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Kiss the Water (PG)

Documentary, Animation, Biography

In a small cottage on the northern coast of Scotland, Megan Boyd twirled tiny bits of feather and fur, silver and gold into fishing flies that were at once works of art, magical - and absolutely lethal. Read more …

Wherever men and women cast their lines for the mighty Atlantic salmon, her name is whispered in mythic reverence, and stories about her surface and swirl like fairy tales.

More information on this production is available at www.independentcinemaoffice.org.uk.

The critical consensus

It’s a pity there’s so little footage of Boyd, but Em Cooper’s animation bridges some of the gaps in this gentle, artful pleasure.

****(*)Siobhan Synnot, The Scotsman, 06/01/2014

An inventively told story without a human heart.

Sophie Monks Kaufman, Little White Lies, 06/01/2014

A poetic, poignant tribute to the seductive mystique of a rarefied craft.

****(*)Kevin Harley, Total Film, 06/01/2014

J. R. Hartley's new favourite documentary. Avoid if you're a salmon.

***(*)(*)David Parkinson, Empire Online, 06/01/2014

“Why does a salmon take a fly?” That’s the question asked by Eric Steel’s quietly beguiling documentary.

***(*)(*)Geoffrey Macnab, The Independent, 09/01/2014

What seems at first an impossibly flimsy and meagre documentary subject slowly reveals itself as cine-miniaturism with charm.

***(*)(*)Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 09/01/2014

Make sure this strange little film isn't one you let get away.

****(*)Mark Kermode, The Observer, 12/01/2014

The effect is quietly mesmerizing – a documentary fishing expedition that gently and patiently reads its subject so as not to ruin the transcendent pleasure that comes from trying to get a line on such an odd fish.

****(*)Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman, 18/01/2014

As a documentary, Kiss the Water offers little of the lyricism that the title promises, mainly just offering picture postcard views and a succession of talking heads describing an arcane process which is never firmly visualized or explained.

**(*)(*)(*)Eddie Harrison, The List, 16/01/2014

Where and when?

Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee from Friday January 10, 2014, until Thursday January 16, 2014. More info: www.dca.org.uk

Eden Court Theatre, Inverness from Friday January 17, 2014, until Thursday January 23, 2014. More info: www.eden-court.co.uk

Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow from Tuesday January 28, 2014, until Thursday January 30, 2014. More info: http://www.glasgowfilm.org/theatre/

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