The After ’16 Collection is a creative response by Irish filmmakers to the events of Easter 1916, funded by Fís Éireann/ Screen Ireland (formerly Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board).
A meticulously restored collection of films by American naturalist Benjamin Gault, depicting daily life and costal wildlife in Cork and Kerry in the 1920s.
This collection of films made for Bord Fáilte illustrate the development of the Irish tourist industry and the image that ‘brand’ Ireland was endeavouring to project, as it marketed itself as an international tourist destination.
This substantial collection of films provides a vibrant overview of childhood in Ireland from the 1930s to more recent times, offering insights into changing expectations of children; their role in family life and their experiences in Irish society over 80 years.
This collection consists of two short films made by Colin Hill during summers with his maternal grandparents in County Cork.
The Department of Foreign Affairs was one of the many state bodies in Ireland to commission culturally worthy and educationally important films to be produced on its behalf, and would often partner with the National Film Institute (now the IFI).
Desmond Egan was a skilled, amateur filmmaker with a background in professional production. This collection of silent, colour films includes home movies, short dramas and documentaries which, unlike those of many other amateurs, are finely-crafted and edited works.
The Early Irish Free State Collection leads on from our previous historical release The Irish Independence Collection and explores aspects of the fledgling nation. IFI enlists the expertise of Brenda Malone (National Museum of Ireland) to add context to depicted events, people and locations, many of which were originally missed by non-Irish cataloguers.
Father Jack Delany served as a parish priest in the 1930s and 1940s, primarily on Seán McDermott Street, Rutland Street and Gardiner Street. His films of school events, tenement life, religious processions, and scenes within the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity Convent (which housed a Magdalene Laundry) provide us with a glimpse of life in Dublin at the time.
F-Rated: Short Films by Irish Women presents a varied selection of stories told through the prism of the female gaze. The films are drawn from collections preserved in the IFI Irish Film Archive, bringing together 36 short films made by Irish women over four decades.
The Amharc Éireann (A View of Ireland) Collection is a series of newsreels showcasing Irish interest subjects from hard news stories to lighter magazine-like items. Amharc Éireann was produced by Gael Linn and screened in cinemas from 1956 to 1964.
Gearrscannnáin draws together a wealth of short film material, sound-tracked as Gaeilge and demonstrating the loveliness and liveliness of the language across a range of film forms.
The Guinness Archive has partnered with the IFI Irish Film Archive to catalogue, digitise and preserve a collection of 16mm and 35mm adverts made between the 1950s and ’90s. Dive into this curated collection of 85 adverts which feature a wealth of talent both behind and in front of the camera.
The Guinness Film Society, in existence since the early 1950s, was one of a number of film societies that brought independent and auteur cinema to Irish audiences. The Guinness Film Society Film Group was an amateur filmmaking group set up in February 1968.
This collection of the Horgan Brothers’ films (1910- 1920) are some of the earliest moving images made in Ireland. Brothers Philip, James and Thomas Horgan began their careers in the late 19th century in Youghal, Co. Cork.
Our inaugural playlist is curated by director Lenny Abrahamson, who selects his favourite films on the IFI Archive Player and preserved in the IFI Irish Film Archive.
Our second IFI Filmmaker Playlist is curated by filmmaker and visual artist Trish McAdam. Since the production of her early shorts in the 1980s, Trish has created a vibrant and varied body of work, embracing a range of forms and subjects and retaining a singular, independent voice.
The IFI Irish Film Archive, supported by a grant from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland’s Archiving Funding Scheme, digitised, restored and preserved a large collection of 35mm film television advertisements made in the 1960, ‘70s and ‘80s. These commercials were made for broadcast on Irish television by prolific Irish advertising agencies.
The period 1900-1930 was one of the most turbulent in Irish history, with WW1, the Easter Rising, the War of Independence, the Irish Civil War all taking place. Due to the emergence of cine camera technology in the 1890s these three decades are the first to be widely documented on film.
This collection of short films preserved in the IFI Irish Film Archive celebrate James Joyce – the man and his literature. Joyce, himself a regular and passionate cinema goer, managed the Volta, one of Ireland’s first dedicated cinemas, for a short time when it opened its doors in December 1909.
Loopline has been at the heart of Irish independent broadcasting since its foundation in 1992 by Sé Merry Doyle. This is a collection of important and diverse documentaries on topics such as folklife, ethnology, architecture, art, literature and inner-city life.
Following The Loopline Collection Volume 1, this next tranche unveils the TV series Hidden Treasures, Mná an IRA and outtake excerpts from an unfinished film on documentary filmmakers.
Filmmaker Louis Lentin produced drama and documentary works for RTÉ for close to thirty years before embarking on an independent career, where his pioneering works uncovered injustices in Ireland’s past and were instrumental in effecting significant changes in Irish society.
Monsignor Reid acquired his first ‘movie’ camera in the mid-1930s. He continued to film until the 1970s and captured a wide variety of holiday and family activities in the United States, Ireland, France, Spain, England and Italy.
A great short film, like a great short story, conjures worlds with clarity and economy, bringing viewers on journeys which are brief but deeply engrossing. Since the 1950s, Irish filmmakers have mastered the short film form and secured international recognition with Academy Award® nominations and victories.
The O’Kalem films are remarkable examples of silent era filmmaking and claim to be the first fiction films made on two continents. They also illustrate the Irish emigrant experience in America at the start of the 20th century.
Patrick Carey was a prolific Irish filmmaker of considerable renown. His passion lay in the natural environment which he approached with awe, meticulousness and endless patience to create films that were supremely assured in their simplicity, and which garnered two Oscar nominations.
Radharc was an independent production company established by Father Joe Dunn, Father Desmond Forristal and other like-minded priests to make programmes for television and non-theatrical exhibition. Between 1961 and 1996 they made over 400 films in 75 countries on social, political and religious issues.
Roy Spence is an award-winning amateur filmmaker. For the past 50 years, Spence has been making and screening a series of remarkable and sometimes eccentric films in his cinema in Comber, Co. Down. The films span many genres from sci-fi, horror to folk-life documentaries, shot between 1965 and 1986.
For centuries Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, has been revered as the founder of Christianity in Ireland. Today, his feast day on March 17th is a day inextricably associated with national identity as Ireland and Irishness are celebrated throughout the world in a colourful slate of cultural and religious events.
Terence McDonald was a teacher, film historian, film collector and pioneering amateur filmmaker. Born in the city of Derry in 1926, the films he made during his lifetime are diverse in genre and subject and range from short comedies and experimental films to documentaries.
Women in Focus is a curated selection of films by five wildly independent amateur women filmmakers: Margaret Currivan; Agnes Heron; Flora Kerrigan; Beres Laidlaw; and Sister Maureen MacMahon.