‘A Dairy Story’ won the Louis Marcus Award for Best Documentary at IndieCork Film Festival on Sunday 12 October, following a sold-out world premiere screening at The Arc Cinema in Cork.
The film played to a full house on 11th October, with the screening followed by a 30-minute Q&A session where audiences engaged deeply with the story of Rainton Farm’s transformation to a cow-with-calf dairy system.
Festival programmer Dervla Baker, who introduced the screening, told audiences:
“What I love about this film is that it shows the truth of transformational change - it’s not always an easy journey, but the results can be worth it in the end.”
The Louis Marcus Award is named after the legendary Irish documentary filmmaker Louis Marcus (1936-2024), who was a pioneering figure in Irish documentary cinema for over six decades.
Producer Lorna Young said:
“The response from the Cork audience was extraordinary. People connected deeply with the story - not just the farming innovation, but the courage it takes to challenge convention.”
Director Ian Findlay added:
“Winning the Louis Marcus Award at our world premiere feels like the perfect validation of what we set out to achieve - documenting a remarkable farm and the people who had the courage to change how dairy farming works. The depth of engagement from the Cork audience showed us that David and Wilma’s story resonates far beyond Scotland.”
The documentary chronicles David and Wilma Finlay’s two-decade journey developing Europe’s first commercially viable cow-with-calf dairy system at Rainton Farm in southwest Scotland.
Early reviews of the film have been overwhelmingly positive, with viewers describing it as “a heartwarming documentary about life” and “an unexpected gem” that resonates with audiences far beyond farming communities.
The film will have its UK premiere at Central Scotland Documentary Festival on Saturday 1st November at 7.45pm at the Macrobert Arts Centre in Stirling.
Tickets for the UK premiere are available at: macrobertartscentre.org/cs-doc-fest
What you told us
Audiences told us they left A Dairy Story feeling inspired. Over half were new to the cinema they saw it in, and nine in ten would go back.
Audience survey launched as community screenings approach
A one-week audience survey has been launched alongside the film’s published distribution plan, ahead of community screening bookings opening on 18 October.
The Distribution Plan
As our festival run ends, find out where A Dairy Story is on its distribution journey, including roughly when it will be available for community screenings in the UK and around the world.