Documentary

Documentary

The End of the Counter

9th August 2021

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A humorous investigation into the supermarket revolution of the 1960s that saw counter service replaced by self-service market chains in Ireland.   Supermarkets are a topic close to director Laura McGann’s heart – her grandfather, Mattie Melia, introduced and established one of the first supermarkets in rural Ireland. When franchises began to swallow up small corner shops in England, Irish shopkeepers saw that they […]

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Home

9th August 2021

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Empty houses are explored by a roving camera, the stories of their current and former inhabitants are told in intimate voiceover. Aoife Kelleher’s poetic short documentary explores how lives are shaped by the homes in which we lived. Early living spaces can define how we are perceived by others and how we feel about ourselves. A […]

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Fumbling Towards Ecstasy

4th August 2021

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A wry tale of how one women’s sensuality is confined by a garden fence.  A woman breaks free of her monotonous daily routine tending to her husband by escaping into her garden; its sensual pleasures evident in her minutely-observed expressions of delight. The garden’s sights and sounds offer welcome distraction as do the attentions of her neighbour.   This winsome, dialogue-free film celebrates the often-overlooked sensuality […]

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Fall Into Half-Angel

4th August 2021

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A documentary exploring the romantic and artistic relationship between two trapeze artists.  Trapeze artists Ken Fanning and Tina Segner perform a series of breath-taking feats in the air as they reflect on their relationship and the profound physical and emotional trust that their partnership demands.    This is not your traditional love story: boy meets girl; they fall in […]

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Documentary

Bye Bye Now

4th August 2021

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Residents of rural Ireland reminisce on the joys and sorrows of phone boxes as they become obsolete in the modern world.  When phone boxes were first introduced in Irish villages in the 1920s, there was stern competition between local businesses to have one installed outside their property. The phone box would assume a monumental role […]

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Documentary

A City Solitary

15th June 2021

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Opening with a quote from Lamentations ‘How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people’ and the melody of Londonderry Air (more recognisable to many as the tune of Danny Boy), this expository documentary is an early collaboration between Terence McDonald and John Hume, based on Hume’s research towards his 1964 thesis on the city of Derry (later published as Derry Beyond the Walls, 2002). By focusing on Derry’s economic and social history, the […]

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Long Hard Road

18th March 2021

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With opening and closing remarks from John Hume, Long Hard Road is a promotional film designed to appeal to American benefactors, highlighting the social improvement projects that have been aided by funds channeled from the Northern Ireland Resurgence Trust. Hume advocates that the real wealth of Northern Ireland is in its own people and that the people must harness their talents to lift themselves up.  Projects which have secured funding include building […]

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The Portable Theatre

18th March 2021

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An appealing portrait of the McCormick players, one of the last travelling theatre groups in Ireland in the late 1960s.  Terence McDonald captures their variety show of songs, sketches and puppetry, along with interviews with the family members, most of whom were born into the business and have been on stage from as young as three years […]

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The City of Londonderry

18th March 2021

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Where McDonald and Hume’s Two Hours From London is aimed at encouraging tourism to the region, The City of Londonderry promotes the Derry of the late 1960s as a centre of industrial development and economic potential. The city’s origins, surroundings, transport links, population demographics, technical education and leisure facilities are set out as important reasons for the expansion […]

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The Open Door

18th March 2021

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The Open Door is a public information film from the 1960s encouraging the use of mental health services in the region of Derry. It is empathetically told from the point of view of a fictional character, burdened with the stresses of modern life, who checks himself into the Gransha Psychiatric Hospital, and emerges after six weeks […]

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The Option

18th March 2021

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Hear the views of the men behind the cloth in this humanising short documentary examining the changing role of the Roman Catholic priest in 1970s Ireland.   In a range of interviews with clerics such as Father, later Bishop, Edward Daly and lay-people topics of celibacy, women, charity and social class are discussed. They reflect on what drew them to the […]

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The Parish Centre

18th March 2021

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Fr Michael Collins guides Terence McDonald through the many activities of the rural parish of Iskaheen/Muff, County Donegal, and the progressive social changes in evidence there.  The local Catholic Church has developed initiatives to become more engaged with its congregation in recent years. Children attend school where they are encouraged to use craft, music and drama to enhance […]

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