The Shepherds of Berneray

UK Doc 1981 55min (Remastered) by Allen Moore Language: English and Gaelic with subtitles, HIFF U

Filmmaker Q&A at An Lanntair

In 1980, Jack Shae and Allen Moore, two ethnographic filmmakers from Harvard University, moved their families to the island of Berneray in the Outer Hebrides. Over the course of 18 months they documented the everyday lives and struggles of the crofters they lived among, whom were even then a vanishing breed.

The film follows the rhythm of life on a wind-swept island in the Outer Hebrides through the four seasons and in the filmmakers’ observation of the day-to-day struggles of a vanishing society we see the deep-time legacy of their kind.

Thanks to Allen Moore.