Missing Green

A solitary woman walks through the eerie night-time landscape of Dublin’s Cork Street, a street once quiet and residential, now a four-laned artery for city traffic.  

Cork Street, as described by the narrators Councillor John Gallagher, architect Gerry Cahill, journalist Frank McDonald and sociologist Aileen O’Gorman, used to be a much better place to live than it is today.  Gone are the days when people could easily cross the road to visit neighbours or children could safely play on the street. Urban planners carved out this wide throughway to connect the city with its outlying suburbs. Furthermore, a decision to fence off open spaces in an attempt to prevent  anti-social behaviour, succeeded only in  promoting social isolation for the residents who still call Cork Street home.  

The isolation is embodied in the character of a young woman (actor Niamh Algar, nominated for a BAFTA for 2019’s Calm with Horses) who walks through the deserted urban landscape as memories are narrated which no longer match the present-day surroundings.

This film is part of F-Rated: Short Films by Irish Women. To view more from the collection click here.