It's been some time since people wanted to talk to Peter Lennon, but the digital restoration of Rocky Road to Dublin has given him renewed notoriety. Rebecca Kemp talks to him about his first and only outing as director, and what it was like working with Raoul Coutard.

The year was 1968. Ireland had produced just a couple of films in the past decade (George Morrison's historical documentaries Mise Éire in 1959 and Saoirse in 1961); students were rioting in France, and so were the people of Northern Ireland. Into this mix of protest and celluloid drought came the first film made by an Irishman to criticise Irish life. Directed by a young journalist using one of the world's most renowned cameraman, it was deemed so offensive and dangerous to Irish people that it hasn't been publicly shown in this country for 37 years.

Watching Rocky Road to Dublin now it seems more of an affectionate look at Irish life than a condemnation of it. People go about their daily business smiling; there is singing in pubs; headscarved old ladies cross the road in hunched pairs, and happy couples get married. The ending is perhaps the high point; the camera keeps rolling as hundreds of laughing school children run towards it in a euphoric and emotional finale to a bygone age. The only formidable scenes are the talking heads from the likes of the GAA, church and representatives of the censorship board who offer a dated view of cultural conservatism.

While journalism had prepared Peter Lennon for social observation, it is hard to describe the huge task he was undertaking as a first-time filmmaker: 'I sweated!' he laughs. Lennon is still a working journalist and looks back on the Rocky Road days with a mixture of fondness and amazement. 'I just went in there – when your head is full of ideas you don't have any – I'd done a rehearsal of this in the articles I wrote about Ireland. I was now engaged in a big wrestling match with Ireland – you just go out and get what you want.'

The full article is printed in Film Ireland 108.