Creative Scotland Crowdmatch has provided £7,000 of match funding
THE BOOKWOMEN - Short Film
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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Aim
Help us create a short film inspired by the Packhorse Library Project, celebrating female resilience, and the power of education.
About the project
Match funded by Creative Scotland.
The Bookwomen is a short film inspired by the real Packhorse Library Project of 1930s Kentucky, where women travelled on horseback to deliver books to remote communities during the Great Depression. It’s a story about access to knowledge, quiet resistance and the ways women carve out freedom in impossible circumstances.
Visually, the film is grounded in the aesthetic and narrative language of the classic Western but reimagined through a distinctly female lens. While there are horses, guns, an antagonist, and themes of struggle to adapt to changing times, The Bookwomen is a neo-western which reimagines many of the western tropes. The Western often oppresses women, but here the women have agency over their futures. It’s no longer men rescuing women, but women saving each other and, ultimately, themselves. The climactic showdown deliberately happens off screen, and the film rejects romanticised ideas of the west.
The film
Set in the mountains of Kentucky in 1936, The Bookwomen follows Ethel, a 10 year old girl living rurally with her mother Grace, and father Bert during The Great Depression. Ethel’s favourite time of the month is the arrival of the pack Horse librarian, May. These visits offer rare moments of escape, but Bert openly resents the Bookwomen and forbids books in his home, seeing them as a dangerous distraction and a threat to his authority.
About me and the team
I’m Meg, a Scotland-based director with a background in documentary filmmaking, photography and social-led storytelling. My work focuses on authenticity, emotional honesty and underrepresented voices. I’m passionate about making work that feels lived-in and respectful of its subjects, whether in documentary or fiction.
I’ll be working with a small, experienced creative team who share this approach - prioritising collaboration, care and craft. The aim is to create a safe, thoughtful working environment that reflects the values of the story itself.
Producer - Léa Luiz de Oliveira
Léa is an award-winning French-Brazilian producer and filmmaker currently based between Scotland and Switzerland. Since 2012, she has created and delivered ambitious creative projects in Europe, Brazil, Turkey, UK & Korea. Most recently, she produced the BAFTA-nominated Friends on the Outside by Annabel Moodie and Mother's Influence by Meg Wriggles. She is currently producing a new slate of documentaries, as well as her first drama, Bubbles by Jagoda Tłok, as one of the producers selected for the 2025 cohort of the NFTS Sean Connery Talent Lab and Eurodoc 2026.
Cinematographer - Nelisa Alcalde
Nelisa Alcalde is a Spanish cinematographer based in the UK whose work is rooted in strong collaboration with directors and production designers. She places particular emphasis on pre-production, often describing it as essential to her process, and is drawn to storytelling through mise-en-scène and carefully composed visual worlds. She trained at FAMU Prague, where she honed her craft shooting on 16mm and 35mm film. Her graduation film, Honey Bunny Duracell, received the Best Student Cinematography Award from the Czech Association of Cinematographers (AČK).
Alcalde has previously collaborated with Meg on Mother’s Influence (2025) and with Léa on Bubbles (2026), directed by BAFTA-nominated filmmaker Jagoda Tłok as part of the NFTS and BBC Films Sean Connery Talent Lab.
Colourist - Ines Sanchez
Inès Sanchez is a Paris-based colourist known for her refined visual sensibility and meticulous attention to detail. With over a decade of experience at Le Labo Paris, her credits include grading dailies for The Count of Monte-Cristo and work on The Last Duel directed by Ridley Scott. Since becoming a freelance colourist, she has continued to work on internationally recognised projects, including Across the Water, which screened at the Cannes Film Festival, and ALAZAR, which premiered at Cannes Film Festival Critics’ Week before screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival, and the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.
She has collaborated with Léa and Meg on several projects, including Mother’s Influence (2025) which premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and Slamdance Film Festival.
Historical Context
Set during the Great Depression, The Bookwomen reflects a harsh reality where unemployment in rural Appalachia soared to nearly 40%, illiteracy rates reached around 31%, and as many as 90% of children faced hunger and malnutrition. In this desperate landscape, the Pack Horse Library Project was a lifeline - a New Deal initiative where “book women” traveled hundreds of miles on horseback and foot, delivering books and vital news to isolated mountain families. Their routes spanned between 100 to 120 miles, repeated twice monthly, meaning they covered on average 4,905 miles each month. Carrying up to 100 books per trip, these women were more than librarians - they were messengers of hope, passing along not only stories but news of births, deaths, and community events. Children eagerly flocked from schools and homes, grateful for the rare opportunity to read and imagine beyond their harsh surroundings. This story pays homage to their courage and the power of literacy in the face of poverty and isolation.
Political Relevance & Urgency
This is a story about the power of art and community in the face of abuse and adversity. It speaks to the urgency of education and creative tools for women and marginalised groups, and to the need to keep these conversations at the forefront. We still urgently need films led by underrepresented voices, in the present and rooted in the past, to remind audiences that powerful role models from historically excluded groups have always existed and should be honoured. With books being censored and minoritised communities’ rights under threat across the world, and recession hitting the UK hard, this story feels especially timely. We see women coming together and supporting one another, showing the next generation that we haven’t given up. Target audience will include those seeking a positive tale of historical female strength or overcoming economic hardship, and those already interested in the packhorse project, literature, or the westerns genre.
How will the funds will be used?
This is an ambitious project and we are conscious that £20k will only cover a part of our budget.
To make the film achievable, the director, producer, cinematographer, colourist and set designer have all agreed to give their time in kind, significantly reducing costs. We are also developing collaborations with kit houses and other creative partners to maximise the value of every pound raised.
However, there are essential costs we cannot avoid. Funding is still required to secure our filming location, work safely and ethically with horses, and pay our actors fairly for their time and talent. Your support will allow us to cover these crucial elements and ensure the film is made to a high standard, with care, professionalism, and respect for everyone involved.
The money raised will go directly into creating and distributing The Bookwomen. This includes:
- Actors Fees
- Location costs and production design to authentically realise the period
- Camera, sound and lighting equipment
- Post-production (edit, sound design, colour grade)
- Festival submissions and distribution costs
Match Funding
With match funding, your support will help ensure the film is properly resourced from development through to completion, allowing us to tell this story with the care and quality it deserves.
Creative Scotland's Match Funding
Our project is part of the Creative Scotland Crowd-match Fund.
To receive match funding, the following pledge conditions apply:
1. For every donation made to your campaign, Creative Scotland will match it £1 for £1, up to a maximum of £250 per individual donation.
2. Only one donation per supporter will be matched.
3. The campaign must receive donations from at least 25 unique Supporters to qualify for match funding.
4. Match funding counts towards the overall crowdfunding target – so the combined total of public donations and Creative Scotland match funding must reach 100% of your target for you to keep the funds.
5. If your campaign does not reach 100% of its target before closing, the match funding will be withdrawn, and no funds will be paid out.
6. Creative Scotland match funding will only be available for 8 weeks from the "live" date of the project or the approval date of the application, whichever is more recent.
Thank You!
By backing The Bookwomen, you’re helping bring an overlooked piece of women’s history to the screen - and supporting a film that centres empathy, resilience and the quiet power of knowledge.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 23rd July 2026 at 9:54am