Blurring the boundary between cinema and visual arts, the Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival features 75 films by Scottish and international artists working in the medium of moving images. It opens with the premiere of a newly digitised version of Songs of Heroes, marking the 60th anniversary of the film’s creation. Shot in 8mm format in 1964 and made by the Hawick Film Group, group of amateur film-makers which is still active, the film marked the 450th anniversary of Hawick’s Battle of Hornshole, when the townspeople defended it from the marauding English. The screening will be accompanied by live music by the town’s Saxhorn band, who created the original score for the film. The screening will be held in memory of its director, Scott Renwick, who died earlier this year. 

Focus artist for the festival is the acclaimed Palestinian film-maker Noor Abed, while the programme also features the UK premiere of Background, a feature-length documentary by the Syrian artist/film-maker Khaled Abdulwahed, and eight Installations by artists such as Emily Jacir, Sonya Dyer, Sanaz Sohrabi, Madison Brookshire and Lilan Yang.