Worker co-op premieres PFI documentary at Glasgow Film Festival

Glasgow worker co-operative Media Co-op scored a double first, with a feature-length premiere at the prestigious Glasgow Film Festival, co-hosted by the music festival Celtic Connections. They combined...

Glasgow worker co-operative Media Co-op scored a double first, with a feature-length premiere at the prestigious Glasgow Film Festival, co-hosted by the music festival Celtic Connections. They combined live music, film and debate for the first screening of The Bridge Rising, the inside story of the battle the people of the Isle of Skye waged against Britain’s first PFI project, the most expensive stretch of toll road in the world.

Media Co-op’s Louise Scott, producer of the documentary, said: “Now’s the right time to re-visit the story of Skye Bridge, a successful uprising of a community against a bank, a rebellion against the idea of making private profit from public works. We want this film to keep the lessons of the battle of the Skye Bridge from slipping under the waves of history. As a co-operative, we wanted to celebrate the power of community action.”

Well-known musicians from Skye took part in the protest, played on the soundtrack and performed live at the premiere, including singer Arthur Cormack, who spent a night in the cells for his part in the protest, and Skye’s piper and medical doctor, Angus MacDonald.

The film reveals that the Bank of America gained over 90% of the shares in the bridge company, and took over £33m in tolls.

Tony Benn makes an appearance in the film, saying: “If you’re going to make a success of a campaign, first of all you’ve got to discover the truth and the truth is very often kept secret… The House of Commons sent me a very important document relating to the PFI but said that it’s a secret document. They gave it to me because I was an MP, but it wasn’t to be released. This infuriated me even more because it confirmed my view that there were private arrangements at the back of this problem that had not been properly aired.”

The Bridge Rising combines political history with humour and human stories. Skye police sergeant Dennis Hyndman, who arrested his neighbours, emerges as a secret supporter of the campaign. “If I hadn’t been a police officer,” he says, “I’d have been down there protesting along with the rest of them.”

Media Co-op is planning to tour the film. If you would like to screen it, contact [email protected]

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