
Faithful
"Faithful" follows Vaila, a brave 13 year old girl who ventures into the scary Scottish woods in hope she will find the mythical Cù-Sìth, a fairy dog that can open a portal to the Fairy World. Vaila hopes to find the dog so that she can right a wrong from her past and bring her family back together.
Now we're looking towards what happens AFTER the film is finished!
Project
Faithful

Welcome to our crowdfunding campaign for "Faithful" a new Scottish fairytale short film from Silly Wee Films and Linger Longer Films.
"Faithful" follows Vaila, a brave 13 year old girl who ventures into the scary Scottish woods to find the mythical Cù-Sìth, a fairy dog that can open a portal to the Fairy World. Vaila hopes to find the dog so that she can right a wrong from her past and bring her family back together.
With your help, we can submit the film to festivals around the world and taking it to Comic Cons worldwide, if we are able to raise the money to do so.
Once completed, "Faithful" we will be submitting it to Amazon Prime, Google Play, Apple TV and more.
Now is the perfect time to back our short film by grabbing a perk on our Greenlit campaign and sharing the link far and wide.

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE FILM WHEN IT'S FINISHED?
Once the film is completed it will be premiered in Scotland, we will be submitting it to the STV Player for a year when we're ready. But we'd like to take the film on a tour of the Highlands and Islands and in England too.
We're looking at the likes of the Cannes Film Festival, Berlin, the Glasgow Film Festival, New York, SXSW, Canada and anywhere else we think would be the best fit for our story.
The film will also be screened at MCM COMIC CON LONDON in Spring 2025, with a panel and Q & A with some of our key creatives, and a stall for 3 days to meet with fans, sign copies of the DVD and our new poster.
This all costs money - to enter the film into the festivals, to send some of the team to all the markets, to promote the film, to make sure it is seen by the biggest audience possible. And we need YOUR help.
Ultimately our hope is to create such a wonderful end product that we can use it as a springboard to either develop it into a full length feature film or a TV series for a younger audience.
And it all starts with you. So if you'd like to be a part of our Faithful family, grab a perk and share the link! The more we raise, the more we can do!

Lily McGuire as Vaila. Photo by Sonja Blietschau.
Vaila blames herself for her Mum's death, and hopes to trick one of the dogs into finding her mum, and bringing her back. Coming dangerously close to death herself, Vaila manages to lure one Cù-Síth into her thrall, and with his help, must battle the rest of his pack, find the portal to the Otherworld - and make sure her dad doesn't discover her new "dog" or that she's out of bed after lights out!
Scotland is filled with untold folklore and fairytales that are so rarely told on screen, so we would like to dive into our mythology and tell this particular story, as it deals with grief and how we evolve as people (and creatures!) throughout our lives.
We would like to take the film around the world to as many film festivals as possible, to show off our stunning scenery and showcase the fantastic cast and crew who film in Scotland.
This campaign is so important to us as it will allow us to hire a fantastic crew and shoot our film and bring this story to life.
MEET THE CAST

Lily McGuire as Vaila
Vaila is 13 years old and obsessed with all things to do with Scottish folklore. Her mother would stay up all night reading all of her favourite fairytales to Vaila and the two formed the closest bond. However Vaila is struggling to come to terms with the loss her mother, convinced that it was her fault. And so, Vaila believes that if she can track down the Cù-Sìth, she can find a doorway to The Otherworld and bring her back.
Lily has had an interest in acting and singing since she was very young. Joining a local junior drama company when she was six years old and then at the age of eight moving into Children's Theatre, having taken part in six shows to date. This is Lily's first film role and she is delighted to be part of such an exciting production.

Gary Hollywood as Campbell
We are delighted to announce that Gary Hollywood has been cast in the role of Campbell, Vaila's Dad, in our upcoming short film.
Gary is best known for his role as Dino in the BAFTA award winning series, "Mrs. Brown's Boys" and has also starred in Taggart, Take the Highroad, and The Flying Scotsman.

Kimberely Nixon as Annabelle
BAFTA winning actress Kimberely Nixon has starred in hit shows such as "Fresh Meat" and "Outlander" and we are thrilled that she has joined our short film.
Kimberely will be playing the crucial role of Annabelle, Vaila's mother, who is thought to be lost in The Otherworld.
We are still to cast the role of Harrison, Vaila's younger brother, Michael who will meet the Cù-Sìth at the start of our film and Angus, a kindly old man who's story is wrapped up with our fairy dog.

Greg McHugh as Michael
Greg is a Scottish actor best known for his roles in Gary Tank Commander, Fresh Meat, The A Word, Guilt and a Discovery of Witches. We are delighted that Gary has joined our cast and we can't wait for you to see him in action as the mysterious Michael.

Dui and Wiki as the Cù-Sìth
Dui and Wiki will be portraying our Cù-Sìth with the help of Creature Features.
There will be a total of 3 dogs in the full short film, with our Cù-Sìth taking centre stage as Vaila attempts to reign the dog in to help her find and save her mother. Can the dog learn to evolve past its instincts to drag people to the Otherworld, or learn to love Vaila and help her on her quest?
To help bring our fairy dog to life, we will be using a mixture of live action in the form of the real life dogs, with practical and visual effects, as well as some puppetry work. A lot of work (and budget!) will go into making the Cù-Sìth come to life!

Concept Art by Ellie Kidd
The Cù-Sìth is a spectral hound from Scottish folklore that haunts the Scottish Highlands - its name essentially means Fairy Dog.
It was believed that they made their homes in rocky crevices and many accounts recall seeing glowing eyes in the shadows. The Cù-Sìth was feared due to the belief that it was a harbinger of death – much like the Grim Reaper. So while the Cat Sìth would steal the souls of the dead, the Cù-Sìth would take the soul to the afterlife. Although mostly a silent hunter the Cù-Sìth would sometimes let out three blood-curdling howls that could be heard for miles around.
Those that heard the howls would need to reach a place of safety before the third howl, or they would be overcome with fear and die from sheer terror.

Where Does My Money Go?
The more money we raise, the more we can do to:
- Submit the film to selected and appropriate film festivals around the world
- Fund expenses of the key creatives to represent the film and network with fellow professionals
- Submit the film to Comic Cons around the world
- Fund expenses of the key creatives to represent the film and network with fellow professionals
Meet The Crew


Lucy Linger - The Director
Lucy is a writer/director/producer working in film, TV and theatre. Her theatre company, established in 2003, is one of the longest running fringe companies in England, and her film production company Linger Longer Films, has created several short films, which have screened at festivals in the UK, Europe and Hollywood.
Lucy says about "Faithful" - "As someone who has always loved historical fiction, folklore and fairy tales, it really struck me that I know so little of those from Scotland. Despite working and visiting Scotland often, these narratives do not seem to have had the representation they deserve. I was excited to hear more about the Cú-Síth, and bring this story to a wider audience.

Fraser Coull - Our Writer/Producer
Fraser has been running his independent production company, Silly Wee Films, since 2005, having created the first superhero webseries in Scotland, "Night is Day" from 2005 to 2007, writing a total of 13 episodes. From 2015 to 2018 Fraser was the showrunner and one of the writers for the award winning supernatural webseries, "Cops and Monsters", which was streaming in over 60 countries on Amazon Prime.
Fraser says of "Faithful" - "It's important that we tell different stories in Scotland and celebrate our culture, history and folklore. We have a unique opportunity to do that with this short film, and I'm really excited to bring the Cú-Síth to life on the big screen!"

Valerie Andrews - Producer
Valerie Andrews is a Guatemalan actor who trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland earning an MA in 2021. She has acted and produced both plays and film in Guatemala since 2017 with her production company Lucky Cat Productions. She is very passionate about representation in the performing arts, especially of the Latinx community in Scotland.

Lindsay Dowell - Line Producer
Lindsay Jenkins will be our on set producer, working with the cast and crew on the shoot to keep everything running smoothly. Lindsay has worked on our previous projects, "Night is Day: The Movie", "Cops and Monsters" and "Origins of the Laoich". Lindsay is also the creative director for Children's Theatre Bo'ness.

Paige Smith - Set and Prop Designer
Paige will be designing our sets and props for our short film. Paige previously worked on "Origins of the Laoich" and we are delighted that she is bringing all of her passion and enthusiasm for Gaelic culture to the production.

Ewan Stewart - Director of Photography
Ewan will be our Director of Photography. Ewan runs Prickly Thistle Productions shooting dramatic and corporate productions for a wide variety of clients. Ewan was also our DOP for the "Origins of the Laoich" sizzle reel.
Updates
Juliet Cadzow joins our new short film, "Death, Whatever!"

We are delighted to have Juliet Cadzow - star of Scotch N Wry, Doctor Who, River City, and of course, Faithful - join our new short film, "Death, Whatever!"
Best Screenplay at the British Short Film Awards
As we finish up post-production on "Faithful" before our worldwide premiere at the Grosvenor Cinema on March 8th, we're delighted to announce that we have won BEST SCREENPLAY at the British Short Film Awards in London.
Support our new short film!
Thank you so much to everyone who has been supportive of our new short film, "Faithful".
We are so close to completing it and getting it out into the world!
New Behind the Scenes Video and Good News
James T Harding, professional writer from Wales, acted as our Script Supervisor on "Faithful"
Here's a behind the scenes interview with him discussing his process.
Happy Christmas From Team Faithful
Wishing all of our amazing backers and supporters a lovely and safe Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
Help Us Complete Post Production

Now that the film is officially wrapped principle photography, we are looking to the future - even more VFX shots, longer time to edit the film, work on the sound design and music - as well as commission a Scottish artist and a handful of indie musicians to compose and create an original song for
Help Us Finish Our Film!

We've got 5 days to raise £5000 over on our new Kickstarter campaign - http://kck.st/49dOpE0 - so that we can hire our VFX artist to turn our real life dogs, Wiki and Dui, into the fantastical Cù-Sìth that Vaila will be searching for our in short film.
We can finish filming the movie!

Thank you everybody, we have now reached our £10,000 goal and can hire the cast and crew for two more days of filming.
If we can now reach £3,000 by April 1st, we can afford to hire our Visual Effects Artist to create the shots to bring our fairy dogs to life in post-production.
A Gaelic Twist
We're now looking into the option of having the final completed film translated into Scottish Gaelic, with Gaelic subtitles throughout the 15 minute film.
We would need to get quotes from various Gaelic production companies.