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Taken from the historic Ballymun Communications Archive of more than 1,000 hours of community-made films and programmes, Ballymun Community Films is a curated collection of 20 films and programmes, now available free-to-view worldwide on the IFI Archive Player: ifiarchiveplayer.ie/ballymun
Friday, July 28th 2025: The IFI Irish Film Archive, in partnership with Ballymun Communications and with the support of Coimisiún na Meán, is proud to announce the IFI Archive Player launch of Ballymun Community Films, a remarkable 20 film collection capturing more than 40 years of life in one of Ireland’s most storied communities. It is a snapshot of the larger Ballymun Communications Archive and additionally features a selection of Ballymun related and inspired films including Bread & Circus’s acclaimed 2017 documentary The 4th Act, directed by Turlough Kelly and produced by Andrew Keogh, which turns a critical eye on the regeneration process. The Ballymun Community Films collection is now available free-to-view worldwide on the IFI Archive Player.
The launch of the curated collection follows a collaborative five-year project funded by Coimisiún na Meán, from which the Ballymun Communications Archive was compiled. Primarily made by local residents through long-standing training initiative and social enterprise Ballymun Communications, more than 1,000 hours of their community-made footage has been digitised and catalogued and is now protected for future generations in the IFI Irish Film Archive’s state-of-the-art digital preservation library. A showcase of 550 films from the Ballymun Communications Archive has been created by the IFI Irish Film Archive, and will be available for community access through ballymuncommunications.com
Ballymun Community Films is a personal insight into the life of Ballymun: its vibrant arts and music scene, community-led education and employment initiatives, the slow decline of its town centre, and the sweeping regeneration project that dramatically reshaped the area. Ballymun, established in 1967 to ease overcrowding in Dublin’s city centre, became Ireland’s first and largest high-rise housing development. While often defined by its social challenges in media coverage, Ballymun is also a place of extraordinary community spirit, creativity, and resilience – qualities reflected throughout this collection.
Speaking of this landmark community heritage project, IFI Archive Policy and Project Manager Niall Anderson, a Ballymun native, who managed the project at the IFI, said: “The strong community spirit evident in the films extended into the work of the project. If one of our cataloguers couldn’t identify a person or location in a film, we turned it over to community groups online, and within an hour we’d have our answer. With the full archive preserved, we were delighted to create a showcase of 550 films from the larger collection, which has now been returned to Ballymun Communications who will make it accessible to the entire community.”
Ollie McGlinchey, long-time resident and mainstay of Ballymun Communications said “Ballymun Communications was established as a counterpoint to mainstream media misrepresentations of the Ballymun community and to highlight the multitude of positive news stories emanating from a resilient and vibrant working-class community.”
The digitisation and preservation of the Ballymun Communications Archive was made possible with the support of Coimisiún na Meán, underscoring a shared commitment to champion community storytelling and protect Ireland’s diverse moving image heritage.
Rónán Ó Domhnaill, Media Development Commissioner with Coimisiún na Meán added “Coimisiún na Meán congratulates the IFI Irish Film Archive and Ballymun Communications on the completion of this important and valuable project undertaken with support from our Archiving funding Scheme. The archiving of the stories, voices, and experiences of the Ballymun community, and having them accessible to audiences both at home and across the world, will be of great interest as Ballymun continues to evolve into the future.”
The project is a powerful reflection of the IFI’s core mission: to preserve the film heritage of Ireland and to ensure that future generations can engage with, learn from, and be inspired by the lived experiences of communities like Ballymun.
The Ballymun Communications Archive and Ballymun Community Films collection was officially launched on Thursday, July 17, at Axis Ballymun with special screenings, live performances and a panel discussion. The event was attended by many from the local community who appear in the films and programmes.
Ballymun Community Films is now available free-to-view worldwide on the IFI Archive Player at ifiarchiveplayer.ie/ballymun.
The Ballymun Communications Archive can be viewed at ballymuncommunications.com
The IFI acknowledges the support of our primary funder The Arts Council.
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Media Information
For further information contact: Aileen Galvin/Sorcha FitzGerald at the IFI
agalvin@irishfilm.ie / sfitzgerald@irishfilm.ie
Media Assets
Film clips, stills and trailer available here
Clips and images are free to use worldwide on the strict condition they are credited ‘Courtesy of IFI Irish Film Archive and Ballymun Communications’
BLUE MOON 13.40, 18.40
BUGONIA 20.45 (35mm)
DIE MY LOVE 16.10
NUREMBERG 13.10
PALESTINE 36 20.50
PILLION 16.00 (OC), 20.30
THE DOORS: WHEN YOU’RE STRANGE
THE MASTERMIND 15.50
The IFI is supported by The Arts Council
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