Loch Ness: They Created a Monster

Why are we obsessed with finding Nessie?

Loch Ness: They Created a Monster In the misty Highlands, the story of the infamous, decades-long fascination with the Loch Ness Monster unfolds through vivid archive footage, rare photographs and tender interviews. Director John MacLaverty captures the dreamers, eccentrics and believers drawn to the hunt, revealing a story less about a creature in the depths, and more about the human need to believe in what lies hidden beneath the surface.


imdb

Festivals and Awards


LaurelCannes Docs 2023

LaurelSitges Documenta 2023 | Official Selection

LaurelFOCAL International Awards 2024 | Winner

LaurelInternational Film Festival of Ottawa 2024 | Official Selection

LaurelCalgary Underground Film Festival 2024 | Official Selection

LaurelMidwest Weirdfest 2025 | Best Documentary Winner

Reviews and More

"Full of intrigue and eccentric characters” – The Guardian
"A love letter to the Scottish Highlands and those who reside there” – The Indiependent
"New movie turns the lens on Nessie Hunters who put beauty spot on the global map” – The Scotsman
"Monstrously quirky…shines a sympathetic light on the various characters who have braved ridicule and made monster hunting their business…” – Alasdair Harkness, Film Authority
"If you stumble across this cheeky doc you'll be thoroughly entertained” – The Skinny, Scottish Films of the Year

The Producers


John MacLaverty – Director

For over 20 years, John MacLaverty has been directing stories from - and usually about - Scotland.
In that time, he's covered the subjects close to his heart - football, music, politics, travel - adding wit and stylistic flair when telling of the tale. Enroute he's pocketed 3 Scottish Baftas, 2 RTS awards and critical acclaim. His work has appeared on the BBC, Channel 4, ITV and has been distributed internationally. Loch Ness - They Created a Monster is his first feature doc, and bears the same characteristic warmth and wit of earlier work. Alongside his partner, he now runs Indelible Telly, a small production company based in Glasgow.


John Archer – Producer

John Archer works with great documentary directors to make their passion projects.
Jono McLeod’s My Old School premiered in Sundance 2022; Kim Hopkin’s A Bunch of Amateurs won the Audience Award in Sheffield Documentary Festival in 2022; Mark Cousins’ The Story of Film: a New Generation was the first film to play in Cannes 2021; Mark’s 14 hour Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema (Venice, TIFF and LFF) had its full premiere at TIFF in September 2019, and was awarded the European Film Academy’s inaugural Innovation in Storytelling Award. Other recent feature films are with Matt Pinder, Harry Birrell Presents Films of Love and War (Winner Audience Award GFF); Stephen Bennett, Eminent Monsters (Traverse City Film Festival); Rachel Maclean’s Make Me Up (LFF, Rotterdam, Gothenburg); Paul Wright’s Arcadia (LFF) and he produced Mark Cousins’ epic The Story of Film (Peabody Award, Stanley Kubrick Award) and has worked with directors John Boorman, Lindsay Anderson, Nagisa Oshima, Dusan Makavejev, Susan Seidelman and Istvan Szabo on films in The Director’s Place. Before running Hopscotch Films, John was the founding Chief Executive of Scottish Screen, the head of Music and Arts at BBC Scotland, and a BAFTA winning television producer for Did You See.

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