Contributor
Department of Foreign Affairs
Films related to Department of Foreign Affairs
Housing Discrimination
Shot in 1953, this film highlighted housing discrimination practiced by the unionist-controlled council in the town of Fintona in County Tyrone. It outlines the inequalities faced by the poorer, and usually nationalist, inhabitants, and details how new council houses are being given to unionist residents who are in less need of the houses than nationalists. It argues that the discrimination is motivated by the desire to maintain a majority of unionist voters in certain constituencies. Housing Discrimination was produced by the Information Division of the Irish Department of External Affairs (now the Department of Foreign Affairs) and was allegedly partly shot using a hidden camera. In 1954 it was distributed in Britain by the Anti-Partition League, which prompted the Northern Ireland provincial government to complain to the British government, asking it to lodge a complaint with the Irish government. The film is interesting for a number of reasons; its originator (effectively the Irish government), its subject matter (housing discrimination in Northern Ireland), its argument (discrimination represents a conspiracy against the people of Ireland by a ruling group acting in concert with the British government) and its language (virulently Irish nationalist and anti-British).
Yeats Country
Yeats Country is a lyrical film commissioned by the Department of Foreign Affairs to commemorate the centenary of the birth of William Butler Yeats. The first film made by cinematographer and director Patrick Carey in Ireland, this documentary celebrates the landscape of Yeats’s poetry through stunning photography and a voiceover rich in poetry and in biographical detail narrated by Tom St. John Barry. Evocative images of the west of Ireland illustrate the poet’s life including: Thoor Ballylee Castle where he lived; Coole Park, home of Lady Gregory where literary figures of the period socialised; Lissadell House; Knocknarea Mountain; the slopes of Ben Bulben; the waterfall at Glencar; and finally, Yeats’s grave at Drumcliffe. Yeats Country is part of The Oscar® Collection: A Selection of Irish Academy Award® Nominated Short Films. It was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Documentary Short in 1965. With kind permission of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Errigal
This stunning documentary is set against the scenic backdrop of Mount Errigal in County Donegal. The mountains of Donegal are depicted like fairytale characters, where the hero Mount Errigal competes with neighbouring villain Mount Muckish. A fantastical narrative explains that the landscape is ‘a battleground where the weapons are the elements themselves’. Dramatic footage of storms and lightning blends with a superb score by Irish composer Brian Boydell.
Hallowed Fire: The Art of Evie Hone
This short documentary about renowned Irish cubist painter and stained glass artist Evie Hone was one of a series of artist profiles commissioned by the Cultural Relations Committee of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. Filmed at her Dublin studio in Marley Park in Rathfarnham in 1950, it explores the artist’s life, creative process and influences. Hone discusses her education and upbringing, and demonstrates the process of creating stained glass. The film is shot mainly in black and white (due probably to budgetary restrictions) with colour stock reserved to show some of her finest stained glass work at the end of the film. Hone was born in 1894 in Co Dublin. Shortly before her twelfth birthday, she suffered from infant paralysis which impacted on her health throughout her life. This did not however deter her creative abilities and after years of studying art in London and Paris, she returned to Dublin to set up her own studio in Rathfarnham. Her initial love of abstract art and cubist painting was later replaced by a career working in stained glass. One of her greatest masterpieces is the Stations of the Cross window made for Kiltullagh Church in Galway, which was sold by Whyte’s Auctioneers for €42,000 in 2005. She was a friend and contemporary of Mainie Jellett and together they were instrumental in introducing modern art to Ireland.
Portrait of Dublin
This short film was made by filmmaker (later archivist) Liam Ó Laoghaire (aka Liam O’Leary) and was commissioned by the Cultural Relations Committee of the Department of External Affairs. The film was designed to promote the city of Dublin to its inhabitants and to potential visitors from abroad. Brendan Stafford’s crisp black and white cinematography serves the city’s elegant architecture well while the narrator tells of the city’s cultural, literary and architectural history and its many venerable inhabitants. The elegant Georgian squares, the bustling markets, the tranquil parks and the sparkling nightlife present a city that is vibrant, cultured and steeped in history.
