Beautiful natural experience documentary LOST FOR WORDS with director Q&A

Watch with us this year's most beautiful natural experience on the big screen

LOST FOR WORDS

a poetic documentary about the power of language to re-enchant the world around us. Based on Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris' bestseller "The Lost Words".

Followed by an in-person Q&A with the filmmaker Hannah Papacek Harper

Click here for trailer

plus two very special short films!

Friday, September 26th at Skye Gathering Hall in Portree (doors 6.30pm/ film start 7pm)

- our welcome drink is always here for you! Enjoy a free glass of Prosecco/ Nosecco or juice on this special night!

- if you are 21 years or under you only pay 5 pounds.

This poetic journey through language and landscape explores how reconnecting with nature’s vanishing vocabulary can help us reimagine our future with hope. (Sheffield Doc Fest)

About the film:

Lost for Words is a chorale documentary which celebrates our relationship with nature.

In 2008, someone noticed that a new edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary had quietly dropped a handful of words – words like acorn, otter, willow and wren. Did this reflect 21st-century children losing their connection to the natural world?

It was this quiet erasure that inspired poet and author Robert Macfarlane and painter and illustrator Jackie Morris to create The Lost Words: A Spell Book – a work that stands against the disappearance of a wild childhood. Combining Robert’s spell-like poems with Jackie’s hand-painted celebration of the British countryside, the book became a cultural touchstone.

Years later, filmmaker Hannah Papacek Harper was inspired to make her own response. That became Lost for Words:

It is a scientific film with an artistic heart, that actively invites us to explore and reshape our anthropocentric point of view through an odyssey around the UK where we meet artists, scientists, children, the elderly, and all different people in between. Their words and philosophy drift organically through the four seasons which each have their own colour, sound and feel.

By reminding us that we too are part of nature, these various voices bring us to see what we are losing and how to reconnect with it. By observing one landscape closely, the characters explore vast and global questions about our planet.

Lost for Words is a beautiful and haunting film – visually rich and emotionally resonant. It reminds us that our responsibility is not just to future generations of people, but to the rivers, plants, trees and seas that share this planet with us. (Exposed Magazine)

When: Friday, September 26th, doors 6.30pm, film start 7.00pm sharp

Where: Skye Gathering Hall Portree, 1934 Bank St, Portree IV51 9BZ

Tickets: 10 GBP at eventbrite or cash at door on the evening. 5 pounds for 21y and under.

This is a film to savour.The images swoon around one, enticing viewers into a dream-like experience, where half-remembered stories from childhood resurface. (Modern Times)

It is a rare visual, audio, and musical experience that takes audiences on a trip through nature and thought. (The Hollywood Reporter)

About our Q&A guest:

Hannah Papacek Harper graduated in Aesthetics and Cinema Practice, from the universities of La Sorbonne Pantheon, and La Universidad de Lima, in 2015. Hannah is now a writer, director and multimedia artist. Based in Scotland, she is developing several projects on the subject of ecology, intertwining science with art. Her research is otherwise geared toward displacement, identity and transgenerational memory. Profoundly interested in communication, transmission and sensorial approaches to film, she continually searches for new empathetic ways to touch a general public. Her roots are in experimental video and from 2021 to 2023, two of her experimental short films, Just Listen To The Storm and Vegetative, travelled festivals worldwide. Lost For Words is her documentary feature debut which premiered at CPH:DOX in March of 2025.

We will also highlight two fantastic short films which just world premiered:

MOTHER'S INFLUENCE by Meg Wriggles & CHASING WHALES by La Fille Renne - don't miss these!

Our next event screening will be on October 26th. Mark your calendars.

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About Skye Community Cinema:

Skye Community Cinema brings special event screenings monthly to Skye in different locations, including discussions and Q&A’s with talent - presented by Lena Vurma's Skye Films Ltd and writer/director Thor Klein.

Skye Community Cinema

Thank you for the support:

Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI.