The three words ‘Scottish’, ‘film’ and ‘industry’, have never sat comfortably together. Indeed there have always been plenty of people, most famously the great John Grierson, ready to deny the possibility of such a conjunction having any meaning at all. Yet there is no denying that Scottish film production and Scottish cinema exhibition have had many successes, some of them quite outstanding and far-reaching in their effects.

Whatever else may be said about the history of film in Scotland, one thing is obvious: this is no story of a smooth trajectory from small beginnings to final grand triumph. Rather, it is a tale of stops and starts, of false dawns and the occasional blazing comet, of overblown expectations and disproportionate despair. It is probably significant that, to date, there has been only one comprehensive, scholarly chronicle, Duncan Petrie's Screening Scotland.

In the work of the men and women directly involved in the making and showing of Scottish films, there is much to admire. The contributions of individual Scots to the film culture of this and other lands are so notable that they demand to be celebrated. As to the systems, the politics, the context in which they have had to operate, that is another matter – yet there are many significant achievements there, too.