A mesmerizing portrait of the influence of an oil refinery in a Scottish town. Stirring narration coupled with stunning images mark this moving short.

Filmmaker Q&A

Introduce yourself:
My name is Adam Stafford, I was raised in Falkirk, a large industrial town in Central Scotland between Edinburgh and Glasgow. I studied Film and Photography at Napier University in Edinburgh in the early 00's but took indefinite hiatus to concentrate on composing music in 2005. I've worked across the board in various roles on many student films over the years (mostly Camera Assistant jobs and composing the music) and THE SHUTDOWN is my first film as a director (I also wrote the score). I live in Glasgow, Scotland with my fiancée and two cats.

What inspired this film?   How did you find your subjects?
My friend, Alan Bissett who is a novelist and playwright read me a autobiographical piece which we were planning on performing as a musical/spoken word collaboration. After he read the first introduction, so to speak, of the piece I knew it had to be turned into a film. We both grew up in Falkirk and know the industry side very well - both our fathers work within the industrial complex - and the town has an eerie quality which I've been waiting to capture all my life, I just needed the right story to do it. THE SHUTDOWN isn't about the town of Falkirk itself, it's about the importance of family bonds and dramatizing it would have been the wrong approach.

What were some of the biggest challenges/surprises?
Challenges: shooting roads at night in low light and trying to expose properly so the blacks don't turn into noisy grain on the image. Suprises: the response that we've had from the film by everyone who has seen it.  

Who are some of your favorite filmmakers? 
Werner Herzog, Andrei Tarkovsky, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Lynne Ramsay, Chris Marker, Rolf De Heer, the photographers Sally Mann and Dianne Arbus and the paintings of Edward Hopper, to name a few influences. 

What is your all time favorite documentary?
WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP James Marsh. Never before has a documentary been so elegantly dramatized and so beautifully shot. The black and white photography in the film looks like a moving Ansel Adams picture.  

What other projects are in the pipeline?
A lot, without giving away too much: a short documentary about a cuckoo clock museum, a docu-drama about a mining disaster in the 1920s (filmed on B&W 35mm, hopefully!) and a short drama about a prodigal husband and his strange fascination with horses...   

Why did you become a filmmaker?
To tell a story and still push the boundaries. To explore the surreal and the real, but mostly the absurd. And to do the anti-ordinary. There's nothing worse than mediocrity and cliché in film and art.  

What are some of your creative influences?
Music plays a huge part in my creative development. Lou Harrison is a Californian composer who specializes in homemade instruments and choir pieces that have a real haunting edge. I also listen to a lot of Sacred Harp Singing, which is layered a capella music usually sung by Christian vocal groups which has been around for nearly a century. I am also in awe of the writings of Flannery O'Conner and the Glasgow author Alasdair Gray. Both are humorous, but utterly tragic as well.   

Did you go to film school?
I studied Film, Photography and Imaging at Napier University in Edinburgh from 2002-05.  

What do you shoot on?
So far, on HDV and 16mm, but hopefully on bigger formats in the future. I have still a lot to learn regarding the technical process.  

What has been the most unexpected thing to happen since taking the film on the festival circuit?
The response from people who have seen the film and the kind and constructive things they've said.  

Why did you want to screen your film at SILVERDOCS?
Its reputation is gold within Documentary circles, with it being one of the best Film Festivals in the world. It is an honour and a privilege to be screening our modest film at Silverdocs.