Poignant film on political giant Hume screened
Q&A WAS HELD AFTER DINGLE SCREENING
WITH Britain scheduled to leave the EU next month, Northern Ireland has returned to the top of current affairs discussions once again.
With no end in sight to debate over the effect a possible hard border between the Republic and Northern Ireland could have on this island and the peace that Northern Ireland has enjoyed since 1998’s Good Friday Agreement, it seemed timely to revisit the story of former SDLP leader and political giant John Hume.
Hume, who turns 82 later this month, joined the Northern Irish civil rights movement in the late 1960s and is considered by many as the key player in bringing about the Good Friday Agreement.
In West Kerry last week, Maurice Fitzpatrick was present for three screenings of his documentary film ‘In the Name of Peace: John Hume in America’ in Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne, Meán Scoil Nua an Leith Triúigh, and An Díseart.
Following the screening in An Díseart, Mr Fitzpatrick fielded audience questions on a wide range of topics including Hume’s legacy; the importance of SDLP Deputy Leader Seamus Mallon in the road to peace; and his impression of Tony Blair, who appears in the film.
The Kerryman reporter Tadhg Evans, as well as Dingle historian Dr Conor Brosnan, also sat on the panel for the Q&A session, organised as part of the local Storm Festival.
“This particular film...doesn’t focus so much on Derry or the North. I thought, when I started, that a lot of that has been documented,” Mr Fitzpatrick explained ahead of the screening in An Díseart.
“What wasn’t explored...was him going to Washington DC and cultivating relationships on Capitol Hill and, later, the White House.
“The more I looked into it, my belief deepened that this constituted a major shift in Irish history.
“What I’m trying to show is... how, through gaining this access to the likes of Tip O’Neill, Ted Kennedy, and successive Presidents, Hume was able to move the British in negotiations and put pressure on the Unionists to accept the Northern Irish, Nationalist narrative.”