For this special Reel to Real Cinema evening, we will be heading across to our friends at the RBC Film Theatre for a screening of HOUSE OF GLOSS, an intimate and affectionate portrait of a queer trans femme couple — Opal, a drag queen, and Lana, a DJ & graffiti writer, created by D&G based filmmaker and sound artist Mark Lyken. After the film we will be joined by Mark for a Q&A style discussion. Please note the Stove café will not be open for this event!

Supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland & Hope Scott Trust.

About Reel to Real:
Reel to Real Cinema is a monthly film space in the Stove Café. Featuring an eclectic mixture of conversational films – from artist made shorts to feature length documentaries, locally made to international cinema, Reel to Real is a space for discussion and thought-provoking films, you are welcome to join us after the film for a short discussion about the themes from this month’s selection.

Documentary film about the innovative wood sculptor/furniture designer Tim Stead and the battle to save the Grade A listed interior he created in his family home The Steading in the Borders, which is a work of art in itself. The film includes stories of how Tim also created the interior of Cafe Gandolfi in Glasgow, the Millennium Clock at the National Museum of Scotland, and many other popular public works. The film was completed via a successful Crowdfunder campaign and has been in 12 international festivals, won 3 awards, and been nominated for 3 more.

The film screening will feature an introduction and post-film discussion led by Dr Connor McMorran.

Blurring the lines between reality and fiction, this fascinating film by trans writer, philosopher and activist Paul B. Preciado – a leading figure in the study of gender and body politics – is a playful, moving, metatextual documentary expanding Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando: A Biography, in which the protagonist changes gender midway through the story to become a 36-year-old woman.

A century after Woolf wrote her novel, Preciado decides to send her a cinematic letter telling her that Orlando has emerged from her fiction to live a life she could never have imagined, organising a casting that brings together 26 contemporary trans and non-binary people, aged 8 to 70, to embody the character. Reconstructing the stages of his own personal transformation through authentic voices, writings, theory and images, Preciado’s meticulous, bracingly intellectual yet highly accessible film eschews pigeonholes, inviting us to see instead how everything is constantly in flux.

Maya Angelou’s ode to Rabbie Burns.

Dr. Maya Angelou, the African-American writer and poet, discovered and was inspired by the work of Robert Burns at the age of 8. She was mute and living in a small hamlet in Arkansas. "He was the first white man I read who seemed to understand that a human being was a human being and we are more alike than unalike".

The film follows Maya Angelou on a pilgrimage to Burns country in which she explores the strong parallels that exist in their lives - poor beginnings, early love of literature, fame, liberty and equality, music, religion, love and passion - and meets the enthusiastic and fanatical Burnsians, who welcome her to ceilidhs in Ayrshire and Edinburgh in honour of her visit and Burns' genius.

First broadcast in 1996 to commemorate the bicentenary of Burns’ death, we are screening the documentary in partnership with Dumfries and Galloway Pensioners for Independence to mark the anniversary of his death. The group promotes Scottish Independence but are not linked to any political party. They welcome Angelou’s observation that “poems transcend race, time and space” and her recognition that Burns is a symbol for “freedom and Scotland’s dignity, independence and humanity”.

This special screening is supported by Humanist Society Scotland in partnership with University of Glasgow’s End of Life Studies programme. The screening is just one of the World Humanist Day events, celebrated every year on 21st June.

Humanist Society Scotland is a Scottish charity, working towards a more secular, rational, and socially just country. The film will be introduced by Dumfries based Humanist Society Scotland members Lindsey Mason Ross and John Howieson.

The University of Glasgow End of Life Studies Programme is a postgraduate course that includes exploring some of the diverse cultural beliefs surrounding what makes a ‘good death’, and considers global attempts to improve end of life care. Dr Naomi Richards and Dr Marian Krawczyk - senior lecturers on the Programme - will attend the screening.

There will be free refreshments following the film to discuss some of the issues presented with representatives from both organisations.

“I could never go vegan.”

Five words uttered around the world by many a non-vegan, but why?

On a quest for the truth, a filmmaker sets out on a journey to find out the leading arguments facing the vegan movement, and if they're justified.

Featuring an introduction and post film discussion with Wallace Hall Academy teacher Leah Belford who leads the school eco-groups and Dumfries based medical doctor Dr Kate Percival who follows a vegan diet.

Local author Ian Gasse will be launching his new book on the emergence of ‘Labour’ in Dumfries and Maxwelltown, ‘A Hard Nut to Crack’? – illustrating his talk with film footage of working people in Dumfries, Scotland and northern England from the early twentieth century (1900-1911). This material includes textile workers, furniture workers, print workers, steel workers and miners, as well as schoolchildren and adults in Dumfries, a co-operative gala day procession and picketing by strikers in Dundee.

Copies of the new book will be available at a discounted price.

We are delighted that broadcaster and author Lesley Riddoch will be at the RBCFT for a Q&A and booksigning to launch her new film, Denmark - State of Happiness. We will also show Lesley's 2020 film, Estonia - The Baltic Tiger, which looks at Estonia's incredible transformation since it became independent in 1991.

6.00pm: Intro

6.15pm: Estonia - The Baltic Tiger (40m | 12+)

7.15pm - 7.30pm: 1st Q&A with Lesley

7.30pm: Denmark - The State of Happiness (54m | 12+)

8.30pm: 2nd Q&A with Lesley

9.00pm: End

We are delighted that broadcaster and author Lesley Riddoch will be at the RBCFT for a Q&A and booksigning to launch her new film, Denmark - State of Happiness.

3.00pm: Intro

3.15pm: Denmark - The State of Happiness (54m | 12+)

4.30pm: Q&A with Lesley

4.50pm: End

Driven by a commitment to document the impact of deindustrialisation on working class communities in Northeast England in the 1970s and 1980s, Tish Murtha used her camera to expose societal inequality. She felt she had an obligation to the people and problems within her local environment, and that documentary photography could highlight and challenge the social disadvantages that she herself had suffered. However, despite early acclaim for her work, she was unable to make a living from photography and died in poverty.

We’re thrilled to welcome director Paul Sng and and Dumfriesshire based photographers Saskia Coulson and Colin Tennant to the RBC for a post-film Q&A.

Loreburn Flood Group will be a community based flood resilience group providing information and volunteer support to people who are affected by floods in the Whitesands and adjacent area. The event will include speakers from Loreburn Flood Group, Scottish Flood Forum as well as a film Our Flood Resilient Business Episode 3 by Hazard and Hope.

A Loreburn Community Council project.

Dr Valentina Bold presents excerpts from ‘Up the Middle Road: Crichton Stories of Resilience and Recovery’, made by Mike Bolan. ‘Up the Middle Road’ documents events held at the former Crichton Royal Asylum in 2022, directed by Valentina as part of Scotland’s Year of Stories. It shares the recorded experiences of former patients and staff of the Crichton Royal, through new songs and stories from Emily Smith, Jamie McClennan, Amanda Edmiston and Kathleen Cronie.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A and a participatory panel discussion exploring how creative retellings of experiences can heal and dispel the stigma around poor mental health.

After this event, there will be opportunity to hear from DG Creative Wellbeing Network about the development of a manifesto for creative wellbeing for Dumfries and Galloway.

FREE (Suggested donation £5 to support local mental health charities)

It is 1937, Scotland. Stella, a 20 year-old German Jewish student, finds work on a large country estate owned by the fascist Earl of Rig. With war looming and desperate to find her missing parents, Stella is quickly accepted as one of the family and must hide her true identity to survive. While there she falls in love, with life changing consequences. Based on the folktale of Cinderella, championing the struggle with identity, home and love, "Stella" is the tale of a refugee.

Jessica Fox is unable to attend today due to illness. Belle Doyle from South West Media Factory, and one of the film’s producers, will introduce Stella.

The 2014 Scottish referendum for independence sparked a revival of political debate in streets and homes across the country.

TO SEE OURSELVES is an unexpected, deeply personal account of the referendum as seen through the eyes of a pregnant filmmaker, as she follows her idealist father’s relentless activism and reveals the heart behind the politics during this historic crossroads for Scotland.

We watch the people speaking then shouting their beliefs; politicians delivering stark warnings and bear witness to the complex, chaotic heart of a grass-roots movement.

Here is a record of a nation suspended in time. Blinded by hope and fear.

Special Nationwide Preview Event Q&A In Cinemas for One Night Only 14 September. On General Release from 22 September.

AngelHeaded Hipster is the first documentary to explore the creation and interpretation of the Music and Lyrics of Marc Bolan who died at the age of 29 in 1977. Using archival performances, interviews with Bolan, and filmed interpretations by artists such as Nick Cave, John Cameron Mitchell, Joan Jett, Macy Gray, U2, Lucinda Williams, Father John Misty, & others, this documentary creates an exuberant and thoughtful celebration of a true original; Glam Rock pioneer, gender-bending free spirit and explorer of punk and soul music with his last partner musician Gloria Jones, who is interviewed extensively from Sierra Leone. Illuminated with interviews by his great friend David Bowie, Ringo Starr, Elton John and many more, this film creates a new kind of music lookback intertwined with cinema verité footage captured directly from the studio with legendary Avant-Garde Record Producer Hal Willner who tragically died of COVID in 2020 after completing what would be his final album.

A recovering drug addict struggles to accept his seriously ill mentor's desire to die. A moving Irish drama which addresses the complex and upsetting issues of terminal illness and assisted dying in a darkly comic way.

After the film there will be a discussion on issues raised in the film with Dr Naomi Richards, Senior Lecturer in Social Science and Director of the Glasgow End of Life Studies Group at The University of Glasgow (Dumfries Campus).

https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/endoflifestudies/

Join us for a rare screening of the 1997 sci-fi drama based on the novel by scientist Carl Sagan. Dr. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster), after years of searching, finds conclusive radio proof of extra-terrestrial intelligence, sending plans for a mysterious machine.

Tonight's film has been generously supported by the charity Humanist Society Scotland (HSS) and the film will be introduced by HSS member Lindsey Mason Ross. Lindsey is a huge fan of all things sci-fi, in particular Carl Sagan, and there will be an opportunity to discuss the film and the work of the charity afterwards.

Donation for local food bank charity would be appreciated but not essential.

Having participated in competition surfing since he turned 11, 14-year-old Scottish champion Ben is not afraid of a challenge, and what bigger challenge for a young surfer than the dangerous cold water waves at Mullaghmore, Ireland. If he gets it right, he joins an elite group. If he gets it wrong, the consequences are terrifying. Danger, opportunity, and parental dilemma collide, propelling Ben and his family towards an unknown destiny.

Film features a post-film Q&A with director Martyn Robertson.