FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 6, 2004

Surprising Views of the Emerald Isle:
Re-Imagining Ireland from the VFH

A Galaxy of Commentators, including Frank McCourt, Roddy Doyle and Ireland’s President McAleese Reflect on a Nation that is “Leaving those Legendary Green Fields to Labor in the Field of the Golden Microchip”

Roddy Doyle

NATIONAL FEED BY AMERICAN PUBLIC TELEVISION, OCTOBER 31

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – Narrated by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank McCourt and featuring 34 prominent and articulate Irish personalities in literature, politics, social activism, and the arts, Re-Imagining Ireland will be presented by South Carolina ETV through American Public Television, beginning November 1 (October 31 feed). The lively

VFH documentary, which moves well beyond stereotypical views of what Ireland and the Irish have to say to the world, explores what it means to be Irish in the 21st century. With the most globalized economy in the world, the Irish have insights to share on the experience of rapid social, cultural and political change, and Re-Imagining Ireland is a window into their minds and hearts. The program offers perspective on religious and political conflict in Ireland and the workings of the peace process. And it unsentimentally explores the human struggle to come to terms with cultural difference, encouraging acceptance and tolerance.

Susan McKay

Re-Imagining Ireland features such luminaries as Ireland’s President, Mary McAleese; internationally known novelist and screenwriter Roddy Doyle; acclaimed writer Colm Toibin; award-winning journalists and authors Susan McKay and Fintan O’Toole; the compelling Northern Ireland Unionist politician David Ervine, who served five years in prison for terrorist activity and is currently a Member of Parliament; and Northern Ireland’s Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan – said by some to be the most powerful person in Northern Ireland – here presented in a moving personal light.

Among many other engaging speakers: Abel Ugba, Nigerian founding editor of a weekly Dublin newspaper; Irish “Traveller” (or “gypsy”) leader, Catherine Joyce; and renowned musician and folklorist Mick Moloney. Plus the show features a variety of musical excerpts from dazzling performances by such leading groups as Solas, Cherish the Ladies, the Green Fields of America and De Dannan, as well as individual world-class musicians – among them, Martin Hayes, Andy Irvine, and Tommy Sands.

When Re-Imagining Ireland was aired by Ireland’s national broadcaster, Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ), in prime time, March 17, The Irish Times named the program its St. Patrick’s Day “Pick of the Day.” Based largely on interviews conducted and performances filmed at a major international conference, organized by VFH and also called Re-Imagining Ireland, the film was developed as a co-production of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Paul Wagner Productions. The program was planned in association with Ireland’s RTÉ, which provided a wealth of outstanding current affairs and historical visuals from its TV Archive. American Public Television (APT) will nationally feed Re-Imagining Ireland to PBS stations on October 31, with a release date of November 1. South Carolina Educational Television is the program’s presenting station.

****
Inside the Re-Imagining Ireland Film
Re-Imagining Ireland begins by providing a view of the globally influenced economic boom that has, in recent years, catapulted Irish society beyond its former “second-world” status – creating a new sense of national confidence, transforming social life and the built-environment.

Fintan O'Toole

The program then explores how the Irish are questioning the meaning of “Irishness.” The question “What Does Being Irish Mean?” is surprisingly complex in light of social changes, including an influx of immigrants to the country. Irish identity is also tied to a colonial past. We learn that, despite the country’s history of oppression, there is still a dynamic Irish-speaking minority contributing to the island’s diverse profile. We are also told that issue of Irish identity, tested during the Troubles, goes to the heart of the challenge of peace. Can one call oneself Irish if one is a Protestant British loyalist? Can Irish Catholic nationalism move beyond the dislocations of the past, reaching in friendship across the sectarian divide?

Such questions are covered in the next two sections – “The Challenge of Peace” and “From Conflict to Politics” – which address the social and personal costs of division, the people’s aspiration for a better way, the difficulty of overcoming prejudice, the significance of the still ongoing Peace Process, and the daily features of life in a post-war culture. The mood in this section is one of guarded optimism – of aspiration tempered by a continuing struggle for trust and reconciliation – and is buoyed by the comedic presence of raucous actors and songwriters with witty and soulful insights.

Tommy Sands

The following segment, “A Culture in Transition,” opens by pointing to an all-island culture that could actually draw its strength and unity from difference. The show explores this possibility visually and through commentary, enhanced, again, by musical interludes. But Re-Imagining Ireland does not shy away from tough issues: It looks at multi-racialism and prejudice in the Republic of Ireland and considers Irish attitudes towards such minorities as Travellers and gays. Scandal as well as cultural and economic change has effected a decline in the political power, social influence, and moral authority of the Catholic Church in the country. The program explores and illustrates this phenomenon, drawing on personal histories and how the younger generation looks at religious life, while also evoking the general sense of spirituality for which Ireland has long been known.

In the final passage of the program – aptly called “A Change for Good?” – we witness a lively debate about the local pluses and minuses of global economic change. Illustrated by dramatic current affairs footage, the discussion is also enhanced by scenes showing how Irish artists have been responding to and interpreting change, and how they use visual art to place and view themselves. Overall, we are asked to consider whether modernity and money advance or undermine personal and family life – always returning to the issue of the people's sense of what it means, or could mean, to be Irish.

As the program closes, a young Irish lawyer of Czech descent presents a new interpretation of family life in the rural Ireland of the mid-20th century. Things were not, she says, as positive as promoters of Irish nostalgia would have us believe. A filmmaker who has been critical of social change, citing all the losses modernity has brought, admits that he himself shares an immigrant’s sense of connection with and longing for the mythic Ireland of the past. He feels there is still something about the Irish character and landscape that is uniquely appealing. But, he cautions, unless these qualities are protected, they cannot last.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Andrew Higgins Wyndham
Re-Imagining Ireland Executive Producer
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
Voice: 434-924-6894
Fax: 434-296-4714
E-mail: awyndham@virginia.edu

Catherine Christman,
Vice President for Communications
South Carolina ETV
Voice: 803-737-3259
Fax: 803-737-3417
E-mail:christman@scetv.org

Full Press Release / Fact Sheet / Downloadable Promo