Margo Harkin | |
|---|---|
 Margo Harkin | |
| Born | 2 October 1951 |
| Occupation(s) | Director, Producer, Documentarian |
| Years active | 1984–present |
Margo Harkin (born October 1951 in Derry) [1] is an Irish filmmaker. Best known for the drama Hush-a-Bye Baby and the documentary Bloody Sunday: A Derry Diary, Harkin produced the surfing documentary Waveriders in 2008. [2]
Margo Harkin was born in Derry in 1951, one of a family of sixteen children. She was educated at Loreto Convent, Coleraine and at the Ulster College of Art & Design, Belfast, graduating in 1974 with a degree in Fine Arts. After 3 years as an art teacher at a Christian Brothers comprehensive school in Creggan, she worked as an Art Tutor and Deputy Director of the Derry Youth & Community Workshop for unemployed young people. In 1980 she joined Field Day Theatre Company founded by Brian Friel and Stephen Rea and went on to train as a Stage Designer with Percy Harris and Hayden Griffin at Motley Theatre Design Course in London. [2] She designed the Field Day productions of 'The Communication Cord' (1982) by Brian Friel and 'Boesman and Lena' (1983) by Athol Fugard. In 1984 she co-founded Derry Film and Video Workshop, under the Channel 4 franchised workshop scheme. [1]
After producing the banned documentary Mother Ireland in 1988, Harkin co-wrote and directed her first drama, Hush-a-Bye Baby (1990), which won “Best Drama” at the International Celtic Film Festival the first of several international awards including The Ecumenical Jury Award at the Locarno Film Festival 1990. The film was selected as the Irish entry for Young European Film of the Year 1990. [3] A groundbreaking drama focusing on teen pregnancy in Northern Ireland, its score was written by singer Sinéad O'Connor, who also made a cameo appearance in the film. In 1992 Harkin founded Besom Productions Ltd., [1] producing a range of genres from television education programmes to drama but she is best known as a chronicler of key periods of the conflict in Northern Ireland.
Her documentary 'The Hunger Strike', in co-production with Joel Conroy of Inis Films, was made for the 25th anniversary of the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike and received record viewing figures when broadcast on BBC Northern Ireland. Over a twelve-year stretch from 1998 to 2010, Harkin filmed 'Bloody Sunday-A Derry Diary' a deeply personal documentary following the Tribunal of Inquiry into Bloody Sunday from the perspective of local people profoundly affected by the original events in addition to addressing Harkin’s own experiences on Bloody Sunday. [4] Though an initial cut of the film was screened on ZDF, Arte and RTÉ in 2007, Harkin considered it a 'work in progress' and returned to complete the film when the Report of the Saville Inquiry was released on 15 June 2010. The final cut aired on the RTÉ on 24 Jun 2010. [5] In a change of direction Harkin produced the feature documentary 'Waveriders' (2008) directed by Joel Conroy in co-production with Inis Films, about surfing in Ireland. At its premiere at the Dublin Film Festival in 2008 it won the Audience Award and later the IFTA George Morrison Award for Best Irish Feature Documentary. Shot entirely on 16mm film it had a successful theatrical release in Ireland/UK in 2009 and is currently being distributed worldwide.
Brian Patrick Friel was an Irish dramatist, short story writer and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company. He had been considered one of the greatest living English-language dramatists. He has been likened to an "Irish Chekhov" and described as "the universally accented voice of Ireland". His plays have been compared favourably to those of contemporaries such as Samuel Beckett, Arthur Miller, Harold Pinter and Tennessee Williams.
The Bogside is a neighbourhood outside the city walls of Derry, Northern Ireland. The large gable-wall murals by the Bogside Artists, Free Derry Corner and the Gasyard Féile are popular tourist attractions. The Bogside is a majority Catholic/Irish republican area, and shares a border with the Protestant/Ulster loyalist enclave of the Fountain.
Philadelphia, Here I Come! is a 1964 play by Irish dramatist Brian Friel. Set in the fictional town of Ballybeg, County Donegal, the play launched Friel onto the international stage. The play was first staged at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin on September 28, 1964.
Nell McCafferty is an Irish journalist, playwright, civil rights campaigner and feminist. She has written for The Irish Press, The Irish Times, Sunday Tribune, Hot Press and The Village Voice.
Eamonn McCann is an Irish political activist, former politician and journalist from Derry, Northern Ireland. McCann was a People Before Profit (PBP) Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Foyle from 2016 to 2017. In 2019, he was elected to Derry City and Strabane District Council, remaining in the position until his resignation for health reasons in March 2021.
Edward Kevin Daly was an Irish Roman Catholic priest and author. He served as the Bishop of Derry from 1974 to 1993. Daly took part in several civil rights marches and events during the Troubles. He came to wider attention during Bloody Sunday in January 1972, waving a blood-stained white handkerchief as he escorted a group carrying a mortally wounded protester after British troops opened fire on demonstrators.
Paul Martin McLoone is an Irish musician, former radio producer, voice actor, voice-over artist and radio presenter from Derry, Northern Ireland. He is perhaps best known for being the co-creator and co-writer of the Irish comedy sketch series Gift Grub. He is also the lead vocalist/frontman of the Northern Irish pop-punk/new-wave band The Undertones, permanently replacing Feargal Sharkey when the band reunited for a series of live appearances in November 1999. From September 2008 to June 10, 2021, he hosted the weekday evening/night-time radio programme on the Irish national and independent radio station, Today FM titled The Paul McLoone Show which broadcast from Dublin every Monday to Thursday from 10:00pm to midnight. It focused on less-known Irish solo singers or bands, as well as those from other countries who are popular in the alternative and indie rock world, but who have yet to crack the mainstream line of the music industry.
Tommy Collins, sometimes referred to as Tom Collins, was an Irish filmmaker. Two of Collins's Irish language works have been Ireland's entries into the Foreign Language Films category at the Academy Awards.
Laurence McKeown is an Irish author, playwright, screenwriter, and former volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who took part in the 1981 Irish hunger strike.
Dodie McGuinness is an Irish Republican politician.
Brendan Duddy was a businessman from Derry, Northern Ireland, who played a key role in the Northern Ireland peace process. A notable Catholic republican, who was a pacifist and firm believer in dialogue, Duddy became known by MI6 as "The Contact". In his book, Great Hatred; Little Room – Making Peace in Northern Ireland, Tony Blair's political advisor Jonathan Powell described Duddy as the "key" which led to discussions between republicans and MI6, and ultimately the Northern Ireland peace process.
The 5th Annual Irish Film & Television Awards took place on 17 February 2008 at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, honouring Irish film and television released in 2007.
The 6th Irish Film & Television Awards took place on 14 February 2009 at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin, and was hosted by Ryan Tubridy. It honoured Irish film and television released in 2008.
Waveriders is a 2008 documentary film produced by Margo Harkin and directed by Joel Conroy.
The Celtic Media Festival, formerly known as the Celtic Film and Television Festival, aims to promote the languages and cultures of the Celtic nations in film, on television, radio and new media. The festival is an annual three-day celebration of broadcasting and film from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Isle of Man, Galicia, Cornwall and Brittany. The festival was founded in 1980.
The Freedom of the City is a 1973 play written by Irish playwright Brian Friel. The play is set in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1970 during the Troubles, and follows three civil rights protestors who mistakenly find themselves in the Mayor of Derry's parlour in the Guildhall after attending a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march. Their presence in the Guildhall is mistakenly interpreted as an occupation, and the play depicts the protestor's final hours in the Guildhall, a failed escape attempt which leads to their killing at the hands of the British security forces and the resulting tribunal into their deaths. Friel had originally intended on writing a play set in Derry after moving to the city in 1968, and changed its contents after being present at the Bloody Sunday massacre in January 1972.
Joel Conroy is an Irish filmmaker.
Leo McLoone is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays for Naomh Conaill and also, formerly, the Donegal county team.
Hush-a-Bye Baby is a 1989 Northern Irish television film directed by Margo Harkin. Set in Derry in 1984, the film deals with the story of Goretti Friel, a fifteen-year-old Catholic girl who found herself pregnant during the Troubles.
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