In this moving, singular essay film, Donal Foreman draws on three decades of unique, never-before-seen archive, deftly weaving together a history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland with his own search for the father he barely knew, Irish-American political filmmaker Arthur MacCaig. Through forensic examination of MacCaig’s footage—including material from his seminal 1979 documentary The Patriot Game—Foreman comes to know his father anew, and in the process provokes a riveting exchange between two filmmakers born into different political moments. The result is a fascinating, candid portrait (and self-portrait) that collapses the boundary between the personal and the political.

Screens with:
Irish Voices | Arthur MacCaig | 1995 | 13’

+ Q&A with director Donal Foreman, hosted by Michael Temple, director of the Birkbeck Institute of the Moving Image.

In Partnership with the Irish Film Festival and the Essay Film Festival

Supported by Culture Ireland as part of GB18: Promoting Irish Arts in Britain

If you like this… The Patriot Game also screens on Sep 8 

“Donal Foreman is an Irish filmmaker living in New York City. He has been making films since he was 11 years old. Since then, he has written and directed two feature films and over 50 shorts. At age 17, he won the title of Ireland's Young Filmmaker of the Year.”