Eriskay - A Poem of Remote Lives This short film is a study of Eriskay's crofting life, filmed by Dr. Kissling during a summer spent on the island in 1934. In Michael W. Russell's book: A Poem of Remote Lives, Images of Eriskay 1934. The Enigma of Werner Kissling 1895-1988, it becomes clear that Werner Kissling truly was an enigma. Dying in poverty in a Dumfries nursing home in 1988, he left behind a single suitcase, filled with personal papers, photographs and lantern slides, but which gave the clue to a unique life. They told the story of a German aristocrat whose life mirrored the 20th century and who was also passionately involved in the ordinary people of the Western Isles. Born in Silesia (then in the German Empire, but now part of Poland) in 1895, Kissling grew up in luxury, the second son of a wealthy brewing magnate and a mother who dabbled in the arts and in particular in photography. In the suitcase was a postcard sent by his mother from the Isle of Lewis in 1905 which inspired a love of the Hebrides in Kissling that was to last until his death. home