Obair Là

A workplace conversation about the relative merits of a fighter jet and a rocket ship - Obair Là/Working Day is a charming little piece of fun. The voices are those of children, a recorded conversation given older flesh by actors. Jenny Forbes' film is from 2011, but later, non-Gaelic iterations of the same notion will be familiar to those to whom gummy sweets of German origin have been marketed.

The real ways in which school prepares you for the working world are often subtle - putting up with inane chatter, agreeing that two things are both the best because they are each better than the other, saying nothing while your colleague misidentifies features in a dolphinesque aeroplane sculpted from some Blu-Tak(TM) style temporary adhesive. The contrasts and similarities are well explored in a brief and breezy film.

Showing as part of the opening event of Glasgow's 2018 Short Film Festival, Obair Là was representing a strong strand of Gaelic language films within this year's programme. Though it was the oldest of the films shown, it's aged well, and as the closing film of the screening its inherent sweetness made it a fitting dessert.