Tracy Spottiswoode

I’m a filmmaker from Wales, inspired by its history, myths, landscape and language.

My career began as actor and designer: devised work led to writing and directing theatre, radio, TV and film, always with emphasis on the visual.
Study in Prague introduced Czech New Wave and seeded many cold war projects e.g. a BBC Films commission, R4 play and my animated short CODENAME CORGI won awards worldwide including 2 x BAFTA Cymru and Gold at Chicago IFF.
Survival against all odds is a favourite theme; films in development include WIRA set in the Warsaw Uprising.

I was Development Exec and BFI Network Manager at Ffilm Cymru 2010-17, exec producing shorts and developing features e.g. UK Oscar entry I AM NOT A WITCH. 2018 saw a return to making my own work with a Creative Wales award, Ffilm Cymru support for TREMBLE and a BFI/BBC funded short film.

Tremble

LIM | Less is More 2019

Wales 1877. Desperate for money, ex-miner Jones and ageing widow Siencyn agree to rob a grave and ferry the corpse of murderer Henry Tremble 25 miles across the mountains at night. Capture means the death penalty. As the journey unfolds, so does the tale of the dead man. They ponder his motives; reflections on their own lives prompted by his deeds.

A year ago, Tremble set out to murder his employer and family, before killing himself. His village tricked another into burying him. Bad luck ensued. Now that village is sending him back, paying Siencyn to perform a sin eating ritual to lift the curse and save his soul. But damning her own. Atheist Jones can’t see past his own misfortune. Consumed by grief and guilt after the death of his brother in a mine accident, he seeks a new life in Australia. Fearing police on their trail, they take a lonely mountain track, lose their way, then the coffin, when horse and cart are stolen. Can they find the body by dawn and with it, their own salvation?