The GREAT FAMINE VOICES ROADSHOW is returning with what producers describe as “a brand new series of standalone short films and online discussions beginning with Black Abolitionists in Ireland”. The first program, airing Sunday May 2, features a short film and online discussion and focuses on the story of Sarah Remond’s visit to Ireland in 1859 to win support for anti-slavery, even as her own country was hurtling towards a bloody civil war.
A new documentary, which includes an expedition by a group of Irish explorers on a special research mission to Iceland, received it’s premiere on RTÉ One this past weekend. Filmed by filmmaker Tony Whelan, the film is about a group of Irish whales and dolphins traveling to Iceland in May 2018 on a unique research expedition.
TOWN OF STRANGERS is almost certainly a documentary, but it began life as something like a drama. O’Brien arrived in the Co Galway town of Gort – also subject of the recent doc When All Is Ruin Once Again – with a mind to casting actors for a fictional film. She drives about in a van blasting out requests for the locals’ “loves and losses”, and, intrigued by the auditionees’ stories, decides to make them the subject of the picture.
U2 have announced online concert film series The Virtual World, that will be broadcast on the band’s YouTube channel. The series will showcase four of U2’s most legendary performances from over their four-decade career, kicking off on March 17 with the band’s 2001 concert at Slane Castle in County Meath. It will be the first time ever that three of the concerts have been made available digitally, and they will remain available to watch online for 48 hours after their broadcast.
Irish football fans are in for a treat because Virgin Media has confirmed it will air the documentary FINDING JACK CHARLTON on March 28. Given the subject matter of the documentary which chronicles Charlton’s own battle with dementia, the broadcaster has also teamed with The Alzheimer Society of Ireland to launch a fundraising week from 22-28 March.
Covering over 600 miles, Northern Ireland actor Adrian Dunbar visits breath taking locations, drives beautiful coastal roads, sees fantastic feats of engineering and tastes amazing cuisine. He meets up with old friends and makes new ones along the way. Adrian shares some of his favourite places and fulfils ambitions as he makes it to locations he’s always wanted to see.