Scheme Birds | Telescope Film
Scheme Birds

Scheme Birds

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  • Sweden
  • 2019
  • · 86m

Directors Ellen Fiske, Ellinor Hallin
Cast Gemma, Pat, Joseph, Scott, Luke
Genre Documentary

In a fading Scottish industrial town, Gemma is a teenager and a soon-to-be mother. Coming from a broken family, throughout her life, Gemma has known nothing but hardship. This documentary takes a tender look at her coming-of-age story.

Stream Scheme Birds

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What are critics saying?

100

Screen Daily by Wendy Ide

This extraordinary documentary weighs the bleak details – and they are, at times, almost unbearably grim – against moments of lyrical beauty and even humour. It’s a remarkable achievement.

90

Variety by Guy Lodge

Superb ... An alternately lyrical and gut-punching coming-of-age study.

80

The New York Times by Teo Bugbee

For all the impetuousness of its subjects, this is a film of remarkable respect and restraint — a documentary that carves shape into a messy reality.

80

The Hollywood Reporter by Keith Uhlich

Fiske and Hallin show, over the course of their very affecting movie, how this naive analogy both complements and conflicts with the ups-and-downs of Gemma's reality.