DOCUMENTARY FILM AND THE PUBLIC COMMUNICATION OF HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE IN NORTHERN IRELAND

This Knowledge Transfer project proposes an interdisciplinary collaboration between a historian and a documentary film team around the making and exhibition of a feature length documentary film. The academic team (historian Dr Fearghal McGarry and film studies specialist Professor Desmond Bell) will work with the independent film and television company(Glass Machine Productions), broadcaster(TG4) and a regional film festival and gallery (Belfast Film Festival/Belfast Exposed) to produce and exhibit a feature length documentary film. The film is based on the published research of Dr McGarry ('Frank Ryan',Dublin 2010) and explores the life of republican activist and International Brigade volunteer, Frank Ryan (1902-1944). The project involves a series of festival screenings and workshop discussions, with website support, to accompany the television broadcast of the completed film. Through this multimedia strategy we aim to maximise the knowledge transfer impact of McGarry's research in the specific context of post-conflict Northern Ireland. This project explores a set of issues concerned with the relationship between academic history, factual film-making and the public communication of historical understanding in a divided society. In what ways does the approach of film-makers differ from the orthodox writing of history? What are the specific responsibilities of KT transfer of historical research in N.I.? We seek to add research value to the documentary film being produced and to reach a popular audience in N.I. - though potentially on a much wider basis - through television broadcast, webcast and cinema exhibition. The evidence is that the general public increasingly get their historical information from broadcast and film sources. But, is the historical documentary a populist form which necessarily involves the 'dumbing down' of academic history? On the other hand, can the inclusion of historical documentary material within the television schedule extend access to historical understanding to a broader range of people than the specialist texts of academic,written history? Our project proceeds from the assumption that to maximise the effectiveness of documentary film as a mode of knowledge transfer of historical understanding that we need to forge more effective partnerships between academic researchers, broadcasters and their audience.
Frank Ryan's life remains an enigma. This teenage IRA volunteer, anti-treaty 'Irregular' in the Civil War, dissident republican socialist in 1930s Dublin, and International Brigade volunteer who fought fascism in the Spanish civil war ended his life working for the Nazis in wartime Berlin. The historical record is incomplete. Ideological disputes have further obscured our understanding of the man. For some in Ireland and across Europe he remains an icon -an Irish republican who embraced an international cause in Spain. His activities in Germany as a guest of the German intelligence services are quietly put aside. For others, Ryan's activities and very presence in Hitler's Berlin exemplify the reactionary character of militant nationalism and its willingness to compromise with fascism, while also raising serious questions about Ireland's neutrality during the Second World War. These remain live issues in Ireland.
While our film seeks to be attentive to the latest historical research on Ryan and Ireland during the Second World War, it draws upon the imaginative resources of the creative documentary to encourage an interrogation of history in a society where historical narrative is often divisive. It explores a human story of tragic proportions with a mass audience for whom the story has a continuing resonance in the context of the current political dispensation in Northern Ireland. The project seeks to elaborate a model of good interdisciplinary practice to guide future collaborations between historians, filmmakers, broadcasters and their audience.

The following users and beneficiaries of the research involved in this project can be identified:

* the production company we are collaborating with and more generally the independent film and television sector in Northern Ireland. The former benefits from a direct input of academic expertise in the origination, development and delivery of the pilot film project; the latter in the availability of a model of collaborative practice to be drawn upon to guide them in effective use of academic experts and of their research expertise in television documentary production.

* the 'third sector' in Northern Ireland and, in particular, a range of film festivals and galleries who will host the exhibition of the work and the audience workshop activity. They will be able to draw upon a range of interpretative experience and multimedia support to grow target audiences, including the audience for Irish-language films and programmes

* the broadcaster TG4 who wish to broadcast historically-informed documentary films based on original research and who also welcome festival screening of work with opportunities to guage audience reaction to work, particularly in the Irish language. In addition the broadcaster has particular interest in the multi-platform delivery of historical documentary content and in the results of a pilot scheme using website delivery alongside traditional broadcast.

* professional or practitioner groups in Northern Ireland concerned with peace and reconciliation work and the role of historical understanding in this and in the development of more general models of civic education.

* the Irish language community in Northern Ireland which will have a quality historical documentary film made available to it in an area of historical interest likely to engage that community. The provision of a website with language support elements and of workshops catering for Irish speakers will facilitate cultural education goals.

* the general public in Northern Ireland who have access to an important documentary film and to the various related fora supported by the project; these discussions will feed into more general processes of historical understanding and inter-communal communication.