Island Vigil (Currently undergoing festival submissions)

A lone seabird scientist on a remote Shetland island makes quiet observations of this summer’s breeding pairs, but there is a storm coming.

Synopsis:

On a windswept Shetland island, seabird scientist Zoe lives in rough isolation, her days shaped by bucket baths, methodical observation, and bone-deep exhaustion. Shot in long, unhurried takes without dialogue, Island Vigil watches Zoe the way she watches birds — patiently, carefully, at a respectful distance. But what begins as a portrait of solitary fieldwork becomes something harder to name — an unplanned and unguarded document of the very beginning of a wave of avian flu that spread across the globe, and an expression of the ecological grief often reported by those who observe the world’s fragile edges most closely.

A film by Liam Martin

Produced by Fern Scott

Music - ‘Bridoll’ by Cerys Hafana. Licensed courtesy of Knoxsongs Ltd

Sound design by Paradigm Post