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Bridging the Gap - Future

The short film ‘Peter in Radioland’ is one of eight made as part of ‘Bridging the Gap: Future’ (BTG), for which Noe Mendelle acted as executive producer, experimenting with innovative ways in which to conceive, shoot, edit, and distribute documentary films.

‘Bridging the Gap: Future’ was one of a series run by the Scottish Documentary Institute since 2003 to experiment with documentary film-making away from the pressures of television, traditionally, the default commissioner of documentary films in the UK. Fifty-three films have been made to date.

‘BTG’ also challenges the gender balance of the film industry: fifty-five percent of ‘BTG’ films have been directed by women. Mendelle acted as a creative producer, working closely on the creative development and making of the films with the directors, as well as looking for funding.

‘Peter in Radioland’ exemplifies this experimentation in its narrative structure, weaving together an individual story about depression with the wider theme of the transfer from analogue to digital technology; and using both factual and fictional elements - archive footage, super8 and animation.

This film took approximately nine times longer to make than a TV commission, enabling the makers to undertake in-depth content research and develop a more trusting relationship with its subjects. To experiment with the form of the film during shooting and editing the film was tested with audiences during edits to measure its emotional impact.

‘Peter in Radioland’ has been screened at more than forty international festivals and picked up the following awards: Best Scottish Documentary Short Award, EIFF 2009, Anthony Minghella Award for Best UK Short Film Hull IFF 2010, Best European short film nomination for European Film Academy Award, EIFF 2009, Nomination- International Young Documentary Competition, Leipzig Film Festival 2009, Nomination- CPH DOX: Short DOX Award 2009, Nomination- BAFTA Scotland Short Film Award.