Search

23 Oct 2025

Documentary on Longford artist is seeking funding

Bernard Canavan, originally from Longford is the feature of a documentary seeking funding

Documentary on Longford artist is seeking funding

Bernard Canavan

Bernard Canavan is one of Longford’s most notable names. An incredible artist with an incredible story that fuels each and every one of his paintings, allowing him to create incredible pieces that are both beautiful and striking, down to the dark history and political commentary that lingers within every stroke of the brush.

Now, a documentary has been made to honour Bernard’s incredible story. Sé Merry Doyle of Loppline Film is the man responsible for this. Unfortunately, the piece has not been released to the public due to lack of funding.

A successful documentary maker, Sé describes his and Bernard’s bittersweet journey through the painter’s past and his hopes for the documentary’s future.

Also Read: Longford / Westmeath Minister of State launches new heritage research journal

“I’m a documentary filmmaker,” begins Sé, “Essentially, I began filming with Bernard Canavan in London because he’s of a good age, and he’s very well known as the painter of ‘The Diaspora’.”

The Diaspora is Bernard’s incredible collection of paintings, famous for depicting the immigrants who moved to London in the 40s and 50s.

The documentary, ‘Theocracy’ is named for Bernard's latest collection of paintings that criticise the collusion of church and state, which Bernard himself witnessed far too young.

“For his own backstory, he had a rather sad beginning to his life,” explains Sé, “His biological parents were not married.”

Also Read: From the mosh pit to the Longford drama pit

“They, in a way were forced to give him up to a place called St Patrick’s Guild in Dublin.

“He says he lived in a cot for almost four years, the convent later became known as the House of Shame.”
According to Sé, the convent required payment for the children to be admitted.

“Then they would fatten them up and sell them, mainly to America.”

Sé managed to bring Bernard back to Ireland and thus the two set out on a journey down memory lane.

“One of the things I was most anxious to do was bring Bernard back to Ireland, back to Edgeworthstown and back to the orphanage, which is now a luxury block of flats in Dublin.

“So I filmed in Edgeworthstown and in Dublin. And I did this in Blackrock in the House of Shame, which is near the end of the film. It's a very emotional and powerful scene.

“Taking into account Bernard is in his 80s and if anything happened and I hadn't got these shots in Ireland, there would be no film. So we got that.”

The pair also came to Edgeworthstown, where Bernard and Sé took a look back on Bernard's childhood, thankfully, much happier than the start of his life.

“The woman who adopted him, Mrs Canavan, had a shop on the main street in Edgeworthstown, Canavan’s. It was emotional.

“Also, Bernard had a lifelong affinity with Maria Edgeworth,” says Sé.

A part of this connection comes from the guidebooks that Maria penned on bringing up children properly and as Sé says, “Avoid all the terrible things that happen to them.”

The two visited the Maria Edgeworth Museum and saw around 14 framed prints of Bernards paintings.

“His mother was a very interesting woman, she was born in Argentina to Irish parents who went out there in the heyday, a place to go make money, but they were getting old.

“So they sent her and her sister back and they came back to Ireland and settled in Edgeworthstown.

She ended up marrying a Longford man but because the couple were older, they couldn’t have children.

“They decided to adopt one, and they went to Dublin and they saw this little child, Bernard, who was actually quite ill.”

Sé explains that she looked at Bernard, picked him up and the rest is history.

Bernard ended up in London following the Shop taking a bad turn, due to the faltering economy.

“He had very good memories of Edgeworthstown, and when he eventually went to London and started his career, people noticed he was a great painter.”

If anyone is interested in backing the documentary and helping Sé get the finished piece out can do so via the Loopline website.

To continue reading this article,
please subscribe and support local journalism!


Subscribing will allow you access to all of our premium content and archived articles.

Subscribe

To continue reading this article for FREE,
please kindly register and/or log in.


Registration is absolutely 100% FREE and will help us personalise your experience on our sites. You can also sign up to our carefully curated newsletter(s) to keep up to date with your latest local news!

Register / Login

Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.

Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.