Collection
The Colin Hill Collection
2 items
Colin Hill was born in Geneva of Irish parents, both of whom came from Cork. He grew up in the US but he spent his childhood summers with his maternal grandparents, well-to-do members of the Protestant Anglo-Irish gentry, at their home Annes Grove, Castletownroche (which would serve as location for Duhallow Home). While working as a Trainee Assistant Film Editor in the BBC, Colin honed his filmmaking craft through the production of two short films Dark Moon Hollow (1971) and Duhallow Home (1973). Both were made on a shoestring (under 1000 pounds) and, Colin notes, “they both show evidence of budgetary constraints: main character’s think voice, natural lighting, non-synchronous clockwork Bolex camerawork, all wild sound post-synchronized audio, script, camera, audio, editing by myself and, except for the narrators, singer and musicians, non-professional, ordinary people as the actors”.
The young woman appearing in both films is Margaret “Maggie” Hill (née Purdon Coote) to whom Colin was happily wed for 56 years and the mother of their 4 children.
Colin continued his career as film editor in the BBC and later at ABC News where he received EMMY achievement awards and a Cine Golden Eagle for his work on long-form documentaries for ABC.
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30m 00s
In this unsettling short drama about childhood abuse, a young woman (Maggie Hill) returns from London to her home in Co. Cork. Colin explains “This project aimed to explore the West Briton experience through the eyes of a young woman. Maggie was the protagonist, who was haunted by a traumatic experience compelling her to return to the property she had inherited”. Annes Grove, Colin Hill’s grandparents’ estate in Castletownroche, Co Cork, an impressive estate with magnificent gardens, was the “big House” that drew her back. Maggie’s inner thoughts are voiced by Susannah York who, serendipitously, was in Ireland at the time filming Robert Altman’s similarly themed Images.
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17m 00s
A documentary style film about an old man’s journey from his home in Roche’s Point to Whitebay, Whitegate, Rostellan, Cork City, Iniscarra, Carrigadrohid Castle, ending up in Gougan Barra where he contemplates the grave of Cork's first Bishop (Saint Finbarr). The wanderer is played by Jim Valentine Dempsey, a gardener for 60 years, and the kindly young Morris Minor driver is played by Maggie Hill. Jim’s musings and the text of “The Heifer” are voiced by Dan Donovan of the Southern Theatre Group.