About this Event
Welcome to the second edition of the Tweed River Festival! Join us in Melrose in the Scottish Borders for two days of river-focused creative activities: from collective net-making to riverside listening walks; costume-making to screen-printing; circus performances to photography workshops; film screenings, food, wild swimming, a parade, and more!
Conceived as a gathering of river-loving communities, the 2026 festival is the culmination of Connecting Threads’ 2026 programming theme Under, over, round and through: which borrows its title from group dance warm-ups encouraging participants to focus on their relationships to the surrounding space and to each other. We invite you to join us as we trace connections between the river, our minds, our bodies, and our communities across a multitude of scales.
Programme
The festival’s first day concludes with an evening of film and conversation, bringing together meditations on rivers and people as bodies that are fluid and ever-changing, resisting neat categorisation.
The programme centres on the premiere of Kate Liston’s new film, In the Weeds, commissioned by Connecting Threads and developed through two participatory, experimental writing workshops Kate ran with us earlier this year.
In the Weeds dir. Kate Liston (2026, 20 mins)
- A short experimental film that plays with the riddling logic of rivers. Developed through iterative engagement with the stretch of the River Tweed that is the border between Scotland and England, the film brings together hand-held 8mm footage, gestural direct animation, voice and speed-reader text in a grammar that channels the way rivers resist formal sense-making.
Let the river run both ways dir. Webb-Ellis (2026, 17 mins)
- Let the river run both ways is a layered meditation on the River Tay, and the entangled relationships between the human and more-than-human world. The work weaves together documentary footage, philosophical conversation, performance, music and online videos, to explore how rivers flow through bodies, memory, and the wider political and ecological systems we all survive within. This work was made during a 6-month residency at Forgan Arts Centre, Scotland, October 2025-March 2026.
Risky Bodies dir. Emily Beaney (2022, 8 mins)
- Risky Bodies examines the label of ‘vulnerable’ as an individual and collective identity during the Covid-19 pandemic. Through mother-daughter collaboration, we explore the complexities and possibilities of shared vulnerability, seeking to understand and represent shifting perceptions of interdependence and care.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Kate Liston.
Content and access notes for films
More detailed information on the films will be updated soon.
Ticketing
Tickets for this screening are on a pay-what-you-can basis with a free option. If you are able to, paying for your ticket(s) will help support our continued activities.
Access
Please see the access info page on our website for details on Melrose Corn Exchange. The page also contains information about access bursaries to support with travel, childcare, and other costs to attending Tweed River Festival.
Event venue & nearby stays
Corn Exchange, Market Square, Melrose, United Kingdom
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