The Guga Hunters of Ness (2011) Day's first feature was 2011's
The Guga Hunters of Ness. The documentary follows a group of men from
Ness on the
Isle of Lewis in the
Outer Hebrides of Scotland who maintain the local tradition of travelling to the rocky islet of
Sula Sgeir and catching a quota of guga, or young
gannets. The guga are then returned to Ness to be prepared and eaten by some of the locals. Day and his crew filmed the hunters' preparations on Lewis before travelling to Sula Sgeir to document the hunt.
BBC Scotland purchased the rights and premiered the film in January 2011.
The Islands and the Whales (2016) Day's second offering was
The Islands and the Whales. The piece documents the tradition of
whale hunting in the
Faroe Islands, and examines how scientific, ecological and political factors are impacting the viability of the practice. The film received critical acclaim, taking prizes at the
Phoenix Film Festival,
RiverRun International Film Festival,
Hot Docs in Canada and
DOC NYC. The film was also nominated for an
Emmy, a
Scottish BAFTA and the documentary prize at the
Edinburgh International Film Festival, where the film premiered. Day received a
Peabody Award for the film at the 77th Annual Peabody Awards Ceremony in
New York. The film won Best Environment Film at the 2018
Kendal Mountain Festival.
Cowboy Poets (2022) Day's third feature,
Cowboy Poets, was released in 2022. The film documents established and aspiring performers in the
cowboy poetry genre and builds towards the
National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in
Elko,
Nevada. The work was nominated for prizes at the
Cleveland Film Festival, the
Zurich Film Festival and the
Camden International Film Festival. ==References==