Rest and Be Thankful lands lead role in musical film project celebrating ‘space and freedom’

Now beauty spot Rest and Be Thankful in Argyll and Glasgow city center will get lead roles in two short films aiming to combine set and music to showcase Scotland and its talent to the world. .

The project was developed during the pandemic to create new outdoor films celebrating “a much-needed sense of space and freedom”.

The ‘Sonic Surroundings Project’ was created by Glasgow-based arts company Cryptic to bring people together through ‘beauty, freedom, happiness and hope’.

And he wants to forge partnerships with international arts organizations in an effort to inspire other short films to be made by musicians on rooftops and against scenic landscapes around the world.

Drones and hand-held cameras were used to create the films, one of which features Glasgow-based electro-pop performer Elisabeth Elektra climbing a hill in boots to film in the wind and rain at the famous spot sight of Argyll.

In the other, the collective Ando Glaso – a group drawn from the various Romanian, Polish, Slovak, Czech and Hungarian Roma communities – performed on top of a tower next to the M8.

Both films will launch online after premiering in Glasgow in August at a fundraising event for charities in Ukraine, where Cryptic has developed longstanding cultural ties.

Cryptic Art Director Cathie Boyd said, “The project wasn’t about shooting music videos.

“It was about artists being in an extraordinary place, feeling completely isolated, but also being able to see the beauty around them.

“We kind of got five Elisabeth songs in the box, which I didn’t think we’d get because of the weather. It was so dramatic – the clouds were coming right behind her. The wind was so strong that I thought we were gonna lose a drone while filming.

“What drone footage has allowed us to do with this project is fantastic.

“When you’re in a country as beautiful as Scotland, you want to show it to the world. That’s what really excites me.

Elisabeth Elektra, who filmed at Rest and Be Thankful last weekend, said: “The project took quite a long time to plan.

“I was really excited when I was first approached and we were due to film last September, but unfortunately I had a very serious ankle injury which required surgery.

“Everything had to be postponed until my ankle was strong enough to climb the side of a really big hill.

“I didn’t want to get in and out of my costume so I had to change behind an umbrella. It was also very swampy so I had to wear rubber boots to get there and the weather was really brutal.

“But it was a bit of a dream for me – a mountain was the perfect setting to perform outdoors and it was actually quite exhilarating. I had certainly never done anything like this before.”

János Lang, Creative Director of Ando Glaso, said, “We’ve been talking to Cryptic for a while and looking for something to work on together.” The idea was to have a very Glasgow landscape with an opening image again. and be in the free world.