IFI Irish Film Archive
Sea Lion
Duration35s
Live-action version of the famous Guinness billboard sign where a sea lion steals its keeper's drink.
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Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill - Imprint: Writer in Profile
In this Writer in Profile interview, Irish-language poet Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill discusses her early childhood in England where she grew up speaking both English and Irish. At the age of five, she went to live with her aunt in Co Kerry and was spurred to write Irish-language poetry after her first visit to the Gaeltacht. Ní Dhomhnaill believes that writing in Irish can be a liberating experience and she discusses her position as a female poet in relation to the limited readership of Irish-language writing. The interview ends with an amusing story about Ní Dhomhnaill being recognised by people on the street who are familiar with her poems. Imprint, a literature review programme, and its sister show Imprint: Writer in Profile screened on RTÉ1 for three seasons. Both were presented by Irish poet, writer and lecturer Theo Dorgan. Over the course of the Writer in Profile series Dorgan conducted extended, in-depth interviews with a wide range of Irish and international writers including Colm Tóibín, Bernard MacLaverty, Jennifer Johnston, Joseph O’Connor, Michael Longley, Doris Lessing, John Montague, Eavan Boland, Gore Vidal, Richard Ford and Margaret Atwood.
Island
The Irish-speaking customers of an isolated pub on a remote western island wait patiently for a delivery of Guinness, until finally the keg-filled currach is spotted. This well-known advert won a Clio award in New York for Arks Advertising in 1978, a Silver Cannes Lion and further awards from the Advertising Awards Festival, ICAD and Rank Screen Awards. Subtitles kindly provided by Báirbre Dolan and Saidhbh Ní Dhúlaing.
Fathom
Fathom is a short documentary about the Fastnet Lighthouse, located on the most southerly point of Ireland off the coast of Cork. Weaving together a series of archival films, this documentary captures the majesty of the Fastnet Lighthouse, the intricacy of its construction and operation and the mighty power of the surrounding sea. Marrying vivid imagery with a spare and dialogue-free soundscape, this essayistic film considers solitude, meditation and the process of thinking, in this most isolated spot. Co-directed with Pat Collins, Sharon Whooley has noted that she was greatly inspired by the writings of James Joyce and Scottish poet Nan Shepard, whose works touched on the ideas of co-existing time frames and temporalities in conjunction with the significance of physical locations. This film is part of F-Rated: Short Films by Irish Women.
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 four-laned artery 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.
The Causeway of the Giants
The majestic Giant’s Causeway, Co. Antrim, takes centre stage in this film from the Pathetone Weekly cinemagazine from 1935. A man clambers on some of the 37,000 basalt rock columns as a narrator describes the location as one of the ‘wonders of the world’. Most of the rocks are hexagonal in shape but there is one octagonal rock is known as the Keystone . Good fortune awaits those who sit in the Wishing Chair or drink from the Wishing Well. The narrator tells the legend of how an Irish giant built the causeway while trying to get to Scotland to fight a rival. He then adds how ‘it is probably really formed by volcanic action’ and is “one of the most superb rock formations in the world”. This film is part of The Irish Independence Film Collection – The Early Irish Free State that explores facets of Irish society after the War of Independence and up to the birth of the Irish Republic.
Dermot Bolger - Imprint: Writer in Profile
Novelist and poet Dermot Bolger sits down with Theo Dorgan to discuss his life and work. In particular, he explores the misperception of his writing as 'realism', his establishment of Raven Arts and his admiration of W.B. Yeats. Other topics are discussed including dealing with death and loss, criticism and ‘coincidental writing’. Bolger compares the writing process to a journey undertaken where the destination is unknown. He champions the work of Irish writer Francis Stuart and explores the synchronicity of his writing and current affairs. Imprint, a literature review programme, and its sister show Imprint: Writer in Profile screened on RTÉ1 for three seasons. Both were presented by Irish poet, writer and lecturer Theo Dorgan. Over the course of the Writer in Profile series Dorgan conducted extended, in-depth interviews with a wide range of Irish and international writers including Colm Tóibín, Bernard MacLaverty, Jennifer Johnston, Joseph O’Connor, Michael Longley, Doris Lessing, John Montague, Eavan Boland, Gore Vidal, Richard Ford and Margaret Atwood.