Crowdfunding campaign for Fife documentary on benefits of hillwalking cancelled

Insets: Anas Hassan, Ross Cunningham, Tom Alner. Below: Tom, Megan Moss, Anas, Ross, Jenni Leigh, and Gavin Hugh (Pics: Submitted)

A crowdfunding campaign by a Fife film crew to produce a feature-length documentary on the mental health benefits of hillwalking has been cancelled.

The film, Mountains Mend Minds, had been intended to follow the adventures of Ross Cunningham, a Munro-bagger from Glenrothes who recovered from severe depression by hillwalking through Scotland with his west-highland terrier, Dex.

MidgieBite Media, a Kirkcaldy-based digital media business, had been behind the plans and an online crowdfunding appeal had been launched earlier this month in a bid to raise £5000 for the project.

However, this week the decision was taken to cancel the fundraising campaign.

In a post on social media, MidgieBite Media said: “Very sincere #thanks to everyone who has supported the #MountainsMendMinds campaign on @Kickstarter! Regrettably, due to a number of factors, the campaign has been cancelled. However, we'll be pushing ahead on a smaller documentary project with @RCunningham_MMM very soon!”

Ross was the inaugural winner of Scotland’s ‘Media/Online Walking Champion’ award at the Scottish Walking Awards, is a member of the Scottish Parliament’s cross-party group on mental health, a Mountains for the Minds ambassador for Trail magazine; and a regular fundraiser for mental health charity SAMH.

The documentary would have featured him taking novice hillwalkers under his wing, to see if getting outdoors could help with their own mental health challenges, as well as showcasing the stories of others who have felt the benefits of exploring Scotland’s mountains.

The film intended to build upon the Mountains Mend Minds blog, founded by Ross in 2020 to encourage more Scots to get out into the hills of their native landscape.

MidgieBite Media’s Gavin Hugh, and a close friend of Ross, planned to produce and direct Mountains Mend Minds. The pair have previously collaborated on two shot films about hillwalking for BBC The Social. The crew also included Tom Alner from White Wolf Media as director of photography; Megan Moss from The Scottish Drone Co and Jenni Leigh, a Kirkcaldy-based photographer.