Updated 1st June 2022
Since our opening, we’ve had lots of interest in the old footage of the Highlands that we show in the restaurant & bar. We actually have more than six hours of this on a continuous loop, so it’s unlikely many of our guests have managed to see the whole thing!
This fantastic and unique feature to Highland Cinema was conceived by Angus MacDonald – the owner of the building – and put together with the help of the West Highland Museum, National Library of Scotland and several other individuals who contributed footage and helped to edit the sequences and add captions where possible.
Tourists and locals alike have been enjoying these films, with many locals even recognising family members and ancestors in the footage. We’ve had a number of requests for a DVD of the films, but as we do not own the footage but only license it, we are unable to provide this. However, we can provide a link to much of the source footage, available on the National Library of Scotland’s fantastic Moving Image Archive. For those interested in finding out more about each clip – many of which have sound which is not played in the café bar – this is an excellent resource. NLS clips used within our café bar sequence are:
0274 – Highland Laddie (1952)
0314 – Sport In Scotland
0928 – Life In The Highlands (1936)
0932 – Ardnamurchan (1950)
0934 – Crofting In Skye
1651 – To The Top Of Ben Nevis
1972 – Shinty In The Highlands
2186 – Areas Of Scotland – Highland (1935)
2575 – Uist Holiday (1937)
3088 – Crowberry Ridge (1928)
3301 – The Highlands Of Scotland (1936)
7329 – Fort William: The Road To The Isles (1948)
9286 – In And Around Acharacle (1953)
10317 – Onich Holiday (1939)
Other footage shown that is not included within these NLS links was either obtained through private donation or public domain sources.
Since May 2022, we have added a number of short films by the fantastic, world famous Scottish street trials rider, Danny MacAskill, who kindly provided permission during a fortuitous visit with us for lunch. These incredibly films show off his bike skills across a variety of stunning Scottish locations. You can see them and more of his work on his YouTube channel, or official website.
We’d love to hear from anyone who has old footage of the Highlands who would be interested in donating to our sequence! If you have any such footage or know of someone who does, please get in touch by emailing us at [email protected]
