This impressive first feature of American filmmaker Anna Thomas has met with success at numerous film festivals - Cannes and Edinburgh among them. Thomas, a UCLA film school graduate, describes The Haunting of M:
“This is the story of a haunting, and of a family. It is set in the turn of the century, in a country estate, and was shot entirely on location in Scotland, at Kellie Castle in Fife. There is a man who refused to die, an old woman who didn't want to live, and a young girl who hasn't learned yet that she is mortal, and that life can be ordinary.
“A sequence of events long bottled up in the memories of an older generation tries to repeat itself, and two sisters are drawn into the ghostly encounter. One is strangely susceptible to the influence of a ghost; the other tries staunchly to prevent it. But their parents are blind to what is happening - they fear the past and at the same time cling to a past that never was.
“In the end, a choice is made, and as always - for everything gained something is lost.” --Anna Thomas, Edinburgh Film Festival, 1979.