Archive films will highlight local history in early images

THE Irish Film Industry will be coming to Drogheda in 2018 with their Local Films for Local people project which provides a window on the collections of the IFI Irish Film Archive.

In May, the IFI travels to the Droichead Arts Centre in County Louth to present a screening as part of Age and Opportunity’s Bealtaine festival.

A number of films will be shown as part of the project including A Look at Louth which features the earliest flickering images of Drogheda taken from a moving train by the frères Lumières in 1897; Bridge of the Ford, a documentary commissioned by the Medical Missionaries of Mary in 1948; Dundalk cinema advertisements from the 1930s; and short films made by Gael Linn showing the ICA headquarters in Termonfeckin in the early 1950s; ships running aground, beauty contests, dog shows, and mystery fires in the 1960s. The Irish Film Institute’s Local Films for Local People project provides a window on the collections of the IFI Irish Film Archive. In 2018, for the fifth year running, the institute will bring county-specific programmes to regional venues where they will be enjoyed by communities. The programmes create a rich tapestry of each county’s history, and include films about public and domestic life showing agricultural, educational, religious and political activity running over several decades.