This film screened on Tuesday 28th February 2017.

Made by the Ethnographic Film Unit of UCLA, this film examines how modernisation has affected the inhabitants of the remote village of Dún Chaoin in Co. Kerry. It shows their connection with the nearby Blasket Islands (by now evacuated) and their relationship with visitors who come to observe them. It notes how the tourists who come to experience this primitive culture don’t understand how their presence accelerates its demise.

Day-to-day life is recorded – with many moments of wry comedy provided by the elderly deaf motorcyclist, the amateur linguist and the colourful innkeeper, ‘Kruger’ Kavanagh who recalls his visits to Broadway and his connection with Randolph Hearst.

(Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn)

See also: Irish Focus: The Welfare of Tomás Ó Hallissy and Archive at Lunchtime: Leavetakings.