A Stirring Tale

A moving new film gives Carrbridge's famous World Porridge Making Championship the Hollywood treatment

- RACHEL MCCONACHIE

RECENT cinema release has sprinkled a touch of film-star magic on the small Highland village of Carrbridge. The Golden Spurtle, Constantine Costi’s beautifully shot documentary about the World Porridge Making Championship, has been delighting audiences and sparking curiosity about the event that puts this picturesque place on the map each October.

Constantine's film is about far more than oats, water and salt. Shot with the kind of visual care that treats the Highlands like a character in its own right, it uses the competition to explore community and purpose. It also charts the gentle drama of a village celebrating a ritual that looks small on the surface but is enormous in feeling.

Constantine says, “The porridge thing is fun, absurd and wacky, but porridge is a Trojan horse for a bigger story.”

Locals have long treated the event as part pageant and part village glue, where volunteers, spurtle-makers and lifelong fans mingle with contenders from around the world, and the film has amplified that appeal.