CULTURE secretary, Fiona Hyslop, has said the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland will provide an additional £1.25m to "incentivise film and high-end TV production in Scotland."

The funding, sourced from the Scottish Government and the National Lottery and routed through Creative Scotland, takes the total sum allocated to the Production Growth Fund to £3m. Creative Scotland has supported feature films Etruscan Smile, T2: Trainspotting, Churchill, Hush and Calibre, and High-end TV dramas Loch Ness and In Plain Sight through the fund.

Ms Hyslop said: "Incentivising major film and TV productions to come to Scotland makes strong economic sense. Every major project filmed here boosts our local and wider creative economy, enhances our international reputation and can attract thousands of new visitors."

The additional £1.25m includes £250,000 identified from the Scottish Government’s 2016-17 budget, £500,000 ring-fenced by the Scottish Government for production growth funding as part of Creative Scotland’s 2017-18 grant in aid budget, and an additional £500,000 from Creative Scotland, funded by the National Lottery.

creativescotland.co.uk

A PANEL of Scottish artists and arts professionals have decided on a shortlist of four filmmakers who will be in competition for the eighth Margaret Tait Award at the Glasgow Film Festival. The shortlisted artists are Jamie Crewe, Sarah Forrest, Margaret Salmon and Kimberley O’Neill.

The Margaret Tait Award is a Glasgow Film Festival commission supported by Creative Scotland and LUX, inspired by Orcadian Tait (1918 – 1999), pictured, a filmmaker and writer whose film poems, hand-painted animations and documentaries were pioneering in the field of experimental filmmaking.

The award was founded in 2010 to "support experimental and innovative artists working within the field of experimental filmmaking." The winner will have the opportunity to showcase their work at Glasgow Film Festival 2018.

In May 2016 Glasgow-based artist Kate Davis was awarded the commission and her new film will premiere on February 20 at Glasgow Film Festival 2017. The winner of the 17/18 award will also be announced at this screening.

glasgowfilm.org/glasgow-film-festival/about-the-festival/margaret-tait-award/2017-2018-award-shortlist

THE CREATORS of Nothing To Declare – an animated horror short written by the leading Scottish comic book artist Frank Quitely – has reached its crowdfunding target on Indiegogo, but will continue to fundraise through Indiegogo’s "In Demand" mode.

The film has been developed, commissioned and majority-financed by the Scottish Film Talent Network, in partnership with Creative Scotland and the BFI.

Based on a short story by Quitely – best known for his work on New X-Men, We3, and All-Star Superman with Grant Morrison, and titles such as The Authority and Jupiter's Legacy with Mark Miller – the film will be directed by multi-BAFTA-nominated animator Will Adams and produced by Mal Young, with artwork by Fraser McLean and Tom Bryant.

igg.me/at/NothingToDeclare