Now We’re Talking at Docs Ireland

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On Thursday 18th June PRONI hosted a screening event as part of the Department for Communities supported Docs Ireland documentary film festival. The event highlighted the work being done by the ‘Now We’re Talking’ project, an Archive Revealed consortium grant funded project being run by PRONI and Nerve Centre which is cataloguing and promoting the archival collections of Michael J. Murphy and Sam Hanna Bell. The project has also partnered with local south Armagh history group Cuimhneamh, The National Folklore Collection, BBC Northern Ireland and NI Screen.

Rónán Breathnach-Cashell, Senior Curator with BBC Northern Ireland, who has been a key member of the steering group for the project, suggested approaching Docs Ireland. He provided a digitally restored 1981 episode of ‘Ulster in Focus’ titled The Last Druid featuring Michael J. Murphy. Reflecting on this Rónán said:

Inspired by the work of PRONI on the Michael J. Murphy collection, the original 16mm film print of Ulster in Focus: The Last Druid was specially chosen to be scanned and digitally restored by the BBC Archive team in London. A beautiful high-definition copy of this wonderful film could now be seen for the first time.

A man in a blue shirt speaking at the podium in the PRONI lecture theatre. Behind him on the screen is a black and white photograph of Sam Hanna Bell smoking a pipe at his desk. The text on the image reads 'BBC Radio Ulster - Interview with Sam Hanna Bell'
Rónán Breathnach-Cashell, BBCNI speaking at the Docs Ireland event

Rónán also selected a 1983 Radio Ulster interview with Sam Hanna Bell and Seamus McKee for the event. PRONI colleague Eva Shiels with the help of placement student Matthew McCann combined archival material from the Sam Hanna Bell and Michael J. Murphy papers at PRONI, the National Folklore Collection and BBC NI. Eva edited all these elements into a visualisation to illustrate the wonderful interview with Sam Hanna Bell talking about his time with the BBC and his writing.

Two individuals stand behind a camera on a tripod, the camera is pointed towards some original documents on a book cushion.
Eva and Matthew filming PRONI documents.

We also took the opportunity to highlight the short immersive film, The Shocking Truth, made by pupils of Dromintee Primary School with the Nerve Centre as part of the ‘Now We’re Talking’ project. This film was based on Murphy’s own writing and made by pupils of the school he attended over 100 years ago.

Kevin Murphy of Cuimhneamh introduced The Last Druid. Kevin was able to provide great context for the film, telling stories about people featured in the film. 

A man in a white shirt and black jacket standing behind the podium in the PRONI lecture theatre. Behind him on the screen is a colour still from the film showing Michael J Murphy lying in from of a gorse bush. The text on the image reads 'The Last Druid - Ulster In Focus - Michael J Murphy'
Kevin Murphy of Cuimhneamh, Mullaghbane at Docs Ireland

Fergus Hanna Bell, son of Sam Hanna Bell, also attended. Fergus read a piece of prose written by his father for the radio feature ‘This is Northern Ireland’. This was an excellent accompaniment to the radio interview highlighting the power of Bell’s writing.

A man in a cream suit stands at the podium in the PRONI lecture theatre. Behind him on the screen is a black and white photograph of Sam Hanna Bell smoking a pipe at his desk. The text on the screen reads 'BBC Radio Ulster - Interview with Sam Hanna Bell'
Fergus Hanna Bell st the Docs Ireland event.

Rónán introduced the radio interview saying: 

Sam Hanna Bell’s 1983 interview with Radio Ulster presenter Seamus McKee is an inspiring listen. For this event, we felt that including some element of visualisation alongside the radio recording would further bring the piece to life for the audience.

A girl with pink hair is wearing a VR headset with a controller in her hand
Attendee experiencing 'The Shocking Truth' in VR

The Shocking Truth was introduced by Vittoria Cafolla from Nerve Centre. She brought some VR headsets with her so attendees could view the film as it was intended. Vittoria highlighted the value of reconnecting the children of Dromintee with the work of Michael J. Murphy as many had never heard of him. The project drew out their creativity, and they produced a strikingly spooky film.

After the screening a selection of documents from both collections were displayed in the PRONI reading room. Some documents mentioned in the films were on display bringing them to life for the audience.

Many thanks to the Docs Ireland team for allowing PRONI to take part in this year’s programme. A similar event was hosted by Cuimhneamh in Tí Chulainn, Mullaghbane, Co. Armagh on Saturday 20th June.