Gilbertson trained as a teacher and in 1929 did a secretarial course with journalism in London. She saw an amateur film of a Loch Lomond holiday and decided filmmaking was for her, making educational films and lecturing with them in schools, she bought a 16mm camera and practised by filming two 50ft rolls in the park. Arriving in Shetland to film seasonal life in January 1931, by autumn had made A Crofter’s Life in Shetland. After cutting the film together she invited John Grierson to view it. He was enthusiastic and advised her on documentary-making techniques and to buy a professional camera, so she bought a 35mm Eyemo.
Returning to the Shetland Islands, she made five films, which Grierson bought, for the GPO Film Library, he then advised her to make a story- documentary. This resulted in The Rugged Island- A Shetland Lyric, a story of the harsh life of crofting families in the 1930s. During a 1934/35 lecture tour of Canada with "Rugged Island", Gilbertson made Prairie Winter with...
