Film

It keeps calling him back! Kurt was a British History Major at University. So, when he composed the music and wrote the lyrics for the Return to Skye song, Kurt always knew that it would be about a Scottish Clansman who fought at the Battle of Culloden, survived the melee, and fled to Skye to escape the pursuing British soldiers … just like Bonnie Prince Charlie did.  Once the song was finished, he asked Tim Gorman to orchestrate it. The WJM Palmer Orchestra recorded it in Dublin, Ireland and Jake Morgan conducted. When the soundtrack was ready to go, Mallard Productions, Glasgow, Scotland produced the film. Brent Rogers co-edited the film and Zach Stevens was a producer on the project. The film was shot on location on the Isle of Skye and in the Culloden Battlefield’s ancient, thatched-roofed bothy.  Kurt thanks all involved for contributing to producing such a phenomenally lovely, cinematic, and poignant film.

The memory of that magical place has never left him. Years later, Kurt was composing an Irish-sounding song that had the feel of a sunrise. He remembered that beautiful valley he’d visited so long ago and named the new piece, Dawn at Gougane Barra.

When Kurt decided that he wanted to make a film about Gougane Barra, he knew that there was only one person he wanted to orchestrate the piece – Jake Morgan! Jake is Ireland’s leading composer of Film and Theater Music. And as a huge added plus, Jake and his brother, Luke (a renowned poet and writer), own Morgan Brothers, a Galway-based film/theater production company. Jake arranged the score that was played by the Will Palmer Orchestra and recorded at Dublin’s world-famous Windmill Lane Studios. With the recording in hand, the Portland and Galway teams went to Gougane Barra for the shoot, where Luke artfully captured some stunningly jaw-dropping footage. When the filming was completed and synced up with the music, the beautiful film, Dawn at Gougane Barra, took flight.

As he was heading back to his room, a melody came to him and he started singing aloud, “The Moon Followed Me to Falmouth, The Moon Followed Me to Falmouth”. So he wouldn’t forget this little snippet of a new song, he rang his home phone in Portland and sang the song on his answering machine. When he got home, he played back his messages and heard the beginnings of a new song, The Moon Followed Me to Falmouth. A couple months later, Kurt finished the song, Tim Gorman arranged it, and the tune was recorded.

Once Kurt and his team decided to animate the film, they set out to find the best animators on the planet … and they found them – Armada! Located in Nashville, Tennessee, Armada is the premiere animation studio in the USA, if not the world. The collaboration between Kurt’s team, and Armada, created a visually luscious, and musically evocative, “tour de force”. This visually beautiful animated film is reminiscent of the old sea shanties found on the British Isles, a music genre that Kurt loves to listen to and compose. The film also features the outstanding vocals of Will Keating, a renowned singer-songwriter/performer who hails from Falmouth. The story follows an English seafarer as he sings about his past adventures where he sees himself leave Falmouth as a young man, sail The High Seas, fall in love with an island maiden, and return home after an envious moon breaks them apart. To this day, he still wears the necklace she gave him. It is a story that shows somethings you love can become lost, leaving us only mementos and memories of days long gone by.

The Moon Followed Me to Falmouth had its World Premiere at the Phoenix Theatre in Falmouth, England on August 8, 2022. It was an honor to share the film with the people of Falmouth, the place that inspired its creation.