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The Irish Film Institute (IFI), Dublin is proud to present a landmark retrospective from Wednesday 3 September to Sunday 28 September celebrating the extraordinary career of Margo Harkin, one of Ireland’s most vital and courageous filmmaking voices. Spanning over four decades, Harkin’s work has consistently challenged societal narratives, giving voice to the silenced and bearing witness to the social and political upheavals that have shaped the contemporary Irish landscape. The retrospective will span across the IFI’s cinema screens, as well as online via IFI@Home, IFI International and the IFI Archive Player.
From her early days as a community worker in Derry, to her pioneering role in founding the Derry Film & Video Workshop which began her journey as a filmmaker, through a wide-ranging career behind the camera, Harkin has remained steadfast in her commitment to truth-telling and activism through cinema. Her films—whether fiction or documentary—are marked by a deep empathy, rigorous research, and a fearless engagement with the most pressing issues of her time: civil rights, feminism, reproductive justice, institutional abuse, and the legacy of conflict in Northern Ireland.
This season offers audiences a rare opportunity to experience the breadth of Harkin’s work, including the searing documentary Stolen (2023) which looks at the history of church-run mother and baby homes, 12 Days in July (1997) which enters the fray between the Orange Order and the Catholic community along their marching route, The Hunger Strike (2006) which marked the 25th anniversary of one of the most extreme protests in prison history, her deeply personal account of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry in Bloody Sunday – A Derry Diary (2010), and Eamonn McCann: A Long March (2018) which paints a portrait of a fiery orator from the forefront of the Civil Rights movement in Northern Ireland through the political landscape.
The season is enriched by Harkin’s producing partnerships and work, in addition to her directorial work, with a special 35mm screening of Joel Conroy’s Waveriders (2008), which she produced. This exhilarating documentary exploring surfing’s Irish roots and following international surfers and record swells off the Irish Atlantic coast, will be followed by an in-depth Q&A with Conroy and Harkin on Wednesday 17 September at 18:30.
The cinema programme will culminate with the premiere of the new restoration from the original 16mm of award-winning feature Hush-A-Bye Baby (1990). Harkin’s directorial debut stars Emer McCourt in an exploration of Irish attitudes to sexuality and religion, and introduces a young Sinéad O’Connor who also wrote the musical score. This restoration has been created in-house by the IFI Irish Film Archive for the IFI’s Digital Restoration Project funded by Screen Ireland/Fís Éireann and supported by A Season of Classic Films, an initiative of ACE – Association des Cinémathèques Européennes supported by the EU Creative Europe MEDIA programme.
The final event of the season will be the Margo Harkin: Career Interview, during which Harkin will join Sara Greavu (Director of Fire Station Artists’ Studios) for an illustrated, career-spanning conversation about Harkin’s body of work, ranging from insight into the changing political landscapes her work has confronted, to Harkin’s remarkable personal archive, to the challenge of carving out space for under-represented voices.
Each screening is a testament to Harkin’s enduring impact on Irish film and society, culminating in an in-depth reflection on her remarkable career. Join us in honouring this hugely important Irish filmmaker whose lens has never flinched from the truth, and whose legacy continues to inspire.
Click here for Margo Harkin bio and headshot free to use across all media.
STOLEN
THE HUNGER STRIKE
WAVERIDERS
UNRESTORED HUSH-A-BYE BABY CLIP AND NEWLY RESTORED VERSION
WEDNESDAY 3 SEPTEMBER – 18.20
Dir. Margo Harkin (106 mins, Ireland, 2023, Digital, 15A. Producer: Martha O’Neill)
SATURDAY 6 SEPTEMBER – 15.00
12 DAYS IN JULY
Dir. Margo Harkin (60 mins, UK, 1997, Digital. Producer: Fionnuala Sweeney)
SUNDAY 7 SEPTEMBER – 15.30
Dir. Margo Harkin (60 mins, UK, 2006, Digital. Co-Producers: Margo Harkin & Joel Conroy)
WEDNESDAY 17 SEPTEMBER – 18.30
WAVERIDERS (35MM) + Q&A
Dir. Joel Conroy (75 mins, UK-Ireland, 2008, 35mm. Producer: Margo Harkin)
SATURDAY 20 SEPTEMBER – 15.30
BLOODY SUNDAY – A DERRY DIARY
Dir. Margo Harkin (86 mins, Ireland, 2010, Digital. Producer: Margo Harkin)
SUNDAY 21 SEPTEMBER – 15.30
EAMONN McCANN: A LONG MARCH
Dir. Margo Harkin (52 mins, UK, 2018, Digital. Producer: Margo Harkin)
TUESDAY 23 SEPTEMBER – 18.20
HUSH-A-BYE BABY
Dir. Margo Harkin (80 mins, UK-Ireland, 1990, Digital. Producer: Tom Collins)
SUNDAY 28 SEPTEMBER – 15.30
MARGO HARKIN: CAREER INTERVIEW
Margo Harkin in interview with Sara Greavu.
A selection of Margo Harkin’s films are available to rent for Irish audiences on IFI@Home and for international audiences on IFI International. These titles are now available for pre-order and will be available to watch from Wednesday Sept 3. Film bundles are available for purchase with pricing below.
IFI@Home collection available HERE
IFI International collection available HERE
Titles available on both IFI@Home and IFI International include: Hush-A-Bye Baby (1990), 12 Days in July (1997), Waveriders (2008), Bloody Sunday – A Derry Diary (2010), Far Side of Revenge (2012), and Stolen (2023).
A selection of Margo Harkin’s films are available free-to-watch worldwide on the IFI Archive Player.
IFI Archive Player exclusive titles will be available from Wednesday Sept 3, with The Hunger Strike (2006) and Eamonn McCann: A Long March (2018) available from Wednesday Oct 1, following their respective theatrical screening dates.
IFI Archive Player collection available HERE
IFI Archive Player titles include: NYPD Nude (1995), Clear The Stage (1998), A Plague on Both Your Houses (1999), Looking for Lundy (2000), , You Looking at Me? (2003), The Hunger Strike (2006), Ocras (2006), The Return of Colmcille (2013), Eamonn McCann: A Long March (2018)
The IFI Archive Player is the virtual viewing room for the remarkable moving image collections held in the IFI Irish Film Archive, giving audiences across the globe instant access to this rich heritage.
FULL FILM DETAILS FOR IN CINEMA AND ONLINE AVAILABLE IN FULL MEDIA RELEASE HERE
Season notes by Sunniva O’Flynn.
Booking via ifi.ie/margo-harkin or by calling the IFI Box Office on 01 679 3477, or in person at the IFI, 6 Eustace Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2.
The season is eligible for the IFI’s 25 & Under scheme, details of which can be found via ifi.ie/25under
Tickets to the Margo Harkin: Career Interview will be €10.
Season ticket bundles available: 3 for €30 and full season pass for €70. IFI Membership is required for all films without IFCO classification. If you are not an IFI Member then a membership fee of €1.50 will be added to each unclassified Margo Harkin: Radical Witness ticket price, and/or a Season Membership fee of €5.00 will be added to each Margo Harkin: Radical Witness ticket bundle.
Films on IFI@Home and IFI International will be €5.99 each, with the exception of the newly restored, exclusive title Hush-A-Bye Baby which will be €7.99.
A bundle of all streaming titles will be available online for €34.
The titles in this retrospective were digitised and preserved thanks to a grant from Coimisiún na Meán’s Archiving Funding Scheme, which aims to preserve content recorded for broadcast on radio or television.
The restoration of Hush-A-Bye Baby (1990) from original 16mm elements has been created by the IFI Irish Film Archive for IFI’s Digital Restoration Project funded by Screen Ireland/Fís Éireann and supported by A Season of Classic Films an initiative of ACE – Association des Cinémathèques Européennes supported by the EU Creative Europe MEDIA programme.
The IFI Archive Player is developed with the support and partnership of Axonista.
The IFI acknowledges the support of the Arts Council.
The Irish Film Institute (IFI) is Ireland’s national cultural institution for film. It provides audiences throughout Ireland with access to the finest independent, Irish and international cinema, including online via its streaming platform IFI@Home; it preserves and promotes Ireland’s moving image heritage through the IFI Irish Film Archive, and provides opportunities for audiences of all ages and backgrounds to learn and critically engage with film. As the only cinema with a 70mm projector, the IFI is the home of film in Ireland with a commitment to analogue exhibition.
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ENDS.
For further media information please contact:
Sorcha FitzGerald, Marketing & Publicity Manager, +353 1 612 9429 sfitzgerald@irishfilm.ie
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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