Ireland, June 1944. The crucial decision about the right time to start Operation Overlord on D-Day comes to depend on the readings taken by Maureen Flavin, a young girl who works at a post office, used as a weather station, in Blacksod, in County Mayo, the westernmost promontory of Europe, far from the many lands devastated by the iron storms of World War II.
The story of Father Alec Reid’s complex and controversial peace plan to bring an end to violence in Northern Ireland, which eventually led to the historic Good Friday Agreement.
Sodium Party follows Claire through a harrowing childhood to university where she meets Danny, a frequently intoxicated photographer who exposes her to real life through a cocktail of love and drugs. Their relationship is tested when ghosts of Claire's tumultuous past manifest through super 8 home movie footage causing her world to unravel.
Orla Barry is a hard-working, lipstick-wearing sheep farmer in rural Wexford. She is also a visual artist, renowned for her video and sound art. She strides confidently from art seminars to the Tullamore Show, lambing in April and shearing in June, working tirelessly to make a living from eco-farming in the face of global demand for faster, cheaper meats and wools. But while tied to the demands of the ovine calendar she must make time to let her creativity flow.
The tragic and shocking story of the notorious Magdalene Laundries, a shameful system, created by the Irish State but supported by all strata of Irish society, which enslaved more than ten thousand women between 1922 and 1996.
More futuristic short than industrial process film, its shimmering steelscapes are cut between close ups of machinery and set to a cool, otherworldly, soundtrack from the cutting edge of modernism - with no dull commentary to spoil the vibe. Strangely absorbing and refreshingly abstract, it's an enticing vision of British modernity in concrete, glass and steel.
