!

Keep the story moving after the credits.

Visit Lights! Camera! Take Action! to make your Green Pledge, connect with local partners, explore our film archive and find year-round ways to protect the places we love.

Festival Awards 2026

Audience Award

You decide! Vote after each screening to help choose this year’s Audience Award winner.

North Light Award

Our annual juried award celebrates bold Scottish filmmaking that reimagines our relationship with the natural world. The winning filmmaker receives £500, with the award presented at Closing Night.

2026 jury

  • Amanda Thomson — artist and author
  • Rachel Sarah — filmmaker, photographer and 2024 North Light Award winner
  • Till Dietsche — director, CINEMARE International Ocean Film Festival, Germany

Films in competition

  • Bone a Cod
  • Community Theatre
  • Expressing the Earth
  • The Herring Queen

Awards are handmade in Montrose by Irene Hughes Pottery and The Clay Half.

2026 LandxSea team

Core team

  • Rachel Caplan, Festival Director
  • Emma Jamieson, Marketing and Communications Manager
  • Holly Muse, Guest Manager and Assistant Festival Producer
  • Frida Mittmann, Community Outreach and Engagement Coordinator

Trustees

  • David Hughes
  • Gemma Bradshaw
  • Kenny Alexander
  • Nancy Dionne

Screening and Selection Team

  • Armando Bautista Garcia
  • Abbie Clark
  • Bo Yau
  • Holly Muse
  • Martina Camatta
  • Nadia Ward
  • Rachel Caplan
  • Rebecca Taylor

Contributors and specialists

  • Graphic design: Matthew Martin, MRTN Studio
  • Publicist: Claire Smith PR
  • Festival trailer: Anthony Baxter, Montrose Pictures
  • Screen education & community filmmaking: Sandie Jamieson
  • Live captioning and CART: Max Rosenthal McGrath
  • Film education and community filmmaking: Sandie Jamieson

Montrose Playhouse Project SCIO team

  • Claire Carle
  • Stewart Buchanan
  • Bobbie Paton
  • Amy Nash
  • David Paton

Thank you to our 2026 supporters

LandxSea is made possible by the generous support of our funders, sponsors, partners, filmmakers, volunteers and audiences.

Funders, partners and networks

  • Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI Film Audience Network, awarding funds from the National Lottery
  • Screen Scotland, with funding from the Scottish Government and the National Lottery
  • Montrose Playhouse
  • British Council and Independent Cinema Office, supporting the Materia Prima Impact Exchange
  • Angus Climate Hub
  • Montrose Rope & Sail and Montrose Bag Company
  • Green Arts Initiative
  • Green Film Network
  • UK Green Film Festival Network

International collaboration through the Green Film Network

LandxSea is the Green Film Network’s UK member, connecting Montrose with environmental film festivals across more than 20 countries. Through this global alliance, we share outstanding films, build international partnerships and champion Scottish filmmaking worldwide. Visit the Green Film Network website.

Special thanks

Amanda Rogers, Cinetopia; Angus Council; Anna Ireland; Ashley Wyper; BFI Releasing; Dartmouth Films; Eric Wishart; Eve Mosher; Film & Campaign Ltd; Hannah Wyllie; Hatice Ozdemirciler; Ilia Ryzhenko; Ink & Quill Independent Bookshop; Kate Munro; Katharine Simpson; Lesley Martin Photography; Links Montrose Hotel; Park Montrose Hotel; ProMo—Montrose Development and Improvement SCIO; Rae's Montrose; Sambrooke Scott; Scottish Wildlife Trust—Montrose Basin Visitor Centre; Stuart McQueen; Taskovski Films; Three Point Studio; and everyone on the Montrose Playhouse team.

Thank you to our many passionate and dedicated volunteers!

Programme details were correct at the time of printing and are subject to change.

Montrose LandxSea Film Festival SCIO is a registered Scottish charity, number SC053626.