IFI Local Films for Local People is an Irish Film Institute initiative bringing films from the IFI Irish Film Archive back to the communities they came from .
From Edna O’Brien’s The Country Girls in Co Clare, to capturing a beauty competition in Roscommon, a wet fair day in Borrisoleigh, Radharc’s wry film of holidays in Ballybunion in the 1960s, Patrick Carey’s sublime Beara (1979) to the rarely-seen King of Spades (Monard, 1947) and so much more, don’t miss a chance to see these gems on the big screen where you are.
This year, the programme will launch in Clare, at the Bealtaine Film Festival on May 15th and from there on films will be screened across the country in Roscommon, Cork, Donegal, Tipperary, Galway and Kerry.
The programmes, which are bespoke and county-specific, include both professional and amateur films documenting all aspects of Irish life from the early days of cinema to more recent times. These programmes are presented in cinemas and arts centres around the country.
Audiences are invited to come together to revisit their shared history and to celebrate the amateur and professional filmmakers who documented their county in years gone by.
“This year we look forward to presenting film programmes to new audiences in Roscommon, Buncrana, Clonmel and Scariff and to re-engaging with festival audiences in Fastnet, Galway, Cork and Kerry where appetites have been whetted with programmes in recent years.”
Sunniva O’Flynn, IFI Head of Irish Film Programming
MAY 2024
IN CLARE: The programme launches on May 15th at the Bealtaine Film Festival, with a celebration of the work of Clare native, author Edna O’Brien with the rarely seen The Country Girls (1983) directed by Desmond Davis and adapted by Edna O’Brien from her novel.
IN ROSCOMMON as part of Roscommon Reels at the Roscommon Arts Centre, May 16th.
Visiting Roscommon for the first time the IFI will present a colourful programme of fiction and factual work including films from the 1940s by Roscommon native Monsignor Reid; the Fleadh Ceoil in Boyle in 1960; a beauty competition in Roosky; a film from the National Museum of Ireland by Roscommon man John Kenny crafting a head-ring from sugán in the 1970s, and an adaptation of John McGahern’s Wheels, filmed by Cathal Black in Knockvicar House, Co Roscommon in 1976.
IN CORK as part of the West Cork Chronicle at the Fastnet Film Festival, May 24th.
Delve into the vaults of the IFI Irish Film Archive to unearth rarely seen films made in West Cork and environs from the 1940s to the 1970s. They include Patrick Carey’s sublime Beara (1979), the rarely-seen King of Spades (Monard, 1947) and Father Jack Delaney’s West Cork (1930s).
IN DONEGAL, Destination Donegal – presented by the IFI in partnership with ChangeMakers Donegal and Concern Worldwide, May 20th.
Documenting life in Donegal from the 1950s to the 1980s, the programme includes Cursaí Ostáin, a filmlet about a hotel course for young women in Bundoran in 1957; Radharc’s Irish College Ranafast, about young Gaeltacht visitors in the early 1960s; and Bob Quinn’s highly controversial documentary The Family, which revealed life inside the Atlantis Commune of “Screamers” at Burtonport, Co. Donegal (1979).
IN TIPPERARY for the first time the IFI will collaborate with the Junction Arts Festival in Clonmel to a two-part programme on July 2nd and 3rd.
Part 1 – Tipperary Tales – a varied programme of films which document life, leisure and livelihoods in Tipperary towns and villages, including Silent Order (1948) a document of life for the Trappist Monks in Roscrea; Three Kisses (1955) an Academy Award-nominated hurling film with sequences shot in Thurles; Country Magazine (1955) a wet fair day in Borrisoleigh; and Amharc Éireann newsreel stories from Holycross, Clonmel, Fanur and Thurles.
Part 2 – Celebrating the work of prolific Clonmel-based writer Una Troy, She Didn’t say No is a colourful feature film adaptation of the novel We Are Seven which tells the story of Bridget Monaghan, an unmarried, independent mother of six children who lived in in a village in Ireland in the 1950s. A timely tale of social discomfort, this film was recently re-mastered by IFI Irish Film Archive.
JULY 2024
IN GALWAY: Glamour of Galway at the Galway Film Fleadh
Drawing from the wealth of material filmed in Galway, Connemara and the Aran Islands the IFI curate a new programme of work.
OCTOBER 2024
IN KERRY: Kerry Kaleidoscope at The Kerry International Film Festival, presents a programme including a Kerry travelogue circa 1934; film of the then-inhabited Blaskets in the 1930s; closure of the Kenmare train line in 1960; and Radharc’s wry film of holidays in Ballybunion in 1963.
NOVEMBER 2024
IN CORK: Cork On Camera at The Cork International Film Festival, 7th-17th November.
Revisiting the Cork Film Festival with a new programme of films from the Archive made by and about Cork people from the 1920s to more recent times.