Each ox was Ox (Short film)

Aim

Two Glaswegian men unexpectedly find catharsis in a mystical old abattoir where they lose all personal memories except for local folklore.

The Project

Matchfunded by National lottery through Creative Scotland.

With a script written from first-hand accounts of locals, a diverse Scottish crew, led by actors with BAFTA Scotland nods and culminating in a free neighbourhood screening event... This is more than a film, it's a Scottish community project.

Synopsis 

Late at night in a post-industrial landscape of East Glasgow, two men (Blair and Ninian) are drawn to an abandoned lot where an abattoir once stood. Upon entering the strange space, they start to lose their memories of people, including themselves. What remains intact, however, are 'communal memories' of the folklore and history of the area they grew up in: the Calton Weavers, the IRA prison shootout, the last woman hanged in Scotland and a cow fleeing slaughter wandering along the train tracks...

Ninian usually comes to the lot to escape people and the trauma in his everyday life, while Blair has tried to shut the city out since his father died - but both men end up forming an unexpected bond when they reconnect with their city...

As they are driven deeper into the lot in search of the Molendinar Burn - the hidden river beneath Glasgow that the city was originally founded on - they come across violent, haunting echoes of the industrial past. The film culminates in the men maniacally re-enacting the procession of sheep through the zig-zagged corridor of the 'raceway' towards slaughter, when all of a sudden the sun comes, up their memories return and they realise they are neighbours in the same tenement. 

(Photo of the Meat Market offices)

Director's statement

With a complex personal background raised between Scotland, France and South Africa, my work constantly refers back to memory, identity and politics- and how they interrelate. These are also the core three pillars of Each ox was Ox.

The film imagines: what changes in a person’s identity and behaviour, if they lose all the memories of the people in their life?

Born out of a difficult phase when I desired to 'forget' my life, this script drew on my time living in and wandering around East Glasgow’s post-industrial spaces, talking to locals and feeling inspired and restored learning of the layers of history and myth in the area. The film reflects on the existential pressures to forget/repress as well the catharsis to be found in keeping communal memory alive.

Through sharing hidden histories, our two characters discover renewed meaning in their lives, and their relationship also reflects a prescient need for men to talk more openly, leaving shame and awkwardness aside and reflect on the places that shaped them.

Producer's Statement

This project speaks directly to my practice as a producer and to my company, Get Tae Collective (GTC) which supports emerging Scottish artists to tell distinctive stories rooted in community. Its setting in Dennistoun’s former abattoir makes the project urgent: a contested site under repeated redevelopment proposals. It functions as a snapshot of history before it is redeveloped and stands as symbol to the resistance of the erasure of heritage. 

The film also inherently carries a strong sustainability message that challenges the capitalist cycle of demolition, instead advocating for restoration and remembering.  

As such, we have measures in place to make the production as 'Green' as possible, working with a small footprint crew, using power blocks instead of generators, hiring locals to reduce car-usage and carpooling when necessary.

Community Engagement

We have interviewed Dennistoun and Calton locals to fill the script with lived experiences and where we can, try to hire locals. We have organised a planned visit of a young Scottish film enthusiast (the inspiration for the name, Ninian) who has Autism Spectrum Disorder to visit the set for a day and learn about the film processes. 

We are also very excited about collaborating with a local community venue in summer 2026 when we will put on a free screening event of the film alongside other projects that explore and address the local area's identity.

Set in an area that is making a concerted effort to resist gentrification, the project champions remembering and mythmaking in working-class communities today. By collaborating with locals from the scriptwriting stage and using archival video from the Library of Scotland, it aims to reassert cultural memory, encouraging other audiences to look closer at their own surroundings and join in protecting their integrity.

Talent attached

Committed to nurturing local and marginalised talent we will have a totally Glaswegian cast and Scottish crew (self-defined by individuals), and at least a 50:50 split of female/non-binary crew to male and several neurodivergent talent.

Jacob Abraham (Co-leading actor)

Paternal advice (BAFTA Scotland 2025 Best Short Winner). Off the Hook (Selected for Aesthetica and Edinburgh Short Film Festival 2025)  Strike BBC series (2024).

Billy Mack (Co-leading actor)

BAFTA Scotland nominee for Redhill (2019)

Seen on TV in Still Game, Shetland, Rab C Nesbitt and Only Child.

Producers: Calum Davenport and David Virgo

Calum is a producer from the highlands with experience working in blue-chip documentaries and current affairs for major broadcasters such as the BBC, Channel Four and ITV.

David is the founder of Scottish film production company GET TAE Collective.

Director: Jack Ruthenberg

A Bournemouth Film School alumnus whose work consistently revolves around political history and memory, his debut short The Pulse of Dye was selected for festivals in London and Paris and his script for Each ox was Ox led him to the shortlist for Glasgow Film New Talent mentorship scheme. As cinematographer his work has been selected at London International Documentary Festival and Sentiero Film Lab, Italy.

Identifying as British-South African, his family have lived in Scotland since he went to high school here in 2013 and he currently resides in Dennistoun, Glasgow.

The Style

Where the funds will go:

Providing a fair wage to our exclusively Scottish cast and Scotland-based crew. 

Our distribution plan:

To get 'Ox' in front of as many people as possible, we are planning to collaborate with film festival strategy consultants / agencies and distributors to submit to festivals both local, national and international. We will arrange a free screening at a local community venue and hopefully screen at other Glasgow venues such as the CCA or Glasgow Women's Library and eventually release the film free to watch online.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made