Pouters

Directed by Paul Fegan

It is estimated that around 1,000 Scottish people, mostly men, engage in "doo fleein," a highly competitive hobby that involves stealing each other's pigeons. The sport is practiced mostly in the poorer areas, where fallow land offers ample space for imposing dovecotes equipped with ingenious mechanisms to trap competitor's birds. This short documentary focuses on two of these men living in a working-class neighborhood in Glasgow. Rab and Danny have been battling it out for 25 years. Hilarity ensues when we follow them during their hunt, with the two men exchanging mating calls and foul-mouthed diatribes with their birds, and celebrating triumphantly when they manage to catch a prized bird. Even during the interviews, in which the heavily accented duo speak about their sport and their never-ending rivalry, they always have at least one eye pointed at the sky.