Established in 1967 to ease overcrowding in Dublin’s city centre, Ballymun became Ireland’s first and largest high-rise housing development. While often defined by its social challenges in media coverage, Ballymun is also a place of extraordinary community spirit, creativity, and resilience. Ballymun Community Films is a remarkable 20 film collection capturing more than 40 years of life in one of Ireland’s most storied communities. It is a snapshot of the larger Ballymun Communications Archive, and additionally features a selection of Ballymun related and inspired films including Bread & Circus’s acclaimed 2017 documentary The 4th Act, directed by Turlough Kelly and produced by Andrew Keogh, which turns a critical eye on the regeneration process.

This curated collection follows a collaborative five-year project between the IFI Irish Film Archive, in partnership with Ballymun Communications, and funded by Coimisiún na Meán, from which the Ballymun Communications Archive was compiled. Primarily made by local residents through long-standing training initiative and social enterprise Ballymun Communications, more than 1,000 hours of their community-made footage has been digitised and catalogued and is now protected for future generations in the IFI Irish Film Archive’s state-of-the-art digital preservation library. A showcase of 550 films from the Ballymun Communications Archive has been created by the IFI Irish Film Archive, and will be available for community access through Ballymun Communications.

The Ballymun Community Films collection is a personal insight into the life of Ballymun: its vibrant arts and music scene, community-led education and employment initiatives, the slow decline of its town centre, and the sweeping regeneration project that dramatically reshaped the area.

The digitisation and preservation of the Ballymun Communications Archive was made possible with the support of Coimisiún na Meán, underscoring a shared commitment to champion community storytelling and protect Ireland’s diverse moving image heritage. The project is a powerful reflection of the IFI’s core mission: to preserve the film heritage of Ireland and to ensure that future generations can engage with, learn from, and be inspired by the lived experiences of communities like Ballymun.