A MORAY FILM MAKER has been expressing her delight at gaining an award for the ‘Cultural Impact’ she has made to communities in Moray.
Yvonne Findlay has been behind several projects throughout Moray, each focussing on aspects of life in our communities and involving members of these communities both in front of and behind the camera.
At the recent tsiMORAY community awards, Yvonne was nominated on two headings – Social Impact and Cultural Impact.
After receiving an award for the latter, she said: “I was very happy to receive my award as for me it recognised the importance of our social history and of the arts to the well-being of the individual and our communities.
“My award is an acknowledgement of the valuable contributions from many local people of all ages-musicians, poets, photographers, artists, story-tellers etc who have contributed to my projects. Many thanks to everyone who has supported my projects over the years.”
The latest production from Elaine is currently available on DVD. ‘Survivors and Victims’ explores the journey of recovery following a stroke, demonstrating the importance of the arts, creativity and activity in that process.
She said: “The music, poetry, photography were all created by stroke survivors, while the film also features excerpts from the performance of Lost and Found at Eden Court, which is a song cycle composed by Sonia Allori and other members of the stroke survivor self-help group.
“The complete ‘Lost & Found’ concert is available on the DVD – both the performance of the concert and the special screening of Survivors not Victims Eden Court were sold out.
“The film featured in the Moray Feelgood Festival and has enjoyed a very positive review from healthcare professionals and stroke survivors. It will form part of an information package for stroke patients and is being used as an educational tool for healthcare professionals.
“It is scheduled to tour health care conferences in the UK and will feature in the International Stroke Conference 2018.”
Linda Campbell, who is the Stroke Coordinator at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, said: “Survivors not Victims is an excellent film that shares the experience of the Strokeness Support Group, their individual experiences, their journeys and a view seen from a stroke survivors perspective.
“It leaves you with a feel-good factor of what can be achieved after stroke and makes you think about how having peer support groups like Strokeness could benefit stroke survivors across Scotland.”