Artist’s Statement:
The currently untitled film I am developing is set against an American anthropological study of mental illness in the village of Dun Chaoin in County Kerry around 1970. As well as newly scripted material shot with actors, it will directly integrate this with footage from Mark McCarty’s 1968 documentary film The Village – also set in Dun Chaoin.
The film sits at the interface of the activist perspective of the two American anthropologists and their focus on individual subjectivity; and the pragmatic, deferential, and conservatively Catholic perspective of the people they are studying. The main character in the film is a 7 or 8 year-old boy, Brendan, who is seen in the light of the tension between these two perspectives.
The film is a composite of three actual studies – Inis Beag by John Messenger, Inishkillane by John Brody, and in particular Saints, Scholars, and Schizophrenics by Nancy Scheper-Hughes. Among many anthropological studies into the decline of the Gaelic speaking peasant culture in the West of Ireland, these three describe a condition of general anomie caused by celibacy or extreme sexual repression which, in various ways, the authors link to the epidemic of mental illness in the rural Ireland at the time. Implicit in the film is the fact of constant emigration and the precarious existence of places like Dun Chaoin – consistently studied since the 19th century with reverence or in an attempt to reform it. The workflow of the new footage will match that of the old. The older footage will be digitally restored to create a smoother transition between the two.
Find out more at imma.ie
Ráiteas an Ealaíontóra:
Is é atá mar chúlra ag an scannán atá idir lámha agam nach bhfuil teideal air faoi láthair ná staidéar antraipeolaíoch Mheiriceá ar mheabhairghalar i sráidbhaile Dhún Chaoin i gContae Chiarraí thart ar 1970. Mar aon le hábhar a bhfuil script nua leis a rinneadh le haisteoirí, déanfar an méid sin a chomhcheangal go díreach le píosaí ó scannán faisnéise Mark McCarty ón mbliain 1968, ‘The Village’, atá suite i nDún Chaoin freisin.
Tá dhá dhearcadh le sonrú sa scannán – dearcadh gníomhaíoch na beirte antraipeolaithe Meiriceánacha agus a mbéim ar an tsuibiachtúlacht aonair, agus dearcadh pragmatach, urramach, coimeádach agus Caitliceach na ndaoine a bhfuil staidéar á dhéanamh acu orthu. Is é príomhcharachtar an scannáin buachaill atá 7 nó 8 mbliana d’aois, Brendan, atá le feiceáil i gcomhthéacs an teannais idir an dá dhearcadh sin.
Cumasc de thrí staidéar atá sa scannán i ndáiríre – ‘Inis Beag’ le John Messenger, ‘Inishkillane’ le John Brody, agus go háirithe, ‘Saints, Scholars, and Schizophrenics’ le Nancy Scheper-Hughes. Tá siad sin i measc an iomad staidéar antraipeolaíoch ar mheath an chultúir thuathánaigh Ghaelaigh in Iarthar na hÉireann. Déantar cur síos sna trí cinn sin ar anóime ghinearálta de bharr aontumha nó dianchosc gnéasach. Déanann na húdair ceangal ar bhealaí éagsúla idir é sin agus eipidéim an mheabhairghalair faoin tuath in Éirinn ag an am.
Tá eisimirce leanúnach agus staid neamhchinnte na n-áiteanna ar nós Dhún Chaoin intuigthe sa scannán – tá staidéar á dhéanamh air go seasta ón 19ú haois le hurraim nó mar iarracht é a leasú.
Tiocfaidh sreabhadh oibre na bpíosa scannáin nua le sreabhadh oibre na seanphíosaí scannáin. Athchóireofar na seanphíosaí scannáin go digiteach ionas go dtiocfaidh an dá phíosa le chéile go deas.
Tabhair cuairt ar IMMA ar líne chun tuilleadh eolais a fháil.
