It’s whisky galore for film-maker

Nov 17 2009 by Johnathon Menzies, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

UP-AND-COMING director Chris Dunne was crowned this year’s winner of the Palme Dewar award at the recent Heartland Film Festival.

The Bathgate film-maker was presented with the trophy, and a cheque for £250, by Peter Guthrie of Dewar’s World of Whisky during the ceremony at Castle Menzies, near Aberfeldy.

Norman McCandlish, chair of the Heartland Film Society, said the winning short – titled “Dark Places in the Sunshine” – showcased a quality present in all of the 18 entries, but was a “worthy winner”.

He said: “We’ve been doing this for three years now and, each year, the standard keeps getting better and better.

“We have a judging panel made up of four people who decide on a shortlist of six, which are then screening to let the general public vote for their favourite.

“Everyone leaving the venue said they enjoyed all the entries, but Chris’ was an extremely worthy winner,” he said.