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Irish Ways and Irish Words
Two feature films and a major television series as Gaeilge are about to come our way. Basil Al-Rawi asks if this is the start of an Irish-language screen renaissance.
The last 18 months has seen a considerable increase in both the number and scope of Irish-language drama productions. From the arthouse adaptation of Máirtin Ó Cadhain’s novel Cré na Cille to bilingual feature Kings and high-profile TV drama The Running Mate, it would appear that our Gaelic tongue is experiencing something of a mini renaissance on our screens. But what is the catalyst behind this Zeitgeist? Are we experiencing a discernible rise in the popularity of our national tongue and these projects are merely reflecting a thirst for high-quality, Irish-language drama in society? Or, excuse the cynicism, is all this activity just shrewd harnessing of the funding schemes in place for Irish-language drama for projects that wouldn’t normally get funded if they were in Béarla? Or are we seeing the successful collaboration of a network of supportive agencies all contributing to the incubation of an Irish cinematic voice? I spoke to the producers of the aforementioned projects to gain an insight into these issues and to see whether this recent activity is a flash in the pan or only the tip of the iceberg.
All three projects have the Irish language as a common denominator but their approaches, themes and sensibilities are quite disparate. Cré na Cille is the feature-length adaptation of the celebrated Irish-language novel, and it has been produced to commemorate the centenary of author Máirtin Ó Cadhain’s birth. I spoke to producer Ciarán Ó Cofaigh about the processes involved in turning what he calls the ‘sacred cow of the Irish language’ into a film.
Ó Cofaigh’s concerns lay first and foremost with making an authentic adaptation of the seminal book. He is keen to point out the responsibility felt by all those involved with the adaptation of such a well-respected piece of literature. ‘To us it’s more than just a film, and with it comes a lot of responsibility. This was Cré na Cille, this was something that would exist long after we were gone; we wouldn’t do what we we’re doing if we didn’t believe the language had a future.’
The film began its journey in Irish and had the language and the novel at its core. Being set in Connemara, it was crucial to all those involved to preserve this authenticity, and thus all the actors were Connemara Irish speakers. This was to avoid a situation ‘where you have family members, a brother and a sister who speak different Irish. To a certain extent that might be acceptable to the greater population because they mightn’t understand the difference or care too much about the difference. But it wouldn’t happen in English. You wouldn’t have an English drama where the brother would have a Donegal accent and the sister would have a Kerry accent, so we could not stand by anything like that really or we would have Máirtin Ó Cadhain knocking on our windows in the middle of the night! It’s like the Fight Club website “What would Tyler Durden do”, well for us it was more like “What would Máirtin Ó Cadhain do?”’
The full article is printed in Film Ireland 118.
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