Canadian Premiere
We think of hermits as reclusive. That’s not Ken Smith. He’s lived off-the-grid for more than 40 years, in a wood cabin on Loch Treig in the Scottish Highlands, a 27 mile walk to the nearest postbox. But he’s a garrulous, personable chap if you find your way to his hearth, as filmmaker Lizzie MacKenzie did some years ago. Now in his 80s, Ken chats happily about his lifestyle (“If you want to get away from civilization, you need to learn to fish”), his love of nature, and the circumstances which brought him to this place. Beaten up by a gang of youths at 26, Ken was in a coma for several weeks. To his doctors’ surprise, he relearned to walk, talk, and write, but especially to walk. He explored the Canadian wilderness solo for two years. When he returned home, it wasn’t there; his parents had passed.
It may be one part eco documentary, but the emotional subtext is the rapport between this cheerful old man—a wonderful photographer incidentally—and young Lizzie, who befriends him and films him as his health begins to fail and hard choices are faced.
Audience Award, Glasgow 2022
Ken Smith
UK
2022
English
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
So Surreal: Behind the Masks
In the early 20th century many traditional Indigenous masks ended up in Europe, in museums and art collections, and, as this entertaining doc reveals, in the hands of surrealist artists like Max Ernst, André Breton, and Joan Miró...
They Will Be Dust
When stage veteran Claudia decides she doesn't want to wait out her terminal illness, longtime partner and director Flavi calls the family together to break the news... Fantastic musical numbers and comedy offset scenes of wrenching emotion.
Living Together
Halima Elkhatabi’s delightful documentary feature takes us to 15 apartments in Montreal, where a diverse assortment of potential roommates interview each other as they search for compatibility, authentic connections, and a place to call home.
Credits
Executive Producer
Robbie Fraser, Amy Hardie, Benjamin Taylor, Mark Thomas, Louise Thornton, Lisa Marie Russo, Jane Ray
Producer
Naomi Spiro, Lizzie MacKenzie
Screenwriter
Ken Smith
Cinematography
Lizzie MacKenzie
Editor
Kieran Gosney, Ling Lee
Original Music
Cameron McLellan, Mischa Stevens
Director
Lizzie MacKenzie
Lizzie MacKenzie is a self-shooting director from the Scottish Highlands. Her fascination with rebellious characters living life on the edge of society led her to spend seven years developing the trust of the protagonist of her debut feature, The Hermit Of Treig, which won the prestigious Audience Award at the 2022 Glasgow Film Festival. She was part of BFI’s showcase The Camera Is Ours: Britain’s Women Documentary Makers.