Brief Encounters (2019)

In a series of remarkably frank and entertaining conversations, rail passengers travelling the length and breadth of the country share their experiences of life and their own particular view of the world they see from the window of their train. Brief Encounters is a moving confessional in which a diverse selection of people open up about their many experiences, their hopes and fears, their loves and their losses on their physical journey through Scotland and their emotional journeys through life. The stories from the passengers reflect Scotland in its many guises. On their own, in groups, having fun or feeling sad, this dynamic brush with a nation in motion reveals the remarkably diverse character of the people living, working and travelling through Scotland on any given day. The conversations are as varied as the people on the trains. From a mother on her way to Aberdeen talking of the challenges she has had to overcome in bringing up her autistic son, to the beatboxer arguing and singing with his friend about how to date women while on their way to Glasgow airport. Almost 100 train travellers were filmed over a two-month period on rail lines from Stranraer in the south-west of Scotland to Thurso on the north coast, and from the Kyle of Lochalsh in the west to Tweedbank in the Borders.