It was a film born out of the love of two places, Italy and Scotland, and out of an intense personal friendship and collaboration with the late Jessie Kesson whose original story this was. Like most first films it was made with passion and conviction on a small budget and in the most trying of conditions (not least the weather in the north of Scotland and the attempt to shoot all the seasons of the year in a five week period), but I think these are precisely the elements which have brought it a depth of poetry which convinced me that this was how I should always try to make films. In other words in this film I found myself and style of film-making, trying to get directly to the heart in the simplest and most atmospheric way, without saying too much or patronising the audience with sentimentality or cheap tricks.
To my surprise the film was a great critical success in Europe, particularly in Italy, where it has never been forgotten. It led directly, ten years later, to the making of Il Postino, for one of its greatest admirers was Massimo Troisi who invited me to Italy to make an Italian film 'exactly the same as Another Time, Another Place'."
Michael Radford 1996