And Then You Win

Over 20 years ago, as a student, I put this sticker onto a campervan. In the 1990s, Europe was really coming together, and the freedom to travel without borders inspired me on so many levels. In 1996, the van took me on a first trip to Scotland; some 15 years later, it helped me move there – freedom of movement and all that.

Almost 200,000 kilometres (and a new engine) later, there’s plenty of rust on the van, and I know its faults well. The European flag has taken a bit of a beating – but it is still there, and for all its faults, I still believe in the European Union!

Cat, Gillian, Jen, Zara,

This is an apology. 

An apology to you, the four amazing women who I followed in the run-up to Scotland's independence referendum. I said I would be making a film about you. We trusted each other. I believed in you. And I believed you would win. (We all believed I'd be making a film.)

You dedicated (and have been dedicating ever since) your lives to campaigning for independence – never for narrow 'nationalist' reasons but for making this world a better place.

It is now September the 19th, 2015. It has been a year since, in terms of my relationship with my home country of choice, I entered a state of shock that somehow hasn't gone away.

As I'm typing this, I'm sitting on a flight to Dublin for the Stranger Than Fiction documentary festival. I'm looking down on Scotland, a country which was offered a unique opportunity exactly one week ago and, frankly, bottled it.

As UK mainstream media kept getting accused of their astonishing pro-union bias, I should better declare my own bias before somebody else does.

Scotland has only been my home for a few years. From Germany originally, I've always found this land very welcoming and inspiring — and what an exciting time it has been to be living here! However, I'm lacking any sort of emotional attachment to the British state, tend to look at things at face value and do my own research.

Let it be known there were three main reasons why I favoured Scottish independence myself.

Talk about raising the bar...

Here's just a quick note of thanks to Christian Allard MSP for unexpectedly plugging my film project in yesterday's speech in the Scottish Parliament. He also particularly thanked the Indy Quines (the Doric version of Women for Independence), Gillian Martin and her sister Lindsay, all of whom will appear in the documentary.

You can listen to him here from minute 52:

As I am writing this, people in Scotland are deciding whether they want their country to become independent or not.

Over the last five weeks, I've mostly been filming with four grassroots activists who have dedicated every free minute in their lives to achieving change. They are Cat Boyd, Zara Gladman ('Lady Alba'), Gillian Martin ('@MisssyM'), and Jen Stout.