OBAN-BASED filmmaking duo Andy Crabb and James Gray – operating as Anam Dàn films – were commissioned to follow the £3.5 million restoration of the Campbeltown Picture House over the past 18 months.
The result is a 30-minute lighthearted drama-documentary entitled The Wee Pictures, to be premiered at the official opening of the cinema today (Thursday April 19). Magician, conjuror, engineer, vaudevillian showman and manager of cinema was the larger than life character F Rendell Burnette (played to a tee by Oban actor Roddy MacEachen), and he is the narrator and guide through the helter-skelter 105-year history of Campbeltown Picture House. Mr Burnette was the Wee Pictures’ original manager when it first opened its doors in 1913.
Weaving together fascinating footage from the restoration and interviews with key figures from the cinema’s past, archive materials and the redoubtable Mr Burnette, the film creates a ‘charming, quirky and delightful’ portrait of this unique and historic cinema.