To Space and Beyond Boundaries with David Mackenzie

Over the past few weeks I've gotten some emails from fellow fans asking what is next for Sigma and most notably David. Short answer, Im not 100% certain to be quite candid sorrryyy!, but I do my best to try and keep up with the events and post accurately as possible given there is so much speculation and rumors rife in the film world. So much of the projects we already know about bubbling away on the backburner depend on funding, which can take years of course. Otherwise, the wonderful folks at Sigma also tend to keep a low key on things and usually remain that way, however there have been a few recent rumblings of interest.

A few weeks ago there was this interview on Goodbooksguide.blogspot with author Toby Litt (his myspace is here) who stated his novel "Journey into Space" is to be adapted for film by Sigma Films and David Mackenzie. Please note, I am uncertain about the year this interview took place, and am quite uncertain if this is actually going to happen eh yea, regardless there was the following: "Journey into Space has been optioned by Glasgow-based Sigma Films, to be written and directed by David Mackenzie, the Scottish film director. He’s made some great stuff in the past, including Young Adam and Hallam Foe, so I’m optimistic. He’s very into science fiction. As for George Bush, I was told by some early readers that this was their interpretation of Orphan. This was their way of reading a character whose political platform, if you can call it that, is happiness, is being happy. I’m not sure if I’d see this as Bush’s defining characteristic. He was more blithe than happy, though the two are easily mistaken."

Recently too after a very short lived run of Spread in UK theatres , there had been some rumors again that maybe Stain in the Snow was actually going to be filmed this year in Germany, but for now still keeping that firmly in the rumor/development stage category for now. LAST WORD of course is very much still on the horizon, and there were several mentions of the film being one of the years anticipated (see here from ioncinema, and here from Dark Horizons, here for The Playlist. Fingers crossed that things will go well in Berlin and we can see a premiere either in Edinburgh or Cannes or somewhere with the film likely to open later this year! Go David Go!

Of course the latest buzz heh appeared this week in various UK newspapers over a short list for Creative Scotland's "Visual Sparks" Award. One of the reasons I adore his work so much is due to his willingness to take on the forbidden the unexpected push boundaries of sorts with his non typical stories, and it seems with this recent proposal he would be continuing the trend. I think I have this correct (please tell me if this is wrong!) but this would see David reuniting with one of the composers for Young Adam and an acclaimed visual artist to create a side project that sounds really promising, but details are vague alas. All Media Scotland:

Collaborators: Raymond MacDonald (composer and musician)

Martin Boyce (visual artist)

David MacKenzie (film director)

Towards the cost of three artists (art, music and film) joining together to experiment in new forms and produce a work that will adapt to gallery, concert hall and cinema spaces. Amount requested: £100,000.

Winners will be announced March 1, and will update then.