An evocative film-poem exploring the literary and other ghosts of the bohemian quarter bordering Dublin’s Baggot Street during the mid-20th century where there was a radical flourishing of artistic and intellectual activity.

‘Baggotonia’ was both an area and a cultural movement, populated by writers, artists, eccentrics, and other intellectuals living an anarchic life at odds with the conservative mores of the time. Inspired by luminous black and white photographs from artist Nevill Johnson, Alan Gilsenan’s richly evocative work draws on the writings of Patrick Kavanagh, Samuel Beckett, Flann O’Brien, and Brendan Behan, among others, to conjure a psycho-geographic tapestry of place and memory. Gilsenan employs an impressionistic, poetic visual language for this highly personal film, which takes the form of a collage of overlayed images, spoken recordings, narration, and music which creates an immersive, hypnotic experience.

This screening will be followed by Q&A with poet Seán Hewitt and director Alan Gilsenan.

Notes by David O’Mahony