An Tobar and Mull Theatre marked Our Freedom with a powerful, island-wide creative project that brought together community voices, young composers, and local history. Through film, storytelling, and sound, they created a living portrait of Mull during wartime and explored how memories of VE Day continue to resonate across generations.

A Living Archive of Mull’s Wartime Stories

At the heart of their contribution was Memories of an Island at War, a new film by Alasdair Satchel. Blending archival footage and photographs with images created in An Tobar’s workshops, the film wove together the voices and testimonies of Mull residents to illuminate everyday life during and after the war. The result was an evocative, community-rooted reflection on the island’s past and its shared national heritage.

Intergenerational Storytelling

An Tobar and Mull Theatre hosted a special intergenerational workshop in which elders and young people exchanged memories of wartime Mull and VE Day. Beginning with a story from a community elder and carried forward by a younger participant, the workshop celebrated how lived experience can be passed on, reimagined, and kept alive. The gathering was filmed and photographed, with highlights later incorporated into the final VE Day film.

Young Composers Bring History to Life

A series of creative sound workshops invited young people to compose, record, produce, and sync an original soundtrack for the film. Working closely with the director, participants explored how sound shapes storytelling, learning storyboarding, research, composition, editing, mixing, and syncing to picture. Their music was performed live at the film’s premiere, offering a moving, intergenerational response to the voices and histories they encountered.