Morven Christie is making her feature directorial debut with Witch Light.
The drama is set in Scotland in 1692 against the backdrop of the massacre of Glencoe.
It follows Corrag, a girl from the Scottish mountains, who’s been imprisoned as a witch. As she awaits her fate of death, she’s visited by a man eager to question her and finds out that she knows more than first appears as she was a witness to the massacre.
Witch Light is being produced by Lauren Dark and Amy Jackson of Unified, after they acquired the rights to Susan Fletcher’s 2011 novel of the same name.
“Corrag’s story is one of bravery, passion, intuition and the power of kindness – all with the Scottish landscape at its heart. I know that it’s in the perfect hands,” said Fletcher.
“I feel tremendously lucky and honoured that Unified has picked up the rights to Witch Light – and I am delighted that it will be adapted and directed by someone as accomplished as Morven Christie.”
Screen Scotland is backing the project.
Christie is best known as an actor for The A Word, Grantchester and The Bay. She recently appeared in ITV drama, Payback.
READ MORE – Christie leads cast as ITV drama returns to Morecambe
As a filmmaker, her short film, Stray, starring Aftersun actress Frankie Corio launched at Edinburgh International Film Festival last summer.
“Stray was an opportunity to explore nature and threat and an internal experience,” she explained.
“The time and place are different, but it’s absolutely an introduction to the world of the feature, and I’m looking forward to deepening into that perspective in the landscape of Glencoe, with the beautiful character of Corrag, alongside our partners at Creative Scotland.”
Unified’s upcoming slate includes Chork, Shane Meadows’ first fiction feature film in 17 years, which wrapped last summer, written by Jack Thorne and Meadows, and Sarah-Violet Bliss’s erotic thriller Scorn, starring Adria Arjona and Kingsley Ben-Adir, now in pre-production.
The Glencoe Massacre is an infamous part of Scottish history, when officers were ordered to destroy the MacDonald clan, killing anyone under the age of 70, including women and children.
