Margaret Caroline Tait was a Scottish film maker and poet. Tait attended the University of Edinburgh, gaining qualifications in Medicine (1941). She later moved to Rome, where she studied filmmaking at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (1950–1952).
Every time the task of drawing a circle is performed, it results in a unique shape, a slightly different 'version' than the previous and next attempt. BEFORE WORDS is loosely based on Margaret Tait's unrealised script VIDEO POEMS FOR THE 90s. The video is ...
Watch Now
A set of three 'film poems' composed around the theme of the garden - the central one featuring hand scratched animated drawings. Margaret Tait described them as follows: 'Round the Garden' - right round and round again, 'Garden Fliers' - flighty cartoon a ...
Watch Now
In 1990s Edinburgh, Barbara Thorburn reflects on memories of her poet mother, Greta, and her tragic death. ...
Watch Now
"This is a landscape study of an Orkney croft, with the figure of the crofter, Mary Graham Sinclair, very much in the picture. The croft is West Aith, on the edge of a small loch, which almost every passing visitor stops to photograph or draw or paint. I h ...
Watch NowViews in and around Kirkwall concentrating on things that have changed. These include a new grammar school building, model yachting on the Peedie Sea, demolition of a building, the 'No Uranium' campaign in Orkney. ...
Watch NowA tour around Kirkwall, covering the years 1969 - 1976. Places featured include St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall harbour, Victoria St, Broad St, Kirkwall Grammar School (at School Place), dumping in the Peedie Sea. ...
Watch NowThe streets of Kirkwall, Orkney come to a standstill as the "Down the Gates" and the "Up the Gates" battle it out in this traditional Norse ball game. Margaret Tait records the sights and sounds of this game 1954 - 1980, the commentary featuring interview ...
Watch NowA series of interiors exploring the work of various businesses - presumably in Kirkwall. ...
Watch NowExcavation of the Broch at Bu of Cairston by John Hedges in 1978. The broch is located in Stromness, Orkney. ...
Watch Now
Poles, presumably to be used to carry electricity wires, are seen being carried over a wintry landscape by helicopter in Sandwick, Orkney. ...
Watch NowPart 3 of Margaret Tait's 'Aspects of Kirkwall', covering special events in the town. These include the Orkney Agricultural Society County Show, boat race, and Remembrance Parade at St. Magnus Cathedral. ...
Watch Now
Margaret Tait documents her house, studio and garden in Buttquoy, Orkney as the seasons pass. She had lived there from the age of seven and often returned. At the time of filming, the house was about to be taken back by the council - this film is an effect ...
Watch Now
"The film was conceived as a coda to a longer (colour) film, Place of Work, made in the same year. It covers the time of finally emptying a long-time family home, with its personal memories and connection with some of my own work. Fragments of verse, along ...
Watch Now
Unedited slates from a film called 'Survivor' filmed by Margaret Tait. Footage includes outdoor landscape and garden scenes, a fire burning in field and a man drinking tea in his study. [There appears to be no coherence to the footage] See also Additional ...
Watch Now
Footage of a yacht race and a (Highland?) Show in Kirkwall, as filmed by Margaret Tait. [this is possibly incomplete footage from her 'Aspects of Kirkwall' series?] See also Additional Information file at 11/1/455. Paper Archives 4/5/119, 4/11/651, 4/5/92 ...
Watch Now
"Touches on elemental images; air, water, (and snow), earth and fire (and smoke) all come into it. ...
Watch Now
'Titles within the film are: Numen of the Boughs, Old Boots, Speed Bonny Boat, Lapping Water, Incense, Aha, Brave New World, Things, Terra Firma. ...
Watch NowMargaret Tait's impression of the interior of her studio premises in Rose Street, Edinburgh. The film consists of slow pans around her studio focussing on the walls and artwork there - presumably as she is about to leave. There is also some footage of cons ...
Watch NowSecond of the 'Aspects of Kirkwall' films about the changing face of Kirkwall over the years. Filmed in 1974, it features the primary school, various shops, St. Magnus Cathedral under scaffolding and general views of the area including land fill in the 'Pe ...
Watch Now
"Made in Edinburghs Rose Street, On the Mountain incorporates the whole of a previous film (Rose Street, 1956), including the leader and the titles. The original was shot in black and white, and the negative was lost, and for this reason Tait had the idea ...
Watch NowBrightly coloured animated figures dance to the traditional tune 'John MacFadyen', as played by the Orkney Strathspey and Reel Society in this hand painted piece by Margaret Tait. ...
Watch Now
Margaret Tait described this title as 'An eightsome reel played by Orkney Strathspey and Reel Society, recorded in about 1955 - 1956, later transferred to 35mm optical stock with clear picture and gradually painted over the years. Eights of different thing ...
Watch Now
Film seems to tackle frustrations in communication in the relationship between two men and a woman, which are resolved in the end? Shot in Kirkwall and surrounding area. Ola Gorie, who plays Helen in the film is renowned Orcadian jewellery designer, and o ...
Watch NowAn experimental piece of film-making by Margaret Tait, featuring three children at play in a burn and garden, splashing and having fun playing with water. ...
Watch Now
"Starting with a six-line script which just noted down a kind of event to occur, and recur, my aim was to construct a film with its own logic, its own correspondences within itself, and its own echoes and rhymes and comparisons, all through close explorati ...
Watch NowA palindrome created on film. Features interaction between a couple with the recurring line 'Madam I'm Adam'. ...
Watch Now
The first in a series of films for the Rural Cinema Scheme in the Orkneys, it records the return to the island of Wyre of Neil Flaws, a farmer, and his family at a time when the drift from the northern isles of the Orkneys was of concern to some Orcadians. ...
Watch Now
The minutiae of daily life on Edinburgh's Rose Street in the fifties is presented in this impressionistic documentary piece. ...
Watch Now
Hand painted directly onto film stock by Margaret Tait, this film features animated dancing figures, accompanied by authentic calypso music. ...
Watch NowGeneral shots of Edinburgh City Centre taken by film-maker Margaret Tait, focussing on the Royal Mile, Holyrood House and Princes Street Gardens. ...
Watch Now
A film interpretation of the poem 'The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo' by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Margaret Tait speaks the poem throughout the film. ...
Watch NowStarting from its source, this film tells the story of the Orquil Burn, Orkney. ...
Watch NowA short piece of film recording general views of Edinburgh's Princes Street in the 1950s. ...
Watch NowA short piece of film recording general views of Edinburgh's Royal Mile in the 1950s. ...
Watch Now
Affectionate observational shots of toddlers, school age girl and very new baby. ...
Watch Now
This film poem evokes childhood happiness on the island of Orkney. Footage includes wildflower meadows, toddlers playing in garden, friends fishing together and images of the sea. ...
Watch Now
Another early experiment in portraiture from Tait. In filming her mother she asks the wider question of how much the camera can reveal of the person. ...
Watch NowPerugia and its Italian University for foreign students. ...
Watch NowInteriors of Margaret Tait's room when she stayed at 21 Via Ancona, Rome, Italy. Brief shots of her belongings (shoes, films, teacup) and then views of the street as seen from a balcony window. ...
Watch Now"Carlo and Rafaella are going to Rome for the first time. They have specially planned a journey they must make so that they can have a whole day together alone".. . so starts this film following the (mis)fortunes of these two young lovers. ...
Watch Now
Young women in Milan, rooftops and children. One of the women is possibly Margaret Tait. [shotlisted from MiniDV] gvs Milan main square, bustling crowds. Shot of woman with dog (0.07) women sitting on bench chatting (0.27) dog running along rooftops, chi ...
Watch Now
Drawing on a wealth of unseen archival material and unpublished notebooks, the film weaves a complex and personal portrait of Margaret's life, from the perspective of a fellow artist sensitive to the potential Margaret envisaged for film as a poetic medium ...
Watch Now
In Aurand's signature diaristic form, roses in bloom, farm animals, Orkney landscapes, and scenes of the late filmmaker Margaret Tait having tea are rendered through expressive Bolex movements as well as the director's active camera, and punctuated by abst ...
Watch Now
A documentary about the life and works of Margaret Tait. ...
Watch Now'Titles within the film are: Numen of the Boughs, Old Boots, Speed Bonny Boat, Lapping Water, Incense, Aha, Brave New World, Things, Terra Firma. ...
Watch NowA film interpretation of the poem 'The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo' by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Margaret Tait speaks the poem throughout the film. ...
Watch NowAnother early experiment in portraiture from Tait. In filming her mother she asks the wider question of how much the camera can reveal of the person. ...
Watch Now© 2026 Imperial Flixano Broadcasting
