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EOIN DOWNING HAS been searching for a 1950s film that was shot in Kerry for decades but with little success.
The reason for the search? He featured in the movie and although it was screened in Kenmare at the time, he had never actually seen it.
The 86 year old asked his nephew to track it down over the summer- shortly after his wife passed away in March. His motivation? He says he wanted to see it before he died.
His nephew Muirgein Ó Conaill began the search for the film ‘Bally Cashel Ferry’ in June.
He told TheJournal.ie: “I made contact with the BBC, BFI British Film Archive etc. to try and track it down but to no avail.”
Much of the film was shot in Kerry – in Derreen Gardens – so he rang them for information. Acting as the middlemen, they passed his details to the film director Richard Bigham’s family.
Ó Conaill explained how, “Our family are descendants of the O’Sullivan Beare Clan, and the Bighams are the descendants of Lord Landsdowne. Our families have historically been at variance with each other.”
However, the two families who were historically at odds with each other came together to track down this culturally significant film – neither family was aware of their shared history from the outset.
The British composer, Ned Bigham, rang Muirgein from the UK on 1 July and began the search for the film from there. On 9 July he emailed him saying:
I have found two rusty tins with ‘Bally Cashel Ferry’ marked on them.
One contained two 16mm reels of ‘negative mute’ and the other two 16mm reels of ‘negative track’.
Mission Accomplished
Eoin Downing finally watched the film on Friday. He spoke to TheJournal.ie straight after viewing it.
He said he felt very happy and very satisfied after finally seeing it.
I really enjoyed watching it, it reminded me of all the people who were in it and are now gone but after watching it there now, I remember everything like it was yesterday.
“At my age, I’m the oldest person who worked on the film and I’m the only one left. I wanted to see it before I died.
I’ve been looking for this film for the past 30 years. Different people told me that they’d find it but they couldn’t find it at all.
Asked about his payment for the role he played, Downing said, “I got a bottle of orange.”
Screening
The film has now been converted to digital format and will be shown to the public in Kerry by the IFI Irish Film Archive in November.
The film is set to be screened in the Carnegie Arts Centre in Kenmare, Kerry on 13 November and in Tech Amargin, Waterville, Kerry the next day.
It’s hoped that local people will be able to help identify some unknown places and people in the film.
Head of IFI Irish Film Programming, Sunniva O Flynn, described ‘Bally Cashel Ferry’ as a “fascinating find”. She told TheJournal.ie that “it’s very interesting to see a fictional film being made at Kerry at that time because it’s so unusual.
The director Richard Bigham showed great ambition in making this film as it’s very unusual for this period. In 1950s Ireland, most films were documentaries or state funded videos giving health and safety information.
The film tells a story about Oxford graduates coming to Kerry, hoping to make their fortune by extracting copper from seaweed.
“It’s really charming to see the vision and the effort that went into this film, it uses the landscape so well.
We get an insight of Kenmare at that time and places such as O’Sullivans bar that we wouldn’t have access to otherwise.
“Bally Cashel Ferry also has a very professional score that really heightens the drama.”
It was written, directed and produced by Richard Bigham. The cast were Maureen Cleave, Christopher Sullivan, Antony Martin, Eoin Downing Harry Ward. It was narrated by Harry Maguire.
O’Flynn added, “It will be very exciting to bring it back to where it was made.”
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Sometimes I think if someone sat at home on Twitter all day, they could produce exactly the same as The Journal. The only thing the average person wouldn’t be able to recreate is all the spelling errors and missing words.
@Meekus: Thirsty for a job there lad.
@Keelan O’neill: Jesus no, I couldn’t hack working hard writing stories only to have jerks like me nitpicking my spellings
America is a litigious society. It would appear that even in these instances involving loss of life it is the lawyers who ultimately decide which route the path to justice takes.
@Tommy Browne: After the acquittal a quick financial settlement is the next logical step.
@Tommy Browne: whereas in our country it’s judges?! Does that mean better?
@Keelan O’neill: I would have thought when the officer was acquitted that compensation would not have to be paid. Unfortunately these incidents will continue in a country where there is a constitutional right for civilians to bear arms & police officers are wary when pulling people over. They do seem to be more wary when the driver is black though.
At least it is something.
Implicit in the settlement was the recognition of potential civil liability exposure for wrongful death.
Have the NRA made a statement yet?
@Dave O Keeffe:
Are you arguing for unarmed police in the US?
@Tommy Browne: didn’t see him try to make that argument anywhere.
@Tommy Browne: Didn’t you notice that the victim had a legally held weapon which appears to have been a contributory factor in his demise?
@Tommy Browne: I’m arguing that it’s very unusual for the NRA to stay silent when a person with a legally held firearm is killed for having a legally held firearm. Not surprised that you’d deliberately seek to twist that though
@Dave O Keeffe: ah yes they’d normally be all over it he would become their poster child for big government trying to take away their rights… but we forget that philando Castille was black, the NRA dont give a shit then.
@Dave O Keeffe: He wasn’t killed for having a legally held firearm; he was killed because he didn’t do as he was told & kept reaching for the general direction of that firearm. Had he followed instructions he’d still be alive today.
The 74 seconds podcast covers this shooting very thoroughly if anyone is interested. This police officer was a ticking timebomb
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