Anna Jones from Edinburgh has been appointed as filmmaker in residence as part of the pARTners residencies for Highland 2007 and begins 9 April, based with Cromarty Arts Trust at Ardyne until mid-summer.

The idea for a filmmaker in residence grew from a desire to explore life for new Highlanders from all countries and all religions, but focussing on the influx of Polish migrant workers who are joining those from other accession countries in coming across the Baltic Sea in their thousands to settle in the North East of Scotland.

The Highlands have a long history of trade and movement between the Northern countries of Scandanavia, Russia, Poland, and the Baltic States. Cromarty itself was home to many Polish people, some of whom stayed on after the guns and ships departed after the Second World War.

Anna will be expected to link today’s Polish immigrants with those of the 1940s and 50s who were embraced by the local people and who rapidly established themselves as part of the fabric of Highland Society. She will be expected to collaborate with the Polish community to make a human in interest led film, which encapsulates the dichotomy of emotion that migrant workers endure when arriving in a new country having left their lives behind.

The Highlands is an area itself touched by emigration, perhaps more profoundly than most, and it is our hope that this project will trigger a subliminal link in the viewers’ minds with those families throughout time who have had to leave the Highlands through poverty and lack of opportunity.

Anna says: “I am delighted to be offered the opportunity to work in Cromarty on this exciting film project. The issue of migration is one that is both current and dynamic but also very much part of the history of the Highlands. I am very interested in discovering the history of Polish immigration to this part of Scotland and also meeting people who are coming here for the first time.

"I will be looking for people who are interested in participating in the film, which will include hands-on-film-making workshops as well as background research. I’m really looking forward to getting to know the area and community and to the adventure of a new documentary film.”

Anna has a background in community video which has led to a collaborative approach to documentary film-making. She originally trained on the job with Pilton Video , a community video project in Edinburgh. She gained lots of experience working with a wide variety of people; teenage asylum-seekers, elderly people, young anti-war activists.

Her first short ‘Sky High’ won Best New Scottish Documentary at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and led to a commission from STV for a half hour documentary. Other credits to her name are ‘Old enough to know better’, ‘Then and now’, a ‘3 Minute Wonder’ series for Channel 4.

The residency is funded by Scottish Arts Council pARTners Programme for Highland 2007, and Highland 2007, Scotland's year of Highland culture.