A documentary following the build of the UK’s first fully electric fishing boat was screened before a packed audience in Tayvallich Village Hall on Friday night, writes Rita Campbell.
“It’ll Never Work” captures some fascinating local characters and documents the highs and lows of converting a diesel fishing boat.
The star of the show is Hans Unkles. He launched Lorna Jane, the first boat in the UK fishing fleet to be powered entirely by solar panels, this summer.
But the star behind the scenes, or rather, behind the camera, is Joe Osborn.
The 23-year-old film maker lives next door to Hans at Carsaig.
Which means he was ideally placed to follow the year-long design and build of the boat from the garden workshop.
Joe studied contemporary film making in the Highlands at the University of the Highlands and Islands in Inverness.
He said: “Hans has been my next door neighbour for as long as I can remember. I studied filmmaking in Inverness, came back and I was a bit short of work.
“Hans invited me over to the shed and suggested I document the building of his electric fishing boat.
“I’m glad he did. This is my first documentary. I’ve made over 20 short films, mostly sci-fi and horror.”
The first screening of the 57-minute documentary from Carsaig Films took place in Tavyallich, where the boat was built.
But they are now in talks with Campbeltown Picture House and Oban Phoenix Cinema to arrange dates in the new year.
And communities in Ardfern and Tarbert have also been in touch hoping to arrange screenings in the respective village halls.
Joe said: “The best possible outcome would be to get it on TV. We are in talks with potential TV company people who might want to buy it.”
Judging by positive audience reactions from Friday night, this seems like a realistic possibility.
Joe said: “I’m a fisherman too. I’ve been out on the boat filming. Most fishing boats have this level of vibration and noise. On this boat, there is no noise, but you are still going. It is amazing.”
Speaking about the first local screening, he said: “Seeing everyone there was brilliant. It is quite a small community here and the level of support was so good.
“People have said it is very watchable. Regardless of whether you are interested in the techy side, the environmental side, the fishing side, it seems to appeal to all walks of life.
“Thank you to everyone for coming out and supporting it. People who I have never met before were sharing the poster and the trailer online. That has been really nice.”
Hans added: “It was a great night. We had a really supportive crowd. There were a lot of unfamiliar faces. So many people are interested in this.”
So what next for Carsaig Films? We can reveal that one of the fishermen featured in the documentary is considering a large conversion project, which Joe could be filming very soon.
Some of his previous work, which has been shown at Oban Phoenix Cinema, includes Seaweed Shrapnel, Parts 1 and 2.
Marine Funding Scotland provided 60 pre cent of the cost of materials for the boat build, and 60 per cent of the cost of the documentary.