An Angus production company’s film on the residents fighting Donald Trump’s £750 million golf development in Aberdeenshire is to premiere at North America’s largest documentary festival.
The 90-minute feature is being completed by Anthony Baxter’s independent production company Montrose Pictures, but has already received support from an Oscar-winning director, and an internet trailer for the film clocked up 50,000 views in just a week.
Toronto’s famous Bloor Cinema will be setting for the world premiere of You’ve Been Trumped, Sean Farnel, programme director for the Hot Docs Canadian international documentary festival, announced.
Hot Docs is North America’s largest and most important festival for documentary films, with more than 130,000 people attending screenings last year.
You’ve Been Trumped, directed by Montrose man Mr Baxter, looks at the social, economic and environmental effect of the £750 million development at the Menie Estate, north of Aberdeen.
It is one of a handful of films selected for the prestigious Hot Docs for Schools programme.
More than 50,000 Canadian secondary school students, from 267 schools, will take part in the programme this year.
A special educational kit, with creative lesson plans and links to the official curriculum, will be prepared for teachers, to help them explore the social and environmental issues raised in the film.
The film-makers followed developments at Menie for more than a year, and the documentary questions the decision by the Scottish Government to give the project the green light.
Mr Baxter was handcuffed and arrested while making the film, in what the National Union of Journalists described as “a blatant example of police interference aimed at stopping bona fide journalists from doing their job.”
He and producer Richard Phinney were held in police cells for four hours before being charged with breach of the peace. The charges were later dropped.
A global campaign to finish the film to theatrical standards has raised more than £6000 — more than half the target — in less than a week, with donations coming in from Australia, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Brazil, Norway, Spain, France, Switzerland, and Sweden in addition to the UK.
It has also attracted some illustrious support from Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald, director of hit films The Last King Of Scotland and The Eagle.
Mr Baxter said he was overwhelmed by the amount of support the film has received.
“We’ve been flabbergasted that over 50,000 people have watched the YouTube trailer in less than a week,” he said. “And we’re immensely grateful to the large numbers of people — most of them complete strangers — who have sent a contribution.”