Jonathan Melville - Reeltime

WHAT do a multimillion dollar golf course and the work of a disabled rights campaigner have in common?

They’re both the subject of Scottish-made documentaries screening this week in Edinburgh.

Last week I discussed how documentary filmmaking is on the rise in Scotland, leaving the question of where we can actually watch them hanging. Now for some answers.

Tomorrow sees the launch of Edindocs 2011, the second annual celebration of documentary film which takes place at Church Hill Theatre in Morningside.

The festival will screen films from around the globe, two of which are Scotland’s You’ve Been Trumped and Jimmy.

You’ve Been Trumped follows work on Donald Trump’s new Scottish golf course, a controversial project which is decimating protected sections of our countryside after the Scottish Government changed laws in the billionaire’s favour.

Jimmy is the work of Edinburgh director Martin Smith and follows the daily routine of local disabled rights campaigner, Jimmy McIntosh.

Portobello-based festival director, Stuart McInnes, tells me that the point of EDINDOCS is “to provide a venue for the general public to see great documentaries,” with 25 films covering stories that aren’t being told by their fictional counterparts.

I’ve highlighted a few more Scottish examples on the blog at www.edinburghnews.com/reeltime and would love it if Edinburgh cinemas could screen some of them before feature length movies.

If we have to be force-fed 30 minutes of ads, couldn’t we at least be shown ten minutes of quality, short documentaries once in a while?