11 Facts About Jenny Gilbertson

Jenny Gilbertson was born on 28 October 1902, in Glasgow, Scotland; the only daughter of Mary Dunn Wright, and an iron merchant, William Brown.

Jenny Gilbertson studied at Laurel Bank School, then furthered her education at Glasgow University where she earned an MA in teaching.

Jenny Gilbertson concluded that educational and documentary style filmmaking was for her after she saw an amateur film about the Scottish Loch Lomond in London; which resulted in her purchasing her first 16mm camera.

Jenny Gilbertson experienced a halt in her filmmaking career until the 1960s, due to the birth of her and her husbands two daughters, the distant location of Shetland, and World War II.

Jenny Gilbertson then purchased a 35mm Eyemo, and made five more films in Shetland; all of which Grierson bought for the GPO Film Unit.

Jenny Gilbertson made one film with Evelyn Spice Cherry, Prairie Winter,.

Later in 1947 Jenny Gilbertson accepted a temporary teaching position at the local Urafirth Primary School, which turned her supposed temporary employment into two decades.

Ideally returning to filmmaking in the 1970s, Jenny Gilbertson spent vast lengths of time in Arctic Canada producing some of her last works.

Jenny Gilbertson made a further film about Shetland, People of Many Lands- Shetland with Elizabeth Balneaves, which was broadcast by the BBC in October 1967.

All the films Jenny Gilbertson had made during her filmmaking career were focused on embracing nature, farming life, fishing, families that did such activities and anything that captured the environment she was in.

Jenny Gilbertson left behind her feat of the one-woman show; she wrote, directed, lighted, staged, filmed and edited all her films by herself and was successful in doing so.