Category Archives: documentary

GAZA

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A film by Garry Keane and Andrew McConnell.
90 mins long. Released 2019.

This powerful film shows a world which was seldom seen and which following the genocide does not exist now, it is a place of rubble. Gaza is a coastal strip along the Mediterranean which measures twenty five miles long by 6/7 miles wide. In 2019 it was home to nearly two million people.

Gaza

Following the attack by Hamas in October 2023, in which 1200 Israelis and foreign workers were killed, the subsequent relentless and brutal Israeli government attacks on Gazan civilians has claimed the lives of at least 75,000 of its children, women and men who have been killed amidst the silence from many politicians in Europe, who look the other way in spite of the objections of their own people and in spite of the Israeli attacks being described as genocide by the United Nations.


Directors, Keane and McConnell and their team have bequeathed the world a portrait of a unique place, everyday scenes with a vibrant community and people which has been largely obliterated. In spite of ongoing Israeli bombs landing in the busy streets, background images of Hamas and mass attacks on the border fences, the everyday “normal” lives of normal people continue to play out with their hopes and dreams. Their resilience, their humour, courage and compassion in attempting to survive the violence and do normal things has been captured for posterity in GAZA.

As one Gazan says “We simply want to live”.

The film allows Karma Khaial, a young 19 year old student, to tell us about her dreams of playing the cello and studying for a Masters in International Law in an uncertain world. Or Ahmed Abu Alqoraan who has a dream to own a big fishing boat and crew it with his many brothers and sisters to provide an income from his “catch” for his very large family. The reality he faced was the petty three mile fishing restriction imposed by the Israelis.

Gazan children.

GAZA allows the people to speak openly for themselves as they live day to day. By observing and listening to the mundane living of life, the viewer develops an empathy and appreciation for the decent people surviving in a land steeped in tragedy, bound by history and plagued by conflict over which they have no control. Yet one remembers the smiles, the banter, the brief everyday joys, the hopes and dream of the people and wonder how Karma and Ahmed and their neighbours, families and friends are today. This GAZA documentary remains as visual evidence of the genocide which is taking place.


GAZA will be shown on Friday evening 24th July at 5:00 pm.

Thanks to Wildcard Distribution.

Fight Like Hell: The Testimony of Mother Jones

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Written and performed by Kaiulani Lee.

Irish Premiere: Dance Cork Firkin Crane, Thursday 25th July at 4pm. 

Kaiulani Lee as Mother Jones.

“We were never supposed to know her name. She was a poor Irish immigrant who survived famine and war, fire and plague. Unable to save her husband and four very young children, she dedicated her life to saving working families everywhere. The “robber barons” called her “the most dangerous woman in America” but the workers called her Mother Jones.”

And she asked the workers to pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.  This documentary has been adapted from Obie Award-winning actress Kaiulani Lee’s one-woman play “Can’t Scare Me” Kaiulani performed at the Firkin Crane Theatre back in July 2015 and visited Cork city for the inaugural festival in August 2012. Kaiulani lives Mother Jones.

The Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. John Buttimer meeting with Kaiulani Lee at the Lord Mayor’s Office in 2012.

Length: 55 minutes.

The performance is drawn from the 1925 autobiography of Mother Jones as well as her letters, speeches and interviews.

Kaiulani visiting Abbeystrewry Famine Graveyard in 2015.

field

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‘field’ is a self-reflexive documentary that explores the environmental concerns of biodiversity and climate mitigation on a local scale. Centred on an old dump, and marshland, near Mayfield in the Northern suburbs of Cork, it weaves its way through multiple perspectives to discuss how meaning is placed on landscape.

‘field’ is directed by Dervla Baker. 

There will be a Q & A with director, Dervla Baker after the documentary.

Running Time: 30 minutes

Maldon Hotel, Shandon, Friday 26th July 2024 at 10:30 am.

All are welcome.

field – Horses
field: Jen Walking
field: the Portal
field – Blue- Clock- Tower
field – passage

Secrets from Putamayo.

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Showing on Saturday 29th July at 11:00 am at the Maldron Hotel, Shandon.

This is a documentary about Roger Casement (1864-1916) and his work as a British Foreign office diplomat to expose human rights abuses in the rubber industry in South America. His efforts to exposed human rights injustices in the Congo and Brazil, and later when he joined the Irish fight for freedom makes him one of the most extraordinary revolutionaries of the period.

In 1910, the British Consul General in Rio de Janeiro, Roger Casement, undertook an investigation into allegations of crimes against indigenous communities committed by the British-registered Peruvian Amazon Company. 

Secrets from Putumayo tells of the barbaric treatment of the native peoples in Peru and Brazil which he discovered there and which he exposed to a shocked public. Basically, cruel slave labour conditions were an ongoing feature of the rubber industry in the Amazon rainforest, it was “a real green hell.” Shocked by his discoveries, and despite a heavy personal toll, Casement was determined to bring awareness to the British of their own colonial atrocities by revealing the appalling human cost of the rubber industry. 

This documentary is narrated by Stephen Rea who reads disturbing excerpts from his journal, while archival images leave a lasting impression on a viewer.  Listening to the stories of the native people whose ancestors suffered at the hands of these savage colonial corporations who plundered the resources on the lands of indigenous tribes makes one question how much the operations of some multinationals and governments have changed in over a hundred years.

Roger Casement (Wikipedia).

Today the exploitation continues as these modern companies exploit the rare metals, resources, environment and fish of native peoples across the world as we stand by. Roger Casement was the equivalent of the canary in the mine of human rights. His reports exposing the treatment of indigenous people deserve a wider audience.  Secrets from Putamayo will go a long way to achieving this recognition for an extraordinary man.

After 1913, Casement’s efforts on behalf of the new independence movement in Ireland are reasonably well known. He abandoned the British empire after his retirement to help the Irish Revolution. However he paid the ultimate price when the British government ensured his execution for treason against the empire on the 3rd August 1916  some three months after the 1916 leaders were executed.

Roger Casement was arguably one of the world’s first global human rights activists.

Our thanks to everyone who has made the showing of this film possible at the Spirit of Mother Jones festival.   

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irish-diary/2023/07/20/secrets-from-putumayo-frank-mcnally-on-a-brazilian-documentary-about-roger-casement/

“A Sense of Wonder”. A Documentary by Kaiulani Lee about Environmentalist, Rachel Carson.

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Rachel Carson (Wikipedia).

“A Sense of Wonder”, a documentary by Kaiulani Lee about the life of Rachel Carson will be shown on Friday afternoon, 28th July at 2:30pm at the Maldron Hotel.

Rachel Carson, a marine biologist, published Silent Spring in 1962 which warned the world of the dangers of using pesticides on nature. The synthetic chemicals originally used during the Second World War were repackaged by some chemical companies for farmers to use on insects and weeds with little or no regulation. She highlighted the aerial spraying of DDT in particular.

Carson’s challenging and ground-breaking book resulted in a sustained and personal attack by the chemical industry on her findings and on her personally. However she faced down the industry, defended her work which subsequently led to a huge questioning by many scientists and citizens all over the world of the destruction of the environment through the use of pesticides and biocides in the natural environment. For her bravery, her work and her warnings Rachel Carson is regarded by many as the “Mother of the Environmental movement”.

Unfortunately in spite of growing scientific evidence of the impact of chemicals on birds, insects and vegetation the destruction has continued for the most part in spite of some governmental regulations. The ongoing loss of biodiversity and the growth of industrial agriculture is adding to the current mass extinction.

Carson quoted Albert Schweitzer as follows

“Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the earth”

We are honoured to show “ A Sense of Wonder” which was written and performed by Kaiulani Lee, with the help and guidance of many of Ms Carson’s friends and colleagues.

Kaiulani Lee.

Using many of Rachel Carson’s own words, Kaiulani embodies Carson in a documentary style film which depicts her in the final year of her life. As she battles the cancer, which was to take her life shortly afterwards, Carson tells the story of the attacks by the chemical industry, the government and the press as she tries to get the scientific evidence of destruction to be taken seriously by US legislators and people.

Kaiulani’s overreaching message in filming the documentary was to promote the interrelatedness of all life and the interconnection of all life. She says there has to be a shift in our consciousness and we have to know our place in the wider cosmos. We destroy life on the Earth at our peril.

Rachel Carson passed away on 14th April 1964, in Silver Springs, Maryland a few miles from where Mother Jones had died in 1930.

It is performed with humour, wit, sadness and anger by Kaiulani Lee, who has attended the Spirit of Mother Jones festivals in 2012 and 2015 and whose recent production of Fight Like Hell: – The testimony of Mother Jones is available to watch on Bullfrog Films.

Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr. John Buttimer with Kaiulani Lee 2012.

The documentary will be introduced by Gerard (Ger) Mullally who is a sociology lecturer at University College Cork, specializing in the areas of environment, community, sustainable development and climate change.  He also created the university-wide module in sustainability which is freely available to UCC students and staff as well as community members.  This will be followed by an open discussion.

Gerard Mullally.

Salt of the Earth.

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The Cork Mother Jones Committee is proud to present the 1954 documentary Salt of the Earth at this year’s Festival. It will be shown on Thursday 27th July 2023 at the Maldron Hotel, Shandon, beginning at 11:00 am.

Salt of the Earth is the story of a strike which is based on a 1951 strike in New Mexico. 

Deemed “culturally significant” by the US Library of Congress,it is now preserved in the National Film Registry.

Source: Wikipedia.

On its release in 1954, the American Legion called for a nationwide boycott, it was denounced in the US House of Representatives, investigated by the FBI and the film set was attacked by vigilantes. As its writer Michael Wilson, director Herbert J Biberman and producer Paul Jarrico were all blacklisted in Hollywood in the McCarthy campaign against Communism, Salt of the Earth itself was also blacklisted and many cinemas refused to show it..

Due to financial constraints, a few professional actors such as Rosaura Revueltas as Esperanza Quintero (later deported to Mexico). Will Geer played the Sheriff, he was a socialist, a comrade of Woody Guthrie to whom he introduced Pete Seeger. (he is better known to Irish audiences as Grandpa in the Waltons). They were joined by miners from Local 890 of the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter workers. and their families in the cast. Juan Chacon who played Ramon Quintero was a union local official.

Rosaura Revueltas and Juan Chacon. Source: Wikipedia.

The blunt and austere realism of the strike is full on and direct in some emotional and powerful scenes. Crucially it embraces a unique feminist approach to union politics which was rare in the early 1950 cinema. The wives, family and widows of the miners rally to offer hope for the future of migrant workers.

The earlier efforts of Mother Jones to assist the Mexican trade unions and support the Mexican Revolution is especially relevant

In spite of production difficulties and the quality, this film remains long in one’s mind due to its honesty, its realism and the common human story of labour injustice it displays as the participants strive to tell the story of the union activists and the strike. 

Even the biblical origins of its title, Salt of the Earth did not prevent its condemnation in some quarters as communist propaganda. Yet its message lives on as a brave political statement in opposition to the rampant McCarthyism which prevented progressive film making, culture and the arts in America. That it survives and endures almost 70 years later is testament to the everlasting story of workers organising to fight injustice.

Salt of the Earth will be shown on Thursday morning 27th July 2023 at 11:00 am at the Maldron Hotel, Shandon followed by a discussion. Running time 90 minutes.   

Documentaries at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival 2022.

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Ordinary Women in Extraordinary Times. 

A documentary from Frameworks Films and the Shandon Area History Group.

7.30 pm Friday 29th July at Dance Cork Firkin Crane.

‘Ordinary Women in Extraordinary Times’ tells the story of five women –  Nora and Sheila Wallace and Mary, Annie and Muriel MacSwiney. These women played a vital role in the formation of the Irish state and yet their stories are not widely known. This documentary provides an account of the lives of these five women and in particular the part they played in the Irish revolutionary period, whilst still carrying on their roles as shopkeepers, teachers, wives and mothers. It attempts to answer in some small way the question that was often asked in the early years of the Irish Free State, ‘What did the women do anyway?’.

Ordinary Women in Extraordinary Times.

Endurance & Engagement: Cork City Women in the 1920’s  

7.15 pm Thursday 28th July at Dance Cork Firkin Theatre.

The short documentary, commissioned by Cork City Council, as part of the Decade of Commemorations and  funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts Gaeltacht, Sport & Media looks at the lives of ordinary women in Cork City during the turbulent period of the struggle for independence and how they were impacted by the violence and unrest. The women included in the documentary are Eilish MacCurtain, The Duggan Sisters, Geraldine Neeson and Dr. Mary Hearn.  The research team on the project were Anne Twomey of Shandon History Group, Dr Helene O’Keeffe of UCC School of History, and Gerry White.  The documentary directors Ciara Buckley & David Slowo of Wombat Media. The  Executive Producer of this documentary was Christine Moloney of LW Management who will introduce it on the night. Release Date 2022. Runtime 32 minutes.

Peg Duggan

Mother Jones and her Children.

2:00 pm Thursday 28th July at the Maldron Hotel Shandon. 

This film tells the story of Mary Harris (1837 – 1930) from Cork who went on to become known “the most dangerous woman in America”. Starting with her early years in Cork, the documentary goes on to detail her life in America following the famine, her marriage to George Jones and the birth of her four children. It details the tragedies which befell her. Her growing involvement in the labour movement in America, defending the rights of children and workers is documented. Through interviews with leading experts on Mother Jones, we learn of her fearless and tireless campaign to organise workers at a time of severe labour strife and her international legacy today. Produced by Frameworks Films and the Cork Mother Jones Committee in 2014. Runtime is 52 minutes.

Mother Jones and Her Children

Mother Jones, America’s Most Dangerous Woman 

3:00 pm. Thursday 28th July at the Maldron Hotel, Shandon.

Mother Jones: America’s Most Dangerous Woman is a documentary about the amazing labor heroine, Mary Harris Jones, known as Mother Jones. Mother Jones’ organising career influenced the history of early 20th century United States. She overcame class and gender limitations to shape an identity that allowed her to become an effective labor organiser in the early 20th century. Mother Jones transformed personal and political grief and rage about class injustices into an effective persona that led workers into battles that changed the course of history. The terrible conditions and labor oppression of the time motivated her to traverse the country, in order to organise against injustices. This film also gives a deeply moving account of the Ludlow Massacre. This is a film by Rosemary Feurer and Laura Vazquez. Release Date 2007 (Canada). Its runtime is 24 minutes.

Mother Jones, America’s Most Dangerous Woman

New Documentary: Ordinary Women in Extraordinary Times.

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The documentary ‘Ordinary Women in Extraordinary Times’ will be shown at the Cork Dance Firkin Crane in Shandon on Friday evening 29th July at 7.30 pm.

A new documentary about some of the women who played an important role in the revolutionary period in Cork will be screened at the Dance Cork Firkin Crane Theatre in Shandon, Cork on Friday 29th July at 7.30pm, as part of the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival 2022.

According to Lil Conlon, one of the members of the Shandon Cumann na mBan in Cork, a question that was often asked in the early years of the Irish Free State was“ What did the women do anyway”?  This documentary tells the story of what two sets of sisters did during the War of Independence and attempts to answer that question in part.

‘Ordinary Women in Extraordinary Times’ tells the story of five women –  Nora and Sheila Wallace and Mary, Annie and Muriel MacSwiney. These women played a vital role in the formation of the Irish state and yet the detail of what they did and how they managed to do these tasks whilst still playing their other roles as wives, mothers, teachers and shopkeepers has received little attention.

The documentary first tells the story of how the Wallace sisters ran a newsagents shop on Augustine Street in Cork city centre, which effectively became the unofficial headquarters of the No 1 Brigade of the Cork Volunteers after their own headquarters on Sheares St was closed after the Rising. Florrie O’Donoghue from the brigade is quoted as saying “If any two women deserved immortality for their work…they did!”  Their story is told by members of the Shandon Area History Group and also by Bill Murphy, grand-nephew of the sisters and by Bernadette Wallace, their niece.

The second family to feature in the documentary are the MacSwiney family. Mary and Annie MacSwiney were the sisters of Terence MacSwiney, former Lord Mayor of Cork, whose death by hunger strike whilst imprisoned in Brixton Prison made international headlines and Muriel MacSwiney, their sister-in-law, was his wife. This section will be told via interviews with  Anne Twomey and Maeve Higgins, members of the Shandon Area History Group and also with Cathal MacSwiney Brugha, the grandson of Muriel MacSwiney and grand-nephew of Mary and Annie MacSwiney.

The documentary has been produced by Frameworks Films in collaboration with the Shandon Area History Group and was funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. It will also be broadcast at 8pm on Sunday 31st July on Cork Community Television, which is available on Channel 803 on Virgin Media’s digital cable package and online on www.corkcommunitytv.ie. 

For further information please email emma@frameworksfilms.com

Endurance and Engagement. Cork City Women in the 1920’s

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A documentary “Endurance & Engagement: Cork City Women in the 1920’s”  will be shown at the Dance Cork Firkin Crane on Thursday 28th July at 7.15pm.

The short documentary, commissioned by Cork City Council, as part of the Decade of Commemorations and  funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts Gaeltacht, Sport & Media looks at the lives of ordinary women in Cork City during the turbulent period of the struggle for independence and how they were impacted by the violence and unrest. 

Peg Duggan

The women included in the documentary are Eilish MacCurtain, The Duggan Sisters, Geraldine Neeson and Dr Mary Hearn.

Geraldine O’Sullivan (nee Nesson), second from the right at he rear.
Dr. Mary Hearn Park.

The research team on the project were Anne Twomey of Shandon History Group, Dr Helene O’Keeffe of UCC School of History, and Gerry White.  The documentary directors Ciara Buckley & David Slowo of Wombat Media. The  Executive Producer of this documentary was Christine Moloney of LW Management who will introduce it on the night.

We wish to record our thanks to Cork City Council and St. Peters Cork for making a screening available at the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival.

Christine Moloney will introduce the documentary and  there will be a brief Q&A. afterwards.

It will be followed at 8:00 pm by a talk by historian Anne Twomey. 

Mother Jones and Her Children is now available here to view online.

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The documentary Mother Jones And Her Children is now available to view at the link below.

This 2014 documentary tells the exciting story of Mary Harris/Mother Jones from her birth in Cork in 1837 to her death in 1930. 

It features US Labour historians such as Rosemary Feurer, who administers the website www.motherjonesmuseum.org and who writes extensively on Mother Jones. Elliott Gorn, author of Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America appears also along with interviews with authors Simon Cordery and Marat Moore. Larry Spivack of the Illinois Labour History Society and John Alexander of the Virden Monument Committee and US trade union activists such as Mike Matjelki, Dave Rathke and Terry Reed take part. In addition, there is an interview with Uibh Laoghaire historian, Joe Creedon regarding the birth place of Ellen Cotter, the mother of Mary Harris, while members of the Cork Mother Jones Committee (CMJC) provide details about her baptism in Cork, and the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival.

According to James Nolan of the CMJC

“This documentary is ideal for anyone who wishes to learn more about this amazing Cork woman, a woman who survived horrific personal tragedy and bravely supported the trade union movement and fought for social justice in America for over four decades.

Mary Harris’s efforts in the early 1900s to highlight the exploitation of children in the mines, mills and factories of America and her arguments that they should receive an education instead  will still resonate with school children across the world today. 

This documentary should be included in the Irish educational curriculum.”

Mother Jones and Her Children remains available on CD. The link to the documentary also appears above the main website masthead.

It was produced by Frameworks Films and the Cork Mother Jones Committee.