GLASGOW.- LUX Scotland announced the shortlist for the 2021 Margaret Tait Award.

Andrew Black, Christian Noelle Charles, Mathew Wayne Parkin, Tako Taal, and Winnie Herbstein have been shortlisted from a pool of eligible artists who were nominated through an open call process, of which there was a record number of nominations this year.

The shortlisted artists have been invited to submit a proposal for the £15,000 commission, which will premiere at Glasgow Film Festival in 2022, and will subsequently tour with LUX Scotland alongside a solo exhibition at LUX’s space in London. The 2021 Award will be announced on Wednesday 3 March 2021.

The Margaret Tait Award is Scotland’s most prestigious annual moving image prize for artists. Inspired by the pioneering Orcadian filmmaker and poet Margaret Tait (1918–99), the award recognises experimental and innovative artists working with the moving image, offering a unique avenue of commissioning and production support and providing a high-profile platform to exhibit newly commissioned work.

Established in 2010, the Margaret Tait Award is a LUX Scotland commission delivered in partnership with Glasgow Film with support from The National Lottery through Screen Scotland. The only award of its kind in Scotland, it allows LUX Scotland, Glasgow Film and Screen Scotland to make a lasting and meaningful impact on the careers of promising filmmaking talent, support new commissions and forge new partnerships across the sector.

Kitty Anderson, Director, LUX Scotland, said, “Seeing the work submitted for this year’s Margaret Tait Award was a real privilege, as was conversation and discussion with the nomination panel as we watched the works. The submissions demonstrate the wide range of excellent moving image work being produced by artists across all parts of Scotland”

Each year, the award is presented to an artist based in Scotland who has established a significant body of work over the past 5–10 years; is recognised by peers for their contribution to the artists’ moving image sector; and can demonstrate the significant impact that the award will have on the development of their practice.

Nominations are assessed by a panel of artists and professionals from across the fields of the visual arts and cinema. This year’s selection panel comprised of Alberta Whittle (2018 Margaret Tait Award recipient); Kim McAleese (Programme Director, Grand Union, Birmingham); Tina Fiske (Director, CAMPLE LINE, Dumfriesshire); Thomas Abercromby (artist and curator); Sean Greenhorn (Screen Scotland); and Kitty Anderson (Director, LUX Scotland, panel chair).

Previous recipients of the Margaret Tait Award include Emilia Beatriz, Jamie Crewe, Alberta Whittle, Sarah Forrest, Kate Davis, Duncan Marquiss, Charlotte Prodger, Rachel Maclean, Stephen Sutcliffe, Anne-Marie Copestake and Torsten Lauschmann.