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Nuada came into creation quite spontaneously and without any real expectations of how popular it would become. As a student of Humanities, faced with the daunting prospect of dissertations-on-any-subject-of-interest, my long-standing fascination with The Wicker Man seemed to me the obvious way of fusing together all that is mythical, philosophical, and literary, under one deliciously thought-provoking roof.
Yet from the moment I began my research in September 1998, I began to think I was perhaps alone in my admiration of the film. The sheer scarcity of information was both frustrating and peculiar to say the least; that virtually all books ever written on British cinema completely omit any mention of The Wicker Man convinced me further that some kind of written material on the film was long overdue. That's where Nuada came in - call it a kind of afterthought, it certainly opened up a few surprising paths; within weeks of actually putting out the feelers on the film it became clear that I was going to have my work cut out for me , so to speak. Just answering all the letters which came flooding in proved to be a full-time job.
The response I received to an ad I placed in the Galloway Gazette (Galloway being the place where much of the film was shot) was unbelievable, everyone from local people to cast and crew members, to the national press and various radio stations contacted me in the space of one weekend. The very fact that here I was suddenly discussing the film with a whole host of interested parties confirmed that my initial suspicion - that the film may have gone by unnoticed by all except me - was a touch paranoid on my part.
Since then Nuada has come a long way and I've met many who were involved in the making of the film, and even more so in the way of enthusiasts from all over the UK and America. With two editions in circulation at present, and a third on its way in time for early Spring, and still no sign of interest dying out, who can say what course Nuada will take in the future.
I suspect that The Wicker Man, on the other hand, with its potential for reflecting fresh meaning to successive generations, together with the exciting developments taking place around the film, will continue to burn brightly for a long, long, time to come yet.
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