February 2007-Fast Food Film Fare
Glasgow Film Theatre
Top Scottish foodies convened at the 2007 Glasgow Film Festival to debate the merits, or otherwise, of fast food – and we don’t mean carrots on a rollercoaster. The rip roaring debate was chaired by Nell Nelson, star of TV's 'The Woman Who Ate Scotland' and the panel included James Macsween of haggis fame and Donald Reid, head of the slow food movement. Nell Nelson said: “Fast Food Film Fare was a no-holds barred exploration of this most emotive of subjects. This was certainly not a simple ‘fast food bad’ discussion, as our panellists approached the topic from many different angles. Scotland is a great place to have this debate, given the extremes of food and diet, from deep fried pies at one end to the freshest and best meat and fish at the other.” Moving Conversations partnered the UK Premier of Fast Food Nation, the film based on Eric Schlosser's best-selling book of the same name.

September 2006-A Heated Debate
Glasgow Film Theatre
A visually stunning, three-minute documentary that graphically illustrates the power of waves received a world premier at the Glasgow Film Theatre. The film, produced by Professor Stephen Salter, famous for his invention of the ‘nodding duck’ renewable energy device, brings together never before seen footage of wave-power experiments to make a graphic case for the effectiveness of the sea as a renewable energy resource. The panel also included Maf Smith, Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables, Duncan McLaren, Chief Executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland and Sustainability expert Fran van Dijk. This particular Moving Conversations ‘heated’ debate, focussed on technology and renewable energy solutions to climate change and preceded a screening of Chris Paine’s award winning 2006 documentary Who Killed The Electric Car?. The film tells the story of how General Motors’ extremely popular EV1 zero-emission electric vehicle mysteriously disappeared from the production lines. Organiser Mike Groves, said: “There’s no shying away from the global impact of climate change. At the same time, the UK is well placed to respond to the opportunities and challenges facing a growing renewable energy sector. As with all Moving Conversations, the panellists surprised a few people with their choices of film, while shedding some light on the big issues under the microscope.” Allison Gardner, Head of Cinemas at the GFT, said: “GFT is delighted to be hosting Moving Conversations in Glasgow and hope that this lively event will be the first of many in the city.”

July 2005-It’s a Banker
Vue Cinema, Edinburgh
Moving Conversations moved into the financial services sector with three debates on the challenges facing the banking sector in an increasingly competitive and globalised market. The panellists drawn from across the banking spectrum, from front-end sales to back office processing and product development, enlightened an already knowledgeable audience with their arguments and film choices, making for challenging and thought provoking entertainment. A paraphrased version of the opening scene of Hitch will stay in the minds of those present for a very very long time.

September 2004 - Moving Conversation Does the Business
Vue Cinema, Edinburgh
The Futurist teamed up with Scottish Council Development & Industry (SCDI) to offer a Moving Conversation one the future of business in Scotland. SCDI is one of Scotland's leading business advocacy organisations and the event brought together four well known business gurus to discuss the topic and identify their essential movie moments. The panellists included George Kerevan (Associate Editor of The Scotsman), Ian Ritchie (Business Angel and Entrepreneur), Hugh Morison (former Director of the Scotch Whisky Association) and Iain McDougall (General Manager of SCDI). The discussion was lively and wide-ranging and drew its inspiration from some surprising (The Producers) and not so surprising quarters (Whisky Galore). The event ended with the showing of a short film of the 1938 Glasgow Empire Exhibition courtesy of the Scottish Screen Archive.


September 2004 - The Burning Blue
Dominion Cinema, Edinburghh
From the box to the cockpit for a fascinating and emotional night focussing on The Battle of Britain. On the eve of the annual Battle of Britain day, four speakers with varying backgrounds offered their perspectives on the significance of this legendary conflict - Wing Commander Al Beaton, CO of 603 'City of Edinburgh Squadron'; Historian, Ronnie Lamont; Squadron Leader Paul Addison from 56 Squadron and Andrew Jackson. After the usual Q&A, the audience were treated to a rare showing of the 1969 feature film, The Battle of Britain, on the big screen.

August 2004 - Respect the Box!
Filmhouse Cinema, Edinburgh
Four leading TV gurus offered their views on the state of British TV, arguing their case and identifying their essential movie moment. Donald Emslie, Chief Executive of Scottish Media Group, Mick Groves from folk group The Spinners (more TV specials than Perry Como), Harry Bell from Tern TV and Professor Robert Beveridge from Napier University entered the fray. One word to sum up British TV in ten years time - 'fecund' ! As if that wasn't enough, the full house was treated to the latter day classic Magnolia.