Listen to this blog post read by Bruce Eunson in Shetland dialect
Shetland ForWirds was formed in 2004 after a conference where many members of the Shetland community came together and expressed a desire to see our unique language survive and thrive.
Since then, now nearly 20 years later, Shetland ForWirds has operated as a community-led, volunteer-run charity with the aim of fostering and promoting the use of written and spoken Shetland dialect as a valued and essential element of Shetland’s distinctive heritage and culture.
Over our 20 years of cultural activity, Shetland ForWirds has been asked to participate in scores of projects and collaborations with many individuals, artists and organisations, both local and national
One particularly exciting, long-running collaboration has been with Shetland’s Film Festival ‘Screenplay’ where members of Shetland ForWirds judge films made by Shetlanders for the immensely popular ‘Homemade’ event.
Shetland ForWirds have been very proud to judge the short films which feature Shetland dialect and to award cash prizes to the local filmmakers who use the language to the best effect.
The 2023 Film Festival was no exception with two distinct films being awarded prizes.
The winning film ‘Ådel an Valfrid’ is an equally exciting and ambitious project, with an endearing story of sisterly love told with a Viking twist. It is the latest in a series of short films by emerging local talent Molly Williams, the writer and director of the film.
The runner up prize this year went to ‘Eence Apon A Time’, a film which saw 5 and 6 year old children recite and stage a dramatic performance of the famous Vagaland poem of the same name.
Filmed in partnership with a local theatre group for children, the ‘ALICE Theatre Project’, it was another fine example of local artists and practitioners coming together with young children to bring to life a Shetland dialect poetic story where the next generation of Shetlanders were centre stage.