Year: 2024
Director: Blair Young, Carla J Easton
Producers: Beth Allan, Sinéad Kirwan
Executive Producers: Mark Thomas, David Harron
Editors: Blair Young, Lindsay Watson
Production Company: The Forest of Black
Contributors: The Mckinleys, The Ettes, Strawberry Switchblade, The Twinsets, Sunset Gun, His Latest Flame, Sophisticated Boom Boom, Hello Skinny, Lung Leg, Melody Dog, Sally Skull, The Hedrons, Carla J. Easton
Screen Scotland support: The film accessed £98,990 through Screen Scotland’s Film Development and Production Fund, as well as £15,000 through Screen Scotland's Distribution Fund.
Synopsis
The story of Scottish pop music from the 1960s onwards told by the visionary women who got on stage and made music together. We discover the little-known role that women played in Scotland's emerging music scenes through interviewing those who tried to break the glass ceiling, from the vocal harmony groups of the sixties to DIY indie-fanzine-inspired groups of the 90s, as well as activists, artists, and experts.
Weaving together personal anecdotes with a scrapbook audio-visual aesthetic, as the film takes us through each decade, a colourful mixtape is formed spanning multiple musical genres.
Narrated by award-winning musician Carla J. Easton, a former member of the girl band Teen Canteen, the film takes a critical look at the barriers women have faced making music in the past, and still face today. It asks how we can inspire young women to make music, if those who do so are continuously erased from our cultural history.
More information
Premiere: Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland's Girl Bands had its World Premiere as the Closing Night film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2024.
Streaming: The film will screen on 17 December 2024 at 10pm on BBC Scotland, and will be avilable to watch on BBC iPlayer after this date.
Image credits
Header image: The Ettes courtesy of EIFF
Image 2: Still from Since Yesterday: The Untold Story of Scotland's Girl Bands, courtesy of Euan Robertson