Films
A Boat Retold - co-producer, with an Lanntair of a film by Sean Martin and Louise Milne, documenting the rebuilding of a 1912 boat, from the keel up. Featured in Tip of the Tongue Festival, Isle of Jura 2012, Ceol s Craic at Glasgow Film Festival, 2013, Alchemy film and moving image festival, 2014, Faclan, Stornoway 2014 and The Australian Wooden Boat Festival, 2015. The film combines HD video and Super 8 shot by Sean and Louise along with some of my archive stills and video of the old boat and the nearly-new one.
Iain Louis Macleod planking the boat on the old keel.
photo Nick Bowles
Confluence – 3 films, with Andy Mackinnon, Taigh Chearsabhagh, 2008
(shown as part of Cromarty Film Festival, Dec 2015) Ian was a guest.
See under Andy Mackinnon and Uistfilm on Vimeo.
Live telling of Alein Duinn story on voyage: https://vimeo.com/16725420
The Sked Crew– from a Theatre Hebrides performance directed by Alison Peebles.
Filmed with Neil MacConnell, Sail Loft 1, Stornoway, 2006.Included in a publication with DVDS linked to the heritage lottery funded Sail Loft project, managed by Mia Scott for (The Highland Buildings Preservation Trust).
Videopoems – series of videos with texts commissioned for StAnza Festival, 2004
Screenings StAnza Festival . April 2007 ;
Poetry without Borders . Czech Republic . Oct 07
Running Time- two works included in retrospective of Scottish Artists' film, Dean Gallery, Edinburgh, 2010. (reviews in The Guardian and The Observer. )
including netmending- a video by Ian Stephen, made with Alex Patience
Plays
Street-theatre in Stornoway and Edinburgh
The Sked Crew - 15 minute drama commissioned by Theatre Hebrides, directed Alison Peebles 2006. Performed in theatres and in the open air, Isle of Lewis and Edinburgh. A development week to expand to a full-length play was funded by the National Theatre of Scotland 2007.
Brazil 12 Scotland nil - a commission for Birds Of Paradise, directed by Morven Gregor, toured in 2005.
Out Of The Jar - for Minatures, a Highland Festival touring production, 2004.
Seven Hunters - a Highland Festival commission, directed by Gerry Mulgrew with original music by Johnnie Hardy and set/projections by Craig Mackay, touring production, 2003.
Flannans by night. Norman Chalmers
90 for 90 – a short meditation on The Shipping Forecast, broadcast on radio as part of the BBC's celebration of 90 years of broadcasting.
The Norge and Rockall - contributor to Radio Scotland's documentaries 2012.
Out of Doors. Poetry readings. (Radio Scotland, January 2010)
National Poetry Day – reading tour central Scotland, with Tom Pow and Ken Cockburn. (STV)
Voyagers – series of broadcasts, poetry and conversations, from Broad Bay. (Radio Scotland, 1998)
“If you don’t understand the lure of the sea, you haven’t heard Ian Stephen explain it. Stephen writes wonderfully lyric poetry, full of maritime terminology, which he read out to great effect, in his careful Lewis accent. But he is poetic all the time, his rhythmic voice making every syllable count, his author’s insight illuminating the allure of sailing to someone who feels queasy at the sight of a mast on the horizon.”
– Anna Burnside, The Scotsman
Poems on Poetry Now (Radio 3), Radio Scotland, Grampian TV, STV
Author's Interviews: Newsnight, BBC2, CBS News
Work translated/Set to music
St Kilda Fades
series of lyrics set to music by David P Graham published, Inventio Musicverlag,Berlin, 2013
Lewis to Lahore - ongoing collaborative performance developed for the Lahore Literary Festival and Edinburgh Book festival.
Voyagers - storytelling collaboration with improvisational musician Giles Perring, singer Kirsty Law and visual artist Christine Morrison, tour of festivals, 2013 - 14:
Edinburgh international Storytelling Festival, Rathlin Sound, Settle Stories, Wordplay, Shetland.
The Read Bed literary stage, collaborating with novelist and pianist Peter Urpeth and Scottish free jazz saxophonist Raymond MacDonald. (Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, Aug 2009).
Westlich der Zeit/Kilda Lyrics. Music by David P Graham, performed with choirs, soloists and dancer at the Rheinisches LandesMuseum, Bonn and Burgerhaus Stollwerck, Cologne, Oct 2007.
Writers from the Scottish Islands, 9th Salon Internationale du Livre Insulaire, Oessant, 2007.
Five Fish, settings to music by David P Graham, performed Bonn, Germany, 2006.
Snipe Shadows, samples on Hardland, Martyn Bennett, Martin Low, Cuillin Music, 2000.
Lyrics from Malin, Hebrides… by Diethelm Zuckmantel, performed Dusseldorf, Germany, 1993.